Prahran Victoria—Legislative Assembly
Interactive map of electoral district boundaries from the2022 state election
State	Victoria
Created	1889
MP	Rachel Westaway
Party	Liberal
Namesake	Prahran
Electors	50,373 (2018)
Area	11 km2 (4.2 sq mi)
Demographic	Inner metropolitan

Prahran is anelectoral district of theLegislative Assembly in the Australian state ofVictoria. It was created by the Electoral Act Amendment Act 1888,^[1] taking effect at the 1889 elections. The electorate is the state’s smallest by area, covering a little under 11 km² in the inner south-east ofMelbourne. It includes the suburbs ofSouth Yarra,Prahran andWindsor, as well as parts ofSouthbank,St Kilda andSt Kilda East.

Prahran has tended to be a marginal seat throughout its existence, repeatedly changing between the Labor Party and its successive conservative rivals. It has not, however, been a bellwether seat, as the changes of party control have often not coincided with changes of government. In the 1980s and 1990s, the electorate became gradually more conservative as a result of increasinggentrification in the inner suburbs, resulting in seventeen years of Liberal control from 1985 until 2002. This trend was broken in the2002 election, which saw popular local member and shadow ministerLeonie Burke defeated by Labor rising starTony Lupton on an unexpectedly large swing, coinciding with Labor’s massive win that year. The seat has since become increasingly progressive, having been won by either Labor or the Greens in five out of the last six elections while the Liberal Party's primary vote has declined from slightly above the state average to significantly below the state average.

The seat was strongly targeted by theLiberal Party during the2006 election, with high-profile barristerClem Newton-Brown narrowly preselected as their candidate after a tight contest. Though Newton-Brown ran a thorough campaign, he was not successful. Following his success in the 2006 election, Tony Lupton was promoted to the position of Parliamentary Secretary for Industry and Innovation. Newton-Brown stood again at the2010 election and was this time successful. He re-contested the2014 election but lost toSam Hibbins of theGreens. Along with the seat ofMelbourne it was the first win for the Greens in theVictorian Legislative Assembly.

Hibbins increased his two-candidate-preferred margin to 7.5% at the2018 election, but only narrowly defeated Labor by 262 votes in the 3-candidate-preferred count. At the2022 election, a large swing to the Greens saw them take first place on primary votes before comfortably defeating the Liberal Party on a 2-candidate-preferred basis, retaining the seat for a third term with an increased margin of 12%.

Hibbins resigned from the Greens and briefly sat as an independent crossbencher after having an extramarital affair with a staffer. Hibbins subsequently resigned from parliament and aby-election ensued which was a race between the Greens and Liberals, with Labor not contesting. Tony Lupton contested as an Independent. The by-election was won narrowly by the Liberals'Rachel Westaway with a swing of 13.4% to the Liberals, the seat returning to conservative hands for the first time since 2014. This was due to numerous factors such as Lupton directing preferences to the Liberals, low voter turnout andJohn Pesutto's leadership of the Liberals. The seat is currently the third most marginal Liberal held seat in the state.

Image		Member	Party	Term	Notes
		Edward Dixon (1833–1905)	Independent	1 April 1889 – 1 September 1894
		Frederick Gray (1853–1933)	Labour	1 October 1894 – 1 October 1900
		Donald Mackinnon (1859–1932)	Liberal	1 October 1900 – 21 October 1920
		Alexander Parker (1891–1970s)	Labor	21 October 1920 – 30 August 1921
		Richard Fetherston (1964–1943)	Nationalist	30 August 1921 – 26 June 1924
		Arthur Jackson (1874–1957)	Labor	26 June 1924 – 14 May 1932
		John Ellis (1872–1945)	United Australia	14 May 1932 – 5 March 1945	Died in office[2]
			Liberal	5 March 1945 – 2 July 1945
		Bill Quirk (1891–1948)	Labor	18 August 1945 – 16 November 1948	Wonby-election. Died in office[3]
		Frank Crean (1916–2008)	Labor	22 January 1949 – 17 March 1951	Previously member forAlbert Park. Wonby-election. Resigned in1951 to successfully contestfederal seat of Melbourne Ports and later served asDeputy Prime Minister
		Robert Pettiona (1915–1980)	Labor	16 June 1951 – 28 May 1955	Wonby-election. Lost seat
		Sam Loxton (1921–2011)	Liberal	28 May 1955 – 5 May 1979
		Bob Miller (1941–)	Labor	5 May 1979 – 2 March 1985	Did not seek re-election in order to unsuccessfully contestLegislative Council seat ofMonash
		Don Hayward (1932–)	Liberal	2 March 1985 – 30 March 1996
		Leonie Burke (1949–)	Liberal	30 March 1996 – 30 November 2002	Lost seat[4][5]
		Tony Lupton (1957–)	Labor	30 November 2002 – 27 November 2010	Lost seat[6]
		Clem Newton-Brown (1967–)	Liberal	27 November 2010 – 29 November 2014	Lost seat[7]
		Sam Hibbins (1982–)	Greens	29 November 2014 – 1 November 2024	Resigned from Greens after admitting toextramarital affair with staff member.[8] Resigned from parliament[9]
			Independent	1 November 2024– 23 November 2024
		Rachel Westaway	Liberal	8 February 2025 – present	Wonby-election. Incumbent

• District profile from the Victorian Electoral Commission
• "Find a Member". State Government of Victoria. Retrieved18 July 2025.

• Electoral districts of Victoria (state)
• 1889 establishments in Australia
• City of Melbourne
• City of Stonnington
• City of Port Phillip
• St Kilda East
• St Kilda, Victoria
• Electoral districts and divisions of Greater Melbourne

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