With an election weeks away, the Coalition is promising to spend $5 billion on fixing Victoria’s roads, while Labor is planning to support school upgrades in Box Hill and the Greens are leading with plans to introduce publicly-owned supermarkets and a two-year rent freeze.
Across the key seats of Kew, Hawthorn and Box Hill, we reached out to the current MPs and their competition to compare achievements over the past four years with what has been pledged so far.
Kew
From left to right: Incumbent Liberal MP for Kew Jess Wilson, independent candidate for Kew Sophie Torney and Greens candidate for Kew Jackie Carter. Image Credit: Philip Mallis
Victorian Liberal leader Jess Wilson has been the Kew MP since 2022, when she secured a 3.98 percent margin over Labor in the two-candidate-preferred vote.
The seat tipping away from the Coalition would be a major upset. Kew has been held by a Liberal MP throughout its entire 99-year history.
Leading the way: Ahead of the 2022 election, the Coalition committed $102 million to extend Tram Route 48 from Balwyn North to the Westfield Doncaster shopping centre. As the Coalition didn’t win the election, this project has still not been realised, but Wilson has continued to push for it over the past four years.
Taking over as the Victorian Liberal leader last November, her promises have broadened to include investing $5 billion in fixing the state’s roads and scrapping the VNI West transmission line project.
Speaking on her first term as the Kew MP, Wilson said she was “proud” of a number of local achievements, including advocating for the speed limit at the Balwyn North shops to be reduced and pushing for a new Dickinson Reserve playground.
🗣️ “It has been a privilege to represent the people of Kew, and I am determined to deliver on these commitments should I have the honour of being re-elected and leading a Liberal and Nationals government,” she told the Eastern Melburnian.
Wilson said if re-elected, her local goals moving forward would include a safer pedestrian crossing at Barkers Road, scrapping the Kew Junction Activity Centre plans and restoring Boroondara Police Station to operating 24 hours a day.
Staying impartial: Independent candidate Sophie Torney ran against Wilson in the 2022 race, coming in third place in first preference votes with 21.1 percent.
If elected, she said her advocacy will include replacing the Willsmere Roundabout with a signalised intersection and installing noise walls along the Eastern Freeway in Kew East to better absorb the noise to be created by the North East Link project.
🗣️ “As an independent, and already what I've done in local government is, if I say I'm going to do something, I do it,” Torney told the Eastern Melburnian. “If we'd had real transparency on major project contracts, we wouldn't be in the situation that we're in.”
Public influence: The Greens candidate for Kew, Jackie Carter, ran in the 2022 election and acquired 8.29 percent of the first-preference votes, with the majority of her votes flowing towards Torney.
Carter said her local focus would be on making Kew streets safer and providing a more diverse set of transport options, with the Greens pledging five percent of the existing transport budget to building a network of separated cycling routes across Melbourne and regional centres.
🗣️ “I also want to see planning decisions returned to local councils, so local communities have a greater say in shaping their neighbourhoods,” she told the Eastern Melburnian. “I believe politics should work for ordinary people, not just those with money, influence, and connections.”
Hawthorn
From left to right: Incumbent Liberal MP for Hawthorn John Pesutto, independent candidate for Hawthorn Shima Ibuki and Greens candidate for Hawthorn Kylie Rocha. Image Credit: Philip Mallis
Liberal MP John Pesutto took the seat back from Labor in the 2022 race, but only with a narrow margin of 1.74 percent, making it the most marginal electorate in Melbourne’s east.
From energy to housing: Ahead of the 2022 vote, Pesutto promised he would deliver a 50 percent reduction in emissions by 2030 and pause Labor’s electric vehicle tax for four years.
The Coalition did not secure government in 2022, so he was unable to deliver these pledges, but he advocated for a review of Victoria's tax system and a pause on the Suburban Rail Loop project.
This year, Pesutto’s main promise to local voters was that a Coalition government would amend planning rules to give residents back their rights to appeal to housing developments.
🗣️ “The government’s housing policy is proving to be a secretive scheme that abolishes the rights of residents to have a say,” he said.
Pesutto did not respond to questions in time for publication.
Look closely: In the 2022 ballot, independent candidate Melissa Lowe obtained 19.98 percent of the first preference votes, with her votes going to Labor and shifting the scale more in Labor’s favour.
This year’s independent candidate is Shima Ibuki, who said she’d advocate for fixing the planning system to deliver genuinely affordable homes, helping renters and apartment residents cut energy bills and holding the next Victorian government accountable for its decisions.
🗣️ “My responsibility would be to Hawthorn with no party line to defend,” Ibuki told the Eastern Melburnian. “Whatever the election result, Hawthorn needs someone prepared to scrutinise the government and stand up for our community.”
The progressive push: In 2022, the Greens candidate for Hawthorn Nick Savage received the fourth-highest proportion of first-preference votes – at 11.12 percent.
This year’s Greens candidate is Kylie Rocha, who said if elected, she would back Greens policies like free public transport, a two-year rent freeze and introducing publicly-owned supermarkets to drive down the cost of essential grocery items by 30 percent.
🗣️ “I’ve learnt that the best solutions come from both best available evidence and data, as well as hearing from people with direct and lived experience,” she told the Eastern Melburnian. “Right now, it feels like those in power aren't interested in taking that kind of approach.”
Box Hill
From left to right: Incumbent Labor MP for Box Hill Paul Hamer, Liberal candidate for Box Hill Sally Houguet and Greens candidate for Box Hill Aaron Qin. Image Credit: Philip Mallis
Labor’s Paul Hamer has been the MP for Box Hill since November 2018 and was re-elected in 2022 with a 7.23 percent margin after the distribution of preferences. Previously, the Liberal Party held the seat for 26 years under MP Robert Clark.
Labor lifts: In 2022, Hamer promised a re-elected Labor government would invest $300,000 towards a planned pedestrian crossing at Elgar Road. However, this infrastructure has not yet been delivered.
His campaign also focused on removing the level crossings at Union Road and Mont Albert Road, which was realised as part of the removal of the Mont Albert and Surrey Hills stations in 2023.
🗣️ “Over the last four years, we have seen major investment occurring throughout the Box Hill electorate, which has delivered real, tangible results for our community,” Hamer told the Eastern Melburnian.
Ahead of the upcoming election, his pledges have included an annual commitment of $100,000 to the Asian Business Association of Whitehorse for the Box Hill Chinese New Year Festival and helping to deliver a new three-storey STEAM Centre building at Koonung Secondary College.
Local spending: Liberal candidate for Box Hill Sally Houguet has been vocal about a number of issues and commitments, including a $20 million investment towards remediating the Box Hill Brickworks site to transform it into open space and reinstating tree protection controls across Whitehorse.
🗣️ “Labor has failed time and time again to deliver on its promises,” she told the Eastern Melburnian. “We need a fresh start, and we need it now.”
Green priorities: In 2022, the Greens candidate for Box Hill Joanne Shan received the third-highest proportion of first-preference votes – 14.13 percent, with about 82 percent of these votes going towards Hamer in the two-candidate-preferred count.
This year’s Greens candidate for Box Hill, Aaron Qin, said if elected, his main areas of advocacy would include protecting green spaces, supporting the delivery of more affordable homes and providing better access to healthcare services.
🗣️ “I believe representation should be measured not simply by announcements or funding commitments, but by whether residents experience meaningful improvements in their everyday lives,” he told the Eastern Melburnian.