Retiring MPs leave Labor exposed in two marginal seats

2 hours ago 2

Labor will be defending two marginal seats with new candidates at the 2026 state election after Melton’s Steve McGhie and Bayswater’s Jackson Taylor announced they would step aside.

Further retirements are expected, and Victorian Labor is likely to open preselections for lower house seats in October. The announcements follow a spate of veteran Liberals confirming they will not contest the November 2026 poll.

Premier Jacinta Allan earlier this month.

McGhie and Taylor have both been in parliament since the 2018 “Danslide”.

Melton has been held by Labor since the seat’s creation in the 1990s but has increasingly come under threat. McGhie fended off challenges and retained the seat with a 4.6 per cent margin in 2022, but Melton will again be viewed as the seat most vulnerable within Labor’s “red wall” of the outer northern and western suburbs.

The opposition has put Melton on its target list. Moorabool Shire councillor Jarrod Bingham, a former independent candidate, a snake catcher and volunteer firefighter, has already had his name thrown around as a possible contender for the Liberal Party in the seat.

Ian Burchill, who stood as an independent twice in Melton, confirmed he would not recontest. A new group called the West Party is planning to register in time for 2026 and is expected to field a candidate in Melton.

Labor MP for Melton Steve McGhie at pre-polling for the 2022 election.

Taylor flipped Bayswater from the Liberal Party in 2018 when he was just 26 years old, and has since built up his margin from 0.4 per cent to 4.2 per cent. His exit will renew hope the Liberal Party can regain the seat, which covers Bayswater, Boronia, Ferntree Gully, The Basin, Wantirna and Wantirna South.

Taylor was a police officer, police prosecutor, and City of Knox councillor before entering parliament. On Tuesday he thanked the people of his electorate for the privilege of representing them.

“Being in politics and public office has given me incredible opportunities to work with our community and achieve things together that I’m immensely proud of. But it has also meant a lot of time away from my family. This hasn’t been an easy decision,” he said in a statement.

“Finding the right words for this has been incredibly difficult.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with Jackson Taylor in 2023.

“I’ve always said I know not everyone voted for me, but I have always done my absolute best to act in our community’s interest and to represent you with honesty and with commitment.”

Premier Jacinta Allan thanked both MPs for their contributions and wished them and their families the best.

McGhie was a paramedic and then secretary of the ambulance union before entering parliament. He thanked the Melton community and his family on Tuesday.

“From the moment Dan Andrews encouraged me to put my hand up, it has been an absolute privilege to serve,” he said in a statement.

“But the time feels right to pass the baton and create space for fresh energy and new ideas to the next generation that shares the same passion for our community’s future.”

A handful of Labor seats will also come under pressure from the Greens. In Northcote, the minor party has again preselected school teacher Campbell Gome to challenge Labor’s Kat Theophanous after he fell short by just 0.2 per cent after the distribution of preferences in 2022.

Water Minister and upper house MP Gayle Tierney had been widely speculated to stand aside but confirmed to The Australian she does not plan to go anywhere.

Liberal preselections for held lower house seats close next Tuesday.

Shadow attorney-general, former leader and treasurer Michael O’Brien, former treasurer Kim Wells, shadow minister David Hodgett and Benambra MP Bill Tilley have all confirmed they will leave parliament at the 2026 election.

Malvern is already hotly contested. Commercial litigator and barrister Lana Collaris confirmed she would run for preselection.

Oxford-educated Amelia Hamer — the former candidate for the federal seat of Kooyong and the grand-niece of former premier Sir Rupert “Dick” Hamer — is being encouraged to stand, as is Liberal Women’s Council Victoria chair Jacquie Blackwell.

Marcus Pearl, a former City of Port Phillip councillor and chief executive at financial services consulting firm QMV, has also been named as a possible candidate, while former corporate lawyer Josh Fast was less likely to contest preselection for the seat.

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