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Electoral district of Northcote

Northcote
VictoriaLegislative Assembly
Location of Northcote (dark green) in Greater Melbourne
StateVictoria
Created1927
MPKat Theophanous
PartyLabor
NamesakeSuburb of Northcote
Electors48,831 (2018)
Area21 km2 (8.1 sq mi)
DemographicMetropolitan
Coordinates37°46′12″S 145°0′36″E / 37.77000°S 145.01000°E / -37.77000; 145.01000

The electoral district of Northcote /ˈnɔːθkət/ is an electoral district of the Victorian Legislative Assembly. It covers the suburbs of Alphington, Fairfield, Northcote, Thornbury, and part of Preston. It lies on the northern bank of the Yarra River between the Merri and Darebin creeks.

The seat was created in 1927 as a replacement for Jika Jika, and has been a safe Labor seat for most of its existence. It has only been held by seven members. The seat's most historically prominent member is 34th Premier John Cain (senior). Upon Cain's death in 1957, he was succeeded by Frank Wilkes, who went on to become state Labor leader from 1977 to 1981.

Former ABC newsreader Mary Delahunty was elected in a 1998 by-election. As the electorate was safe for the Labor Party, the Liberals declined to nominate a candidate. However, partly due to the presence of a One Nation candidate, the Liberals took the unusual step of campaigning for the Australian Democrats, issuing a 'How to Vote Liberal' card which advocated voting Democrat, and then Premier Jeff Kennett also wrote to voters urging them to vote Democrat.[1]

While the law has since been changed stopping political parties campaigning directly for other political parties, that the seat has been traditionally safe for Labor has meant the Liberals have often run dead. Since the turn of the millennium, they have often been pushed into third place on the primary vote, allowing other parties, like the Greens in 2002, to become the main challengers to Labor. The Greens eventually won the seat in a 2017 by-election following the death of Labor member Fiona Richardson. However, Labor regained the seat at the following election in 2018.

Members for Northcote

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Member Party Term
  John Cain (senior) Labor 1927–1957
  Frank Wilkes Labor 1957–1988
  Tony Sheehan Labor 1988–1998
  Mary Delahunty Labor 1998–2006
  Fiona Richardson Labor 2006–2017
  Lidia Thorpe Greens 2017–2018
  Kat Theophanous Labor 2018–present

Election results

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2022 Victorian state election: Northcote[2][3][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labor Kat Theophanous 17,303 40.6 −1.1
Greens Campbell Gome 12,797 30.0 −9.5
Liberal Stewart Todhunter 5,205 12.2 +1.5
Victorian Socialists Kath Larkin 2,776 6.5 +6.5
Reason April Clarke 1,539 3.6 +0.2
Animal Justice Tim Oseckas 757 1.8 −0.7
Freedom Anastacia Ntouni 729 1.7 +1.7
Liberal Democrats Anthony Cave 530 1.2 +0.1
Independent Adrian Whitehead 518 1.2 +1.2
Family First Kathrine Ashton 408 0.9 +0.9
Independent Ashish Verma 80 0.2 +0.2
Total formal votes 42,642 94.5 −1.1
Informal votes 2,445 5.4 +1.1
Turnout 45,087 89.5 +0.4
Notional two-party-preferred count
Labor Kat Theophanous 34,840 81.7 −1.5
Liberal Stewart Todhunter 7,802 18.3 +1.5
Two-candidate-preferred result
Labor Kat Theophanous 21,413 50.2 −1.5
Greens Campbell Gome 21,229 49.8 +1.5
Labor hold Swing −1.5

References

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  1. ^ ABC
  2. ^ Green, Antony (11 January 2023). "VIC22 – 2-Party Preferred Results and Swings by District". Antony Green's Election Blog. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
  3. ^ VIC 2021 Final Redistribution, ABC News. [Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  4. ^ Northcote District results, Victorian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
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