2025 Prahran state by-election

A by-election for the electorate of Prahran in the Victorian Legislative Assembly is scheduled to be held sometime in 2025, following the resignation of incumbent independent MP Sam Hibbins, which was announced on 23 November 2024.

2025 Prahran state by-election

TBC (2025)
Electoral district of Prahran in the Victorian Legislative Assembly
First party Second party   Candidate TBC TBC Party Greens Liberal
Location of the electoral district of Prahran
MP before election Sam Hibbins Independent Elected MP TBC

Hibbins had resigned from the Victorian Greens several weeks prior on 1 November 2024, after it emerged that he had been having an extramarital affair with a staff member from his office. Hibbins described the affair as a "human mistake".

Background

Seat details

Prahran is an electoral district in the inner-southern suburbs of Melbourne, encompassing the suburbs of South Yarra, Windsor, parts of St Kilda and St Kilda East. The seat has existed since 1889 and has experienced notable political shifts over the years. In 1951, the seat saw a by-election which was won by the Victorian Labor Party. Historically, the electorate has alternated between the Labor and Liberal parties. However, in 2014, the Greens made a significant breakthrough when Sam Hibbins won the seat, despite finishing third in the primary vote, by securing preferences from the two major parties. Before his resignation, Hibbins would go on to retain the seat for the Greens at the time, narrowly in 2018 and increasing the party's margin in 2022.

Demographically, Prahran is one of Victoria's more affluent electorates, with a median weekly personal income of $1,330, significantly higher than the state ($803) and national ($805) averages. More than half of residents hold a bachelor's degree or higher (53.5%), and the median age of residents (35) is slightly younger than both the state and national rates (38).

Electoral history

Two-candidate preferred vote in Prahran, 1992-2022

Election		1992	1996	1999	2002	2006	2010	2014	2018	2022
	Liberal	57.80%	54.60%	54.00%	45.60%	46.40%	54.80%	49.63%	42.55%	38.00%
	Labor	42.20%	45.40%	46.00%	54.40%	53.60%	45.20%	—	—	—
	Greens	—	—	—	—	—	—	50.37%	57.45%	62.00%
Government		L/NP	L/NP	ALP	ALP	ALP	L/NP	ALP	ALP	ALP

2022 state election results

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2022 Victorian state election (Legislative Assembly) § Prahran.[edit]

2022 Victorian state election: Prahran

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Greens	Sam Hibbins	14,286	36.4	+8.1
	Liberal	Matthew Lucas	12,198	31.1	−1.6
	Labor	Wesa Chau	10,421	26.6	−3.9
	Animal Justice	Alice Le Huray	1,263	3.2	+0.9
	Family First	Ronald Emilsen	626	1.6	+1.6
	Independent	Alan Menadue	449	1.1	+0.8
Total formal votes			39,243	97.0	+2.1
Informal votes			1,223	3.0	−2.1
Turnout			40,466	82.7	−1.6
Notional two-party-preferred count
	Labor	Wesa Chau	23,966	61.1	+2.4
	Liberal	Matthew Lucas	15,277	38.9	–2.4
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Greens	Sam Hibbins	24,334	62.0	+3.0
	Liberal	Matthew Lucas	14,909	38.0	−3.0
	Greens hold		Swing	+3.0

Candidates

Labor

The Victorian Labor Party is reportedly considering to field a candidate at the by-election. The party last held Prahran from 2002 to 2010 with Tony Lupton and was narrowly defeated by Hibbins at the 2014 Victorian state election.

Liberal

Victorian Liberal Party leader John Pesutto announced on 25 November 2024 that the party would contest Prahran, having last held the seat with Clem Newton-Brown from 2010 to 2014.