Victorian Labor may field a candidate in the upcoming byelection for the inner Melbourne seat of Prahran, after the resignation of former Greens MP Sam Hibbins following his admission of an affair with a staffer.
Hibbins on Saturday announced he would resign as the member for Prahran just three weeks after he quit the Greens due to a “consensual relationship” with a staff member on his team, which was a breach of the party’s rules.
Hibbins has already tendered his resignation with the speaker, Maree Edwards, who has 30 days to issue a writ for a byelection and set its timeline.
The byelection will probably be held in late January or early February but parties have just weeks to decide whether to run.
The Liberal MP, Evan Mulholland, told reporters on Sunday said he “fully expects” his party will field a candidate in the seat, which he said had “not been served well by either the Greens or the Labor party”.
Labor figures met on Sunday to discuss whether to field a candidate but will likely make a decision when its administrative committee meets on Tuesday. Some members had concerns about the high cost of running a campaign in a non-government seat, while others said they should work to prevent the Liberals from picking it up.
Most members agreed that if Labor performed poorly, it would be considered a “referendum” on the government, which would not be helpful ahead of the 2026 poll.
“It’s just not worth the risk,” one MP said.
However, another said: “We’re a major political party, we shouldn’t be picking and choosing which elections we contest and which we sit out.”
The premier, Jacinta Allan, said it was a matter for the party’s administration.
Prahran, which takes in the eponymous suburb as well as South Yarra and Windsor, has previously been held by both major parties before Hibbins won it in 2014 in a three-way contest that took the Victorian Electoral Commission more than a week to declare.
Since then, Hibbins has increased his margin to 12% against the Liberals, but the Greens have recently performed worse than expected at local government elections and in the Queensland state poll.
Ben Raue, an electoral analyst and founder of the Tally Room, said the byelection was “uncharted territory” for the Greens as it was the first time one of their MPs had resigned midterm.
“The Greens tend to win these seats and hold them with the same person, who they really build their support around,” Raue said.
“But the problem with that approach is if that MP screws up really badly, it doesn’t just hurt them, it hurts the brand.”
Hibbins, who is married and has two young children, said on Saturday he was resigning to put his family’s “wellbeing and safety” first.
“It has been an extremely difficult time for us as the public disclosure of what was a private matter has taken a significant toll on our family’s mental health,” Hibbins said.
He claimed that since he left the Greens there had been unauthorised access to his office, during which personal items including baby photos were “vandalised with offensive and threatening graffiti”.
It is understood Hibbins was informed of the vandalism inside his office by parliamentary services on 11 November and reported it to police.
Victoria police would not confirm whether the incident had been reported, citing privacy laws.
The Greens said the party did not believe any of its staff or MPs were involved in the alleged vandalism and they did not have access to Hibbins’ office after he left the party.
In a statement, the Greens leader, Ellen Sandell, said she was glad Hibbins had resigned from parliament.
