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| Adam Carr's Election Archive
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Victorian state election, 28 November 2026
Northcote District
Location: Fairfield, Northcote, Thornbury
Legislative Council:
Northern Metropolitan Region
Enrolment 2022 election: 50,3698
Enrolment November 2025: 52,562
Sitting member: Kat Theophanous (Labor): Elected 2024
2018 Labor majority over Greens: 01.7%
2022 Labor majority over Greens: 00.2%
Status: Very safe Labor versus Liberals, vulnerable to Greens
Northcote was created in 1927, repacing the old seat of Jika Jika, which had covered most of the northern suburbs. Subsequent redistrictings cut it back to the Northcote-Alphington area, which at that time and for many years after was a solidly working-class area. Over recent decades, as manufacturing has moved out of the inner suburbs, and affluent professionals have moved in, the area has changed radically. Northcote is now at the heart of the inner northern suburbs "hipster belt" and is one Melbourne's most affluent areas.
Northcote was held for its first 30 years by John Cain (or John Cain senior as he is now known). Cain was Leader of the Victorian Labor Party for 20 years and three times Premier. After his death in 1957 the seat passed to Frank Wilkes, who was party leader 1976-81 and later a minister in John Cain (junior)'s government. He was succeeded in 1988 by Tony Sheehan, who was Treasurer in the Kirner Government, then by Mary Delahunty, who was a minister in the Bracks Government. She retired in 2006 and was succeeded by Fiona Richardson, who was a minister in the Andrews Government until her death fron cancer in August 2017.
The Labor primary vote in Northcote fell from 72% in 1985 to 40% in 2014, while the Greens vote rose from nothing to 35%. This is the same pattern as seen in other inner-city seats such Melbourne, Brunswick and Richmond. Nevertheless Labor expected to retain the seat at the November 2017 by-election, especially considering the circumstances that brought it about. In fact there was a further 11.6% swing from Labor to the Greens, and the Greens' Lidia Thorpe easily won the seat.
At the 2018 election Thorpe was defeated by Kat Theophanous, the daughter of former state minister Theo Theophanous, who was part of the government relations team at SBS and later a staffer to Fiona Richardson. Thorpe was appointed by the Greens to the Senate in 2020, but left the party in 2023 and now sits as an independent. Theophanous narrowly survived a swing to the Greens at the 2022 election and now has a majority of only 0.2%. Northcote, along with Prahran, will the leading target seat for the Greens at the 2026 election.
2022 results
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Boundaries following
2021 redistricting |
See full-size map
Candidates:
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Campbell Gome
Victorian Greens |
Kat Theophanous
Australian Labor Party |
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