Northcote – Victoria 2014

ALP 10.3% vs GRN

Incumbent MP
Fiona Richardson, since 2006.

Geography
Inner north of Melbourne. Northcote mainly covers the southern suburbs of Darebin council, as well as the northeastern arm of Yarra council. It covers the suburbs of Alphington, Fairfield, Northcote, Thornbury and parts of Preston.

Redistribution
Northcote’s northern boundary with Preston was realigned along Bell Street.

History
Northcote was first created for the 1927 state election, and in that time has always been held by the ALP.

Northcote was first won in 1927 by John Cain, who had previously been the Member for Jika Jika since 1917. Cain became leader of the Victorian ALP in 1937, and led the party through extended periods of hung parliaments. He served as Premier briefly in 1943 when the Labor-supported Country Party government fell, and served as Premier for two years from 1945 to 1947, before losing the 1947 election badly.

In 1952, John Cain won the state election, and governed as Premier until 1955, when Labor MPs from the Catholic “Movement” faction crossed the floor and brought down the government. These MPs formed the basis of the Democratic Labor Party. Cain remained as leader of the ALP until his death in 1957 while campaigning for the ALP in a Queensland state election.

The 1957 Northcote by-election was won by the ALP’s Frank Wilkes. He became the ALP’s deputy leader in 1967, and became leader in 1976. He served as leader until 1981, when he was replaced by John Cain Jr, who won government in 1982. Wilkes served as a minister in the Cain government until his retirement in 1988.

In 1988, Northcote was won by Tony Sheehan, who was Member for Ivanhoe from 1982 to 1985, when he lost the seat to the Liberal Party. He served as a minister in the final years of the Labor government, serving as Treasurer in 1992 before the Liberal Party won the state election that year. He retired in 1998.

The 1998 by-election was won by former ABC newsreader Mary Delahunty. She served as a minister in the Bracks government from 1999 to 2006, when she retired.

In 2006, Northcote was won by Fiona Richardson, and she won a second term in 2010.

Candidates

• Jamie McCarney (Basics Rock’n’Roll)
• Fiona Richardson (Labor)
• Helen Fenn (Family First)
• Georgina Purcell (Animal Justice)
• Anthony D’Angelo (Liberal)
• Bryony Edwards (Independent)
• Trent McCarthy (Greens)

Assessment
The Greens would probably require a swing as well as a change in Liberal Party preferencing policy if they were to overturn Labor’s hold on Northcote.

2010 election result

2010 two-party-preferred result

Booth breakdown
Booths in Northcote have been divided into three parts: north, south-east and south-west.

The ALP won a majority of the two-candidate-preferred vote (against the Greens) in all three areas, with 57.7% in the south-west and 63-66% in the other two areas.

The Liberal Party came third, with a vote ranging from 16% in the south-west to 22.6% in the south-east.