Electoral district of Richmond (Victoria)

This article is about the Victorian state electorate. For the former New South Wales electoral district, see Electoral district of Richmond (New South Wales). For the federal electoral division, see Division of Richmond.

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, North Fitzroy and Fitzroy. 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.

Richmond Victoria—Legislative Assembly
Location of Richmond (dark green) in Greater Melbourne
State	Victoria
Created	1856
MP	Gabrielle de Vietri
Party	Greens
Namesake	Suburb of Richmond
Electors	48,305 (2022)
Area	13 km2 (5.0 sq mi)
Demographic	Inner metropolitan

History

Richmond is one of only three electorates (along with Brighton and Williamstown) to have been contested at every election since 1856.^[1] It was initially a two-member electorate, but was changed to return only a single member in the redistribution of 1904 when several new districts were created including Abbotsford.^[1] It covers a series of traditionally working-class, industrial suburbs, and has been continuously held by the Labor Party with the exception of only one term since 1904. The brief exception occurred amidst the famous Labor split of 1955, when the 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, but was defeated in 1958 by Bill Towers, previously the member for the abolished seat of Collingwood.

Though a traditionally safe Labor seat, it has become progressively marginal in recent years due to increasing support for the Greens in the area. 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, by the generally progressive inner city constituency. 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 remains a marginal seat, however, and was strongly contested by Greens candidate, Kathleen Maltzahn, at the state elections in 2010 and 2014.

Former member Richard Wynne, a Labor Party member, 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. Wynne gained the seat in 1999 after the former Labor member, Demetri Dollis, was disendorsed for extended absence overseas.

The current member is Gabrielle de Vietri.

Historical maps

• 
  Location within Greater Melbourne area, 1859
• 
  Map of Richmond district (etc.), 1856^[2]

Members for Richmond

Two-member electorate (1856–1904)

Image		Member	Party	Term	Notes	Image		Member	Party	Term	Notes
		George Evans (1802–1868)	Unaligned	1 November 1856 – 1 August 1859				Daniel Campbell (1812–1875)	Unaligned	1 November 1856 – 1 August 1859
		James Francis (1819–1884)	Unaligned	1 October 1859 – 1 November 1874	Premier of Victoria from 1872 until 1874. Resigned			Alfred Woolley (1818–1890)	Unaligned	1 October 1859 – 1 July 1861
							Thomas Lambert (1829–1877)	Unaligned	1 August 1861 – 1 July 1864
							Archibald Wardrop (1828–1887)	Unaligned	1 November 1864 – 1 July 1866	Resigned
							Ambrose Kyte (1822–1868)	Unaligned	1 January 1867 – 1 December 1867	Former member for East Melbourne. Won by-election[3][4]
							James Harcourt (1813–1893)	Unaligned	1 June 1868 – 1 June 1871
							Louis Smith (1830–1910)	Unaligned	1 April 1871 – 1 March 1874
							Robert Inglis (1833–1915)	Unaligned	1 May 1874 – 1 April 1877
		Joseph Bosisto (1827–1898)	Unaligned	1 December 1874 – 1 March 1889
							Louis Smith (1830–1910)	Unaligned	1 May 1877 – 1 February 1880
							William Froggatt Walker (1840–1890)	Unaligned	1 May 1880 – 1 June 1880
							Louis Smith (1830–1910)	Unaligned	1 July 1880 – 1 February 1883
							Charles Smith (1833–1903)	Unaligned	1 February 1883 – 1 March 1889
		George Henry Bennett (1850–1908)	Unaligned	1 April 1889 – 1 June 1904	Re-elected when Richmond became single-member seat in 1904
							William Trenwith (1846–1925)	Labor	1 April 1889 – 18 November 1903	First leader of the Victorian Labor Party. Resigned to successfully contest 1903 federal election and served as senator for Victoria from 1904 until 1910
							George Roberts (1868–1925)	Labor	21 December 1903 – 1 June 1904	Lost seat when Richmond became single-member seat in 1904

Single-member electorate (1904–present)

Image		Member	Party	Term	Notes
		George Henry Bennett (1850–1908)	Liberal Oppositionist	1 June 1904 – 14 February 1907	Died in office[5]
			United Liberal	14 February 1907 – 8 September 1908
		Ted Cotter (1866–1947)	Labor	2 October 1908 – 10 November 1945	Won by-election. Retired after losing Labor preselection[6]
		Stan Keon (1915–1987)	Labor	10 November 1945 – 22 October 1949	Resigned to successfully contest Yarra at the 1949 federal election[7][8]
		Frank Scully (1920–2015)	Labor	17 December 1949 – 30 March 1955	Won by-election. Joined Labor (Anti-Communist) after being suspended from Labor. Lost seat[9][10][11]
			Labor (Anti-Communist)	30 March 1955 – 18 August 1957
			Democratic Labor	18 August 1957 – 31 May 1958
		Bill Towers (1892–1962)	Labor	31 May 1958 – 18 March 1962	Died in office
		Clyde Holding (1931–2011)	Labor	12 May 1962 – 3 November 1977	Won by-election. Leader of the Opposition from 1967 until 1977. Resigned to successfully contest Melbourne Ports at the 1977 federal election
		Theo Sidiropoulos (1924–1998)	Labor	17 December 1977 – 1 October 1988	Won by-election. First Greek-born member of the Parliament of Victoria. Retired[12]
		Demetri Dollis (1956–)	Labor	1 October 1988 – 18 September 1999	Deputy Leader of the Opposition from 1994 until 1996.[13] Disendorsed for extended absence overseas.[14] Later served as Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Greece[15][16]
		Richard Wynne (1955–)	Labor	18 September 1999 – 26 November 2022	Retired[17][18]
		Gabrielle de Vietri (1983–)	Greens	26 November 2022 – present	Incumbent

Election results

Main article: Electoral results for the district of Richmond (Victoria)

2022 Victorian state election: Richmond^[19][20][21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Greens	Gabrielle de Vietri	13,771	34.7	+1.2
	Labor	Lauren O'Dwyer	13,037	32.8	−11.6
	Liberal	Lucas Moon	7,456	18.8	+18.8
	Reason	Jeremy Cowen	1,830	4.6	−2.0
	Victorian Socialists	Roz Ward	1,828	4.6	+4.6
	Animal Justice	Lis Viggers	934	2.3	−0.5
	Family First	Markus Freiverts	458	1.2	+1.2
	Independent	Meca Ho	417	1.0	+1.0
Total formal votes			39,731	96.6	+2.5
Informal votes			1,381	3.4	−2.5
Turnout			41,112	85.1	−0.4
Notional two-party-preferred count
	Labor	Lauren O'Dwyer	29,451	74.1	−7.1
	Liberal	Lucas Moon	10,280	25.9	+7.1
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Greens	Gabrielle de Vietri	22,771	57.2	+14.1
	Labor	Lauren O'Dwyer	17,012	42.8	−14.1
	Greens gain from Labor		Swing	+14.1

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