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| Adam Carr's Election Archive
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Victorian state election, 28 November 2026
Ringwood District
Location: Heathmont, Nunawading, Ringwood
Legislative Council:
North-Eastern Metropolitan Region
Enrolment 2022 election: 52,040
Enrolment June 2026: 54,315 (up 4.4%)
Relevant demographics (2021 census)
High income: 26.2% (Aust average 22.6%)
Renting: 30.4% (Aust average 30.6%)
Paying a mortgage: 36.0% (Aust average 35.0%)
Couples with children: 63.0% (Aust average 43.7%)
Born overseas: 32.8% (Aust average 27.7%)
Born in China: 6.9% (Aust average 2.3%)
Chinese speakers: 12.5% (Aust average 3.9%)
No religion: 29.4% (Aust average 38.9%)
University graduate: 37.4% (Aust average 26.3%)
Professional / managerial: 35.2% (Aust average 37.7%)
Sitting member: Will Fowles (independent): Elected 2018 (Burwood), 2022 (Ringwood). Retiring 2026
2018 Labor majority over Liberal: 02.8%
2021 redistricting: Labor over Liberal: 03.2%
2022 Labor majority over Liberal: 07.5%
Status: Marginal Labor
Ringwood was created in 1958, abolished in 1992, and re-created in 2014. It was a safely Liberal seat until 1982, when Labor won it for the first time. In 1992 it was cut up between Bayswater and Mitcham, both of them increasingly marginal seats. The seat now runs east-west along the Maroondah Highway, from Blackburn in the west to Ringwood East in the east. The Labor vote is strongest at the western end, and weakest along the southern edge of the seat, in Mitcham South and Heathmont. Not coincidentally, the western part of the seat is increasingly attracting Chinese-Australian reidents.
The Liberals' Dee Ryall won the revived Ringwood in 2014, but in 2018 she was defeated by Labor's Dustin Halse. In 2021 Halse was accused of having a sexual relationship with a member of his staff, and chose not to contest the seat at the 2022 election. The new Labor candidate was Will Fowles, who won Burwood in 2018 but was left without a seat when Burwood was abolished at the 2021 redistricting. Despite having no local connections, Fowles retained the seat with a 4.3% swing, giving Labor a fairly comfortable margin of 7.5%.
In August 2023 Fowles resigned from the Labor Caucus following allegations of sexual assault, which he denied. Police investigated the allegation but did not pursue criminal charges. Nevertheless, Fowles remained excluded from the Labor Caucus, and will not re-contest Ringwood in 2026. For Labor to lose two successive members for Ringwood in this way is not a good look, and suggests that the seat is more vulnerable than its margin would indicate.
2022 results
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Boundaries following
2021 redistricting |
See full-size map
Candidates:
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Jack Gardner
Victorian Socialists |
Rachel Halse
Australian Labor Party |
Nick McGowan
Liberal Party |
Amy Mills
Australian Greens |
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