Brad Battin says Liberals ousted Greens in Prahran by ‘listening to locals’ – as it happened​on February 9, 2025 at 5:23 am

Thanks for following along on the blog today. Here is a wrap-up of today’s news, in case you missed it:

• The federal Labor party announced a $573m package it says will deliver more choice, lower costs and better healthcare for women. The package of measures includes the first PBS listing for new oral contraceptive pills in more than 30 years, and larger Medicare payments and more bulk billing for IUDs and birth control implants.

• More severe weather was forecast to hit north Queensland, with already sodden parts of the state expecting further heavy rainfall after near-record flooding that isolated towns and required defence force assistance.

• Forced displacement of people “is not consistent with international law”, finance minister Katy Gallagher said on ABC Insiders this morning. Host David Speers asked a number of times for her response to Trump’s proposal that the US should “take over” Gaza and “own it”, which the UN secretary general, António Guterres, has warned would be “ethnic cleansing”.

• Two women in their 40s were hit by fragments of a tree after a lightning strike south-west of Sydney yesterday, killing one of the women.

• Jacinta Allan was pushed on the Werribee byelection – where Labor’s once-comfortable margin has gone from 10.9% at the 2022 state election to a razor-thin 0.6%. Asked whether she is the right person to lead the Labor party after the result, Allan said there is “more to do” before the next state election.

• The Greens leader, Ellen Sandell, conceded the party has lost the Victorian state seat of Prahran in the byelection.

We’ll see you back on the blog tomorrow.

Australia’s recent declaration of being bird flu-free has proved short-lived, with the Victorian agriculture department announcing an outbreak at a farm in the state’s north.

The Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness conducted testing at Geelong confirming a H7N8 strain, which is different to the strain that hit Victorian poultry farms last year.

The property has been placed in quarantine and arrangements made to ensure the disease does not spread from the Strathbogie shire in Victoria’s north-east, the department said.

On Thursday, the federal government announced Australia was officially bird flu-free after there had been no detections of H7 avian influenza since July.

More than 1.8 million birds were killed in a quest to rid the nation of the disease after Victoria, New South Wales and the ACT experienced outbreaks.

The Victorian Agriculture Department warned people should contact the 24-hour hotline, on 1800 675 888, or their local vet if they have any suspicions about possible bird flu cases.

“Consumers should not be concerned about eggs and poultry products from the supermarkets, they do not pose a risk and are safe to consume,” the department said.

Cases among humans in direct contact with animals infected with avian influenza viruses are possible, the department noted. But it said the risk to the public remains low.

– AAP

Crime a ‘massive issue’ in Prahran, Rachel Westaway says

Rachel Westaway said she was so grateful to take on the seat, having worked “tirelessly every day” during the campaign to advocate for the community:

As a 20-year local in the area, raising three children in this area, I know what we are feeling, and I know the results are demonstrative that this is a vote against the Allan Labor government. This is a vote against 10 years of waste that we’ve had. This is an opportunity, and this is an exciting time. I love Prahran, I love our Chapel Street … I will listen to every single one of the people of the Prahran electorate and work tirelessly for them.

She said crime was a “major issue” in the electorate. Westaway says:

Crime is a massive issue, it’s been spoken about constantly by me. People are feeling unsafe, whether it be South Yarra, Prahran, Windsor, St Kilda East – all the parts that cover this electorate with Chapel Street running through the centre of our electorate … They’ve seen more and more issues, people running down Chapel Street with a machete, firebombings, the firebombing of a local synagogue. These are outrageous things that we haven’t seen before and we’ve just got to get on top of it.

Earlier this afternoon the Victorian Liberal leader, Brad Battin, claimed victory in the seat of Prahran. Joined by his soon-to-be Prahran MP, Rachel Westaway, he said she won by “listening to locals”:

She’s lived here for 20 years. She knows what it’s like when Chapel Street has changed so much and the impact on the families. She knows the impact of crime through this local community, the cost-of-living crisis, and the issues that are happening across our state have been reflected here in this electorate … We know that the message from both of these electorates is that they are sick of the Greens and Labor destroying their lives … we are very proud that we can claim victory in a seat that many didn’t think was possible just three or four weeks ago.

From empty homes to dead possums, tenants reveal laundry list of problems in Victoria’s community housing

One of Victoria’s largest community housing providers has been accused of leaving apartments empty for more than a year and failing to address maintenance issues raised by tenants, including broken windows, missing floorboards and dead possums left to rot.

The claims come as housing advocates warn of widespread problems with community housing, including poor standards and a lack of transparency.

Read the full story here:

Gunshots fired at home in Sydney’s west

Police are appealing for information after a firearm was discharged towards a home in Sydney’s west this morning, NSW police said in a media statement.

