Greens attack on Labor to begin in Melbourne heartland

Greens plan to cut Labor's power in Victoria by targeting Lidia Thorpe's former seat of Northcote In short: The Greens are targeting traditional Labor seats at the upcoming Victorian state election. Senator Lidia Thorpe's former seat of Northcote is a key target. What's next? Victoria heads to the polls on Saturday, November 28. At the last federal election, the Greens suffered a catastrophic wipe-out; in the upcoming Victorian state election, they're looking to mount a comeback. The major Greens casualties in 2025 were party leader Adam Bandt and one-time rising star Max Chandler-Mather — who even earned a rebuke from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as he exited parliament — such was the animosity brewing between the Greens and Labor. Now at a federal level, the Greens have a new leader in David Shoebridge, who is also keen to take the Labor vote. At the upcoming Victorian state election, that is also a primary Greens target. Labor holds 54 of the 88 lower house seats in the Victorian parliament, the Coalition 29, and five on the crossbench. The Greens currently hold three lower house seats, Brunswick, Melbourne and Richmond, by comfortable margins. They are targeting at least five more, including the Liberal-held Prahran and Labor's Footscray, Pascoe Vale, Preston and Northcote. Greens success across this part of Melbourne could significantly erode Labor's parliamentary majority and potentially reshape the balance of power in Victoria. Northcote is the former seat of federal senator Lidia Thorpe, who won it in a 2017 by-election. Trying to take the seat back is Greens candidate Campbell Gome, a primary school teacher and trade unionist, who believes the political mood is shifting. "We are going to keep knocking on doors, we are going to keep listening to people," Mr Gome told 7.30. "This sense that is coming up again and again on the door is that the Labor Party has abandoned communities like ours." Asked whether voters are enthused about Greens policies or looking to park their dissatisfaction with Labor elsewhere, he told 7.30: "I think the two go hand-in-hand." "That's the real change in 2026 ... this sense of frustration and abandonment of [Victorian] Labor's historic position as being for ordinary people and being genuinely progressive." In many parts of the seat of Northcote, about 7km north of Melbourne's CBD, political messaging sits alongside bustling cafes and gentrification. Aside from its brief dalliance with Senator Thorpe, the seat has been Labor for almost a century and swung back that way in 2018. Labor's Kat Theophanous defeated Mr Gome by just 184 votes in 2022. The looming contest is familiar territory. "We expect it to be close again. For me, it's always been a marginal seat, both in 2018 and in 2022," Ms Theophanous said. The state Labor MP rejects suggestions by her political opponents that Labor has lost touch with her electorate's progressive communities. "I disagree with it," she said. "I don't think we've abandoned ordinary people. I speak to ordinary people all the time, I live in this community and every day I'm showing up and listening to them and fighting for the things that they care about." She acknowledges some voters are tiring of the long-term Labor government but says many are concerned about a possible Coalition government. "After 12 years, of course there's going to be people that are feeling fatigue," she said. "I'm asking people to vote for me because of our record of delivery in the inner north." Greens 'don't go far enough' Recent polls of Victorian voters suggest the Greens have momentum. After Labor replaced Jacinta Allan with Ben Carroll as premier, Redbridge and DemosAU put the statewide Greens primary vote between 14 and 17 per cent. In Northcote though the Victorian Socialists are looking to establish themselves, and their progressive agenda could impact the Greens vote. Victorian Socialist candidate for Northcote Kath Larkin told 7.30: "I think the main difference is that we're socialists, right? We're anti-capitalists. We oppose the system in total." "The Greens have a politics. It's more about tinkering around the edges," she said. "I used to vote for the Greens before we formed Victorian Socialists, but I don't think they go far enough." The Victorian Socialists are aiming to run candidates in every lower house seat at this election. Like the Greens, they want to implement sweeping reforms. They are promising to freeze and cap rents, build more public housing and return essential services to public ownership, all paid for, they say, by new taxes on big corporations and the wealthy. Mr Gome told 7.30 the difference between the two is that the Greens are represented at every level of government and "are able to affect real change". Ms Theophanous primarily sees the Victorian Socialists as only being a problem for the Greens. "They are nipping at the heels of the Greens," she said. "The Greens have some soul-searching to do about where their party stands on things, because I think that they are catering to the socialists." In Northcote, every vote and preference matters. In 2022, preferences from Liberals and the Victorian Socialists largely flowed against Labor to the Greens in the seat to tighten the race. This time the Greens say they are striving to win Northcote without relying on preferences, while the Victorian Socialists are looking to influence the result. "In Northcote, we're looking to bump up our numbers. I don't think we'll take the seat this time round," Ms Larkin told 7.30. "[But] I think it's possible that our votes will be decisive." Watch 7.30, Mondays to Thursdays 7:30pm on ABC iview and ABC TV [Image text:] Socialists Kath Larkin VOTE SOCIALIST FOR REAL CHANGE CAMPBELL GOME VOTEGREENS FOR NORTHCOTE FREE&FREQUENT PUBLIC TRANSPORT TH GREENS