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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 km (5.0 sq mi)
Demographic	Inner metropolitan

Richmond is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Victoria. It is currently a 13 km 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.

History

Richmond is one of only three electorates (along with Brighton and Williamstown) to have been contested at every election since 1856. 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. 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

Members for Richmond

= by-election

Election results

References

1. ^ "Re-Member (Former Members)". State Government of Victoria. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
2. "Central Province and Electoral Districts of Melbourne, St Kilda, Collingwood, South Melbourne, Richmond and Williamstown" (map). State Library of Victoria. 27 November 1855. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
3. Green, Antony (11 January 2023). "VIC22 – 2-Party Preferred Results and Swings by District". Antony Green's Election Blog. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
4. VIC 2021 Final Redistribution, ABC News. [Retrieved 1 January 2023.
5. Richmond District results, Victorian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 1 December 2022.

External links

• Richmond District - Victorian Electoral Commission

37°48′45″S 144°59′40″E / 37.81250°S 144.99444°E / -37.81250; 144.99444

• Electoral districts of Victoria (state)
• 1856 establishments in Australia
• Fitzroy, Victoria
• City of Yarra
• Electoral districts and divisions of Greater Melbourne