Victorian State Election 2010: Malvern
Electorate: Malvern
Margin: Liberal 11.3%
Upper house region: Southern Metropolitan
Federal: Higgins
Click here for Victorian Electoral Commission map
The candidates
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O’BRIEN, Michael
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Electorate analysis: The blue-ribbon Liberal seat of Malvern is located in Melbourne’s inner south-eastern suburbs, from Toorak east to Malvern East with Gardiners Creek as the northern boundary. It has been held by the Liberals at all time since its creation in 1945. Former leader and current Lord Mayor Robert Doyle became member at the 1992 election after a preselection win over sitting member Geoff Leigh, who found refugee in the marginal seat of Mordialloc where he was eventually defeated in 2002. When Doyle announced he would not be contesting the election in early 2006, his colleagues in the Costello-Kroger camp threw their weight behind Michael O’Brien, barrister and former adviser to Costello. Elements in the Kennett/Baillieu camp sought to counter this by backing local banker Jane Hume, but O’Brien won with 44 votes out of 54 amid familiar complaints about the process. O’Brien won immediate promotion to shadow cabinet in the gaming portfolio, further gaining consumer affairs in August 2007 and infrastructure, energy and trade in November 2009.
Analysis written by William Bowe. Read William’s blog, The Poll Bludger.