Northcote – Victoria 2026

ALP 0.2% vs GRN

Incumbent MP
Kat Theophanous, since 2018.

• Geography
• History
• Candidates
• Assessment
• 2022 results
• Booth breakdown
• Results maps

Geography
Inner north of Melbourne. Northcote mainly covers the southern suburbs of Darebin council, as well as the northeastern arm of Yarra council. It covers the suburbs of Alphington, Fairfield, Northcote, Thornbury and parts of Preston.

History
Northcote was first created for the 1927 state election, and in that time has been won by Labor at every general election, with the seat falling to the Greens for one year at a 2017 by-election.

Northcote was first won in 1927 by John Cain, who had previously been the Member for Jika Jika since 1917. Cain became leader of the Victorian ALP in 1937, and led the party through extended periods of hung parliaments. He served as Premier briefly in 1943 when the Labor-supported Country Party government fell, and served as Premier for two years from 1945 to 1947, before losing the 1947 election badly.

In 1952, John Cain won the state election, and governed as Premier until 1955, when Labor MPs from the Catholic “Movement” faction crossed the floor and brought down the government. These MPs formed the basis of the Democratic Labor Party. Cain remained as leader of the ALP until his death in 1957 while campaigning for the ALP in a Queensland state election.

The 1957 Northcote by-election was won by the ALP’s Frank Wilkes. He became the ALP’s deputy leader in 1967, and became leader in 1976. He served as leader until 1981, when he was replaced by John Cain Jr, who won government in 1982. Wilkes served as a minister in the Cain government until his retirement in 1988.

In 1988, Northcote was won by Tony Sheehan, who was Member for Ivanhoe from 1982 to 1985, when he lost the seat to the Liberal Party. He served as a minister in the final years of the Labor government, serving as Treasurer in 1992 before the Liberal Party won the state election that year. He retired in 1998.

The 1998 by-election was won by former ABC newsreader Mary Delahunty. She served as a minister in the Bracks government from 1999 to 2006, when she retired.

In 2006, Northcote was won by Fiona Richardson, and she was re-elected in 2010 and 2014. Richardson became Minister for Women and Minister for Prevention of Family Violence following the 2014 election.

Richardson died in August 2017. The subsequent by-election was won by Greens candidate Lidia Thorpe, thanks to an 11.6% swing.

Thorpe did improve on the Greens 2014 vote at the 2018 election but it wasn’t enough to retain her seat, losing to Labor candidate Kat Theophanous. Thorpe was subsequently appointed to a casual vacancy in the Senate.

Theophanous won a second term in 2022 by an extremely slim margin, making Northcote the most marginal Labor seat in Victoria.

Candidates

• Lynda Awad (Liberal)
• Campbell Gome (Greens)
• Kath Larkin (Victorian Socialists)
• Jim Penman (Libertarian)
• Kat Theophanous (Labor)

Assessment
The Greens would be hoping that a slumping Labor vote would allow them to win here.

2022 result

2022 two-candidate-preferred result

2022 two-party-preferred result

Booth breakdown

Booths have been divided into three parts: central, east and west.

Labor won the two-candidate-preferred vote in the south-east and on the pre-poll vote, which made up half of the total vote. The Greens won the two-candidate-preferred vote in the north and south-west.

The Liberal Party came third, with a primary vote ranging from 8.9% in the south-west to 13.7% in the south-east.

Election results in Northcote at the 2022 Victorian state election
Toggle between two-candidate-preferred votes (Labor vs Greens) and primary votes for Labor, the Greens and the Liberal Party.

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