Richmond is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Victoria. It is currently a 13 km2 electorate in the inner east of Melbourne, encompassing the suburbs of Richmond, Cremorne, Burnley, Abbotsford, Collingwood, Clifton Hill, Fitzroy and Fitzroy North. Historically a very safe seat for the Labor Party, Richmond has in recent elections become increasingly marginal against the Greens, who eventually won the seat at the 2022 Victorian state election.
Localisation
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History
Richmond is one of only three electorates (along with Brighton and Williamstown) to have been contested at every election since 1856. It was initially a two-member electorate, but was changed to a single-member electorate in the redistribution of 1904 when several new districts were created including Abbotsford. It covers a series of traditionally working-class, industrial suburbs, and was continuously held by the Labor Party and Democratic Labor Party between 1904 and 2022. Following the Labor split of 1955, incumbent Labor member, Frank Scully, joined six other Catholic MPs in breaking away to found the Democratic Labor Party. Scully, as the party's leader, was the only MP to hold his seat at the next election. He was defeated in 1958 by Bill Towers, previously the member for the abolished seat of Collingwood. Labor member Demetri Dollis was disendorsed for extended absence overseas in 1999 and Richard Wynne was preselected by the party instead. Wynne served as the state Minister for Housing and Minister for Local Government in the Bracks and Brumby governments from 2006 to 2010, and was the Minister for Planning in the second Andrews government. Though a traditionally safe Labor seat, it has become progressively marginal in recent years due to significant gentrification. Support for the Greens has increased as the seat became wealthier. This first occurred at the 2002 state election, when union organiser Gemma Pinnell nearly won the seat on Liberal preferences, taking 47 per cent of the two-party preferred vote. The Green surge was seen as a reaction to the conservative policies of the then federal Labor leader, Kim Beazley. Labor polled slightly better in the 2006 state election, taking 54% of the two-party preferred against Greens candidate and local councillor Gurm Sekhon. It remained a marginal seat and was strongly contested by Greens candidate, Kathleen Maltzahn, at the 2010 and 2014 state elections. Following Wynne's retirement at the 2022 election, there was fierce contest between Labor and the Greens. Former City of Yarra mayor, Gabrielle de Vietri, was preselected as the Greens candidate. De Vietri won the seat with a 14.1% swing towards the party. This was due to numerous factors such as the loss of Wynne's personal vote and controversy surrounding the Labor candidate's claims of Aboriginal heritage. De Vietri is currently the Greens spokesperson for the Arts and Public Housing.