Victorian Labor delays upper-house selections as MPs face possible losses

Victoria’s Labor Party is delaying the finalisation of upper-house candidates as it prepares for the possibility of major losses at the November 28 state election. Labor currently holds 15 of the 40 seats in the Legislative Council. Recent polling has led the party to expect that many candidates placed second on Labor tickets could fail to retain their seats, potentially reducing the party’s representation to nine.

An indicative timetable would see the party’s national executive decide preselections for existing Labor-held positions on 21 October. Remaining positions would be settled a week later, about one month before election day and shortly before the government enters caretaker mode. Factional groups are negotiating arrangements intended to protect senior MPs.

One proposed deal would move Enver Erdogan from the second position in the Northern Metropolitan Region to the safer top position in Eastern Victoria. Tom McIntosh, currently in the top position in Eastern Victoria, would move to the second position in Northern Metropolitan. The proposal has angered local members, who are petitioning to keep McIntosh in his existing position.

Sonny Stephens, Labor’s lower-house candidate for Gippsland East, said about 300 members had signed a petition describing McIntosh as a strong politician and expressing frustration with the selection process. Some sitting MPs have privately complained that the delay has left them uncertain about whether to invest in election campaigns. Labor has not finalised the arrangements, and the supplied report does not state whether the proposed position swap will be approved.