Around 2am this morning, police were called to a home in Stanhope Gardens after reports of a break and enter.

Officers were told a group of people broke into the home before fleeing the scene. No injuries were reported.

Police found evidence that a firearm was discharged towards the home, according to the media statement.

A crime scene was established and investigations are under way.

Police ask any witnesses or people with dashcam footage nearby to contact Crime Stoppers.

Business and consumer spirits expected to lift on hopes of rate cut

Rising hopes of a Reserve Bank interest rate cut are expected to be reflected in growing confidence among businesses and consumers.

NAB will release its January survey of business conditions on Tuesday, the same day as Westpac and the Melbourne Institute’s February consumer confidence index is unveiled.

NAB’s business survey for the December quarter, released last Thursday, showed a small lift in confidence, though it remains in negative territory.

“However, expected business conditions in the next 12 months and [capital expenditure] plans in the next 12 months both improved – possibly boosted by the prospect of rate cuts, recovering consumer demand and easing costs growth over 2025,” said the bank’s chief economist, Alan Oster.

Since then, expectations the RBA would begin cutting rates at its February meeting have only increased further, given the softer-than-expected CPI figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics at the end of January.

As the rates outlook improves, increased investor appetite for property could show up in lending figures released by the bureau on Wednesday.

– AAP

Labor v the Coalition: who is leading in the polls?

As the Australian federal election approaches, political polls are coming thick and fast.

Read the story below to see regular updates, so you can track who is polling up, how the independents are faring and how the parties stand with different demographics:

Flood-hit communities are being urged to keep up to date with the latest warnings, with fears more severe weather and volatile conditions are on the way.

Heavy falls hit northern Queensland after a brief reprieve, with coastal and inland centres including Townsville, Cardwell and Ingham in the firing line.

Major flood warnings are in place for the Herbert, Burdekin, Haughton, Flinders, Cape and Western rivers, with minor-to-moderate warnings in place for a number of other catchments through north-east and northern inland Queensland.

Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Myriam Bradbury said 24-hour rainfall totals could reach up to 250mm.

“This rain is falling on to saturated land, meaning it will quickly run off and top up already swollen rivers,” she said.

This means that even moderate rainfall totals could cause swift river rises and could lead to dangerous flooding conditions.

The flood warnings come as communities in northern Western Australia remain on watch for a possible tropical cyclone.

A tropical low is expected to move along the Kimberley coast on Sunday, whipping up damaging gusts of up to 100km/h.

The low could reach tropical cyclone intensity late on Sunday or early Monday as it heads towards Broome and the Pilbara, bringing widespread falls.

Bradbury said gales could develop as early as Monday morning with increased rain and large waves from late Sunday.

“Forecast rainfall in the flood watch area is expected to result in river rises, areas of flooding and may adversely affect road conditions,” she said.

“Roads may quickly become impassable and some communities may become isolated once that rain starts to fall.”

– AAP

‘Only buy what you need’: Flood-affected Queenslanders warned against panic buying

Queenslanders have been warned against panic buying, as the deputy premier says that the government is working to restock and resupply areas of the state cut off by floods.

“One of the challenges that I’m dealing with is supply and resupply to many areas, and as I indicated, far north Queensland has been cut off from road, rail, freight,” Jarrod Bleijie said on Sunday morning.

I just plead with people, particularly in far north Queensland, when shops are resupplied, please only buy what you need, because there is difficulty in getting the supply.

Bleijie said that government was using a range of methods to try to get stock to shops in flood-affected areas, including trucks which were ready to go as soon as rivers dropped sufficiently to allow them to safely cross, rail, air, and even barges.

He offered the example of Weipa, a mining town on the Cape York peninsula. “I’ve got real concerns about resupplying to Weipa. We are currently loading barges up, which will take off from Cairns, but it’s a three-day trek to Weipa. We are looking at all options to get resupply into these areas that are cut off.”

Bleijie said the Queenland government was working with the federal government to address supply needs.

The premier, David Crisafulli, said that the government had spoken with the major supermarkets in far north Queensland several months ago about getting extra stock into warehouses in the area in case of flooding.

“They got six weeks of the non-perishables into there,” he said. “There is food in those warehouses. The issue has been the access to the fresh fruit and veggies and the milk and the meats, the stuff that people really need and that’s why flying the aerial route became the only available option.”

Greens leader cites low turnout and lack of absentee voting as factors in Prahran loss

Sandell also says turnout was also low. She believes a high proportion of young people who rent in the area may have moved since the 2022 election or were away over the summer university break and unable to vote absentee.

She says:

Absentee votes overwhelmingly favour the Greens, and we didn’t have any absentee votes in this election. And so what that largely means is that young people who are not physically in the electorate of Prahran on the day, were not able to vote. So you might have someone who’s moved from Prahran to Brunswick or moved to a regional area – they can’t turn up at their local polling group, find out that they’re still enrolled in Prahran and cast their vote. And those votes are a huge chunk of votes in the general election, and they overwhelmingly go towards the Greens.

