Mulgrave byelection: Labor retains Daniel Andrews’ seat despite swing against Victorian government

Victorian Labor has retained Daniel Andrews’ seat of Mulgrave despite a significant swing against the government in the former premier’s seat.

The Dandenong mayor, Eden Foster, was leading with more than 40% of the primary vote in Saturday’s byelection, which was down more than 10 percentage points from Andrews’ showing at last year’s state poll.

Among the nine candidates challenging Foster, the Liberal candidate, Courtney Mann, had 22% of the first-preference votes and high-profile independent Ian Cook had 19%.

Foster led Cook 56% to 44% on a two-candidate preferred basis on Sunday morning.

Foster suffered a swing that has reduced the healthy 10.2% margin Andrews built. The former premier was the local member for more than 20 years.

The premier, Jacinta Allan, joined Foster and the Labor faithful to celebrate the result on Saturday evening.

Allan said despite cost-of-living pressures voters stuck with Labor because “they know that Labor delivers”.

The Liberals conceded defeat on Saturday night with the opposition leader, John Pesutto, praising the party’s increase in the primary vote.

He said the people of Mulgrave had sent a strong message to the premier that they were “tired of her taxes, waste and mismanagement”.

“They are tired of Labor doing nothing to address the rising cost of living,” he said.

Pesutto could face leadership pressure if the Liberals fail to finish second on primary votes but has insisted he is not fazed by that prospect.

Cook, of shut-down Melbourne caterer I Cook Foods, recontested the seat as an independent after collecting the second most first-preference votes at the 2022 state election.

Last week, the supreme court ruled former chief health officer Prof Brett Sutton’s order to shut down the business over the listeria-linked death of an 86-year-old woman was invalid because the health department did not observe procedural fairness.

But the judge dismissed the company’s bid for damages.

Saturday marked the second Victorian state byelection this year after the Liberals retained the seat of Warrandyte in Melbourne’s north-east after the retirement of veteran MP Ryan Smith. Labor did not contest the Warrandyte poll.