Werribee has long been considered a safe seat. But it sits on a knife's edge tonight after a double-digit swing away from Labor in yesterday's by-election. The liberal party has picked up the seat of Prahran after the Victorian greens suffered an even bigger swing. And while Labor may still win Werribee it has set the alarm bells ringing, with the premier conceding the state government must do more.
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TVTranscript
00:00Putting on a brave face as Labor's Werribee heartland no longer beats true.
00:08We have an outstanding local Labor candidate who has worked his backside off.
00:15Labor's primary vote crashed but the result is too close to call.
00:24Candidate Steve Murphy and the Liberals toasting what was thought to be near impossible.
00:28Labor's sending a big message that safe outer suburban seats can no longer be taken for granted.
00:35By-elections are tough.
00:37But this was a really tough result.
00:40Labor's primary vote collapsed from 45% to 28.7%.
00:43While the Liberals' primary rose slightly, it was independents and minor parties which
00:48benefited from voter hostility towards the government.
00:51With the close of counting, a 10.4% two-party swing put Labor ahead by just 441 votes.
00:57But there's 1,000 more ballots to come, putting the result on a knife's edge.
01:02And it's absolutely clear from listening that we need to do more, we must do more and we
01:07will do more.
01:08Jacinta Allen blames global inflation for much of her government woes, but voters expressed
01:13anger at lacklustre infrastructure and rising crime.
01:17It's very clear that the community is sending a message to government and MPs everywhere.
01:22You've got to do more to listen to us, you've got to do more to help us.
01:26But there's no indication what that might be.
01:29There is a message for us as well.
01:30It is time for us to put forward our policies to be the alternative government.
01:35Brad Batten's savouring a sweet victory, less than two months since he rolled John Pasuto.
01:40The new member for Paran, Rachel Westerway.
01:44Rachel's knocking off the Greens in the seat for the first time in 11 years, with a 13%
01:49two-party swing.
01:50I love Chapel Street but enough is enough with the crime that we've seen.
01:53People are ready for that change.
01:55They've shown Jacinta Allen they are willing to throw her out at the next election.
01:59The Greens are licking their wounds too.
02:02It was the scandalous behaviour of MP Sam Hibbons that triggered this by-election.
02:06It was a by-election held during the uni summer holidays where a lot of young people, traditionally
02:11Greens voters, weren't around, weren't able to vote.
02:14It's a complaint unlikely to win any sympathy from Labor as it sweats on the result out west.