When it was put to her by a reporter that people should check their enrolment, and that they had a week to get to Prahran and vote, Sandell replied:

It was a time when young people were not around, and during the summer holidays, that’s actually the difference. I’m just being honest with you – if you look at the figures in the election, that’s actually what the situation is … and young people are the ones who are renting and then getting kicked out [or] having to move because of rent increases. They’re having to move all around the city, so it’s pretty hard for them to keep up with where to enrol every single year. So it’s very common not to be enrolled where they live because of those structural factors.

The Greens leader, Ellen Sandell, has conceded the party has lost the Victorian state seat of Prahran in the byelection.

“Obviously it’s not the result we had hoped for,” she told reporters.

Sandell says while Greens’ primary vote held up, the party did not pick up any of Labor voters. This is despite Labor’s decision not to field a candidate in the seat.

She says the Liberal candidate, Rachel Westaway, benefited from the preferences of the former Labor MP turned independent candidate, Tony Lupton, who received 12.8% of primary votes.

Lupton had instructed voters to preference the Liberals second and Greens last, pushing Westaway to 51.6% in the two-party-preferred vote.

Sandell says:

What actually made the difference here is that we had the Labor party make a decision not to run a candidate in Prahran, which left the field open for a former Labor MP and unofficial Labor candidate to run and funnel preferences to the Liberals.

More details soon …

Allan says Liberals’ platform ‘hurting vulnerable people in our community’

Allan:

What’s clear to me, is that communities are looking for their governments and their members of parliament to be focused on them, understanding, in a cost of living crisis, a global cost of living crisis, that they need. It’s also clear in Werribee that they looked at the Liberal party and didn’t like their division, didn’t like their program of cuts and didn’t like their program of hurting vulnerable people in our community. It’s clear the Victorians know that they can’t trust the Liberal party, that what I’m focused on will be supporting those working people and families who need a Labor government that is focused on them, working hard for them and fighting for them.

Allan says steady first-preference vote shows Victorians ‘do not trust the Liberal party’

A reporter notes despite the huge swing away from Labor, it didn’t reflect in a huge bump in first-preference voters to the Liberals. Asked what she makes of that, the premier said “Victorians can’t trust them”.

They’re divided. They have a program of, what will they cut next, and what vulnerable members in our community will they hurt next? And it is absolutely clear that the Victorian community do not trust the Liberal party, because they are divided and all they want to do is hurt communities.

Premier says infrastructure projects elsewhere in Melbourne will benefit Werribee voters

Asked whether she will reconsider going ahead with the Suburban Rail Loop project, which is set to benefit the eastern suburbs well before it makes its way to Werribee, Allan says:

The Suburban Rail Loop is part of our program of transport projects that is supporting working people by supporting jobs. Maybe some of us have been around a little longer, but we all remember a time when a Liberal government, aided and abetted by a federal Liberal government, didn’t invest in infrastructure projects in Victoria. That hurts working people because they don’t have a pipeline of jobs, good secure jobs. It’s also working people who need those transport connections so they can get to work, they can make their medical appointments, they can go to university or Tafe and pursue the career they want. That is why transport connections are just so important. They provide an equality of opportunity for working people. It is why in that pipeline we have the Metro Tunnel, the West Gate Tunnel, the Suburban Rail Loop, the North East Link, removing level crossings. This is all about making sure that we are supporting the transport connections our community needs.

Places like Werribee ‘looking for governments to do more’, Allan concedes

Has the Victorian Labor government lost sight of the voters it’s meant to represent? Allan makes somewhat of a concession:

Places like Werribee, some of the fastest growing places in the country, are looking to governments to do more. Now we have made meaningful investments in more schools, seven more schools, in road investments in the local community, but it is absolutely clear that there is more to do.

That’s a responsibility I take very, very seriously, to work hard every day, because I’ve never lost sight of what it means to have the privilege of being in government and to be in a Labor government to make a difference for working people. For people who need a Labor government, fighting for them against the big multinationals – like we saw recently – multinational companies who wanted to take penalty rights away from retail workers. Working people need Labor governments to fight for them, and that is what I will continue to do.

Premier says federal Labor will hear ‘message’ of Werribee byelection

Does she think the result will translate in the upcoming federal election? Allan replies:

We know that the global cost-of-living crisis, governments around the world are being sent a message. Governments around the country are being sent a message. People want their governments and their members of parliament focused on them, and they’re looking for support from their governments. Now, federal Labor, they’ve rolled out a range of important initiatives that focus on working people and their families. I think we all know that there is more to do.