Victoria Decides
9:14pm November 29, 2014
Greens claim victory in seat of Melbourne
Australian Greens deputy leader Adam Bandt and Victorian Greens candidate for the seat of Melbourne Ellen Sandell. (AAP)
The Greens have claimed the seat of Melbourne in the Victorian election, the party’s first seat in the state’s lower house, with Ellen Sandell expected to win.
Ms Sandell was loudly cheered as she thanked the party faithful for their support in winning the Greens’ first ever lower house Victorian seat at underground inner city laneway bar.
“This victory doesn’t belong to me at all, it belongs to all that knocked on doors, made calls and spent your evenings, your nights working for the Greens,” Ms Sandell, 29, told those gathered at a bar in the Melbourne CBD on Saturday night.
“I’ll work every day starting tomorrow for a fairer society and a cleaner economy.”
The Greens, with 26 per cent of the vote counted, had 51 per cent on a two-party preferred basis, putting the party on track to remove Labor’s Jennifer Kanis.
“You have told us that you do not want an $18 billion toll road ripping up our city, instead you want a 21st century public transport network. You have told us that you want politicians who actually have a climate change and environment policy,” Ms Sandell said.
The Victorian leader of the Greens and upper house member, Greg Barber, declared the victory was down to a grassroots campaign.
“We did it! And we did it with a bottom up, grassroots, one vote at a time, door-to-door campaign and everyone of you participated in that and you know that,” he said.
The Greens are also in with a chance to take Richmond from Labor.
Federal Melbourne MP Adam Bandt and senators Sarah Hanson-Young and Christine Milne were in the bar to celebrate the victory.
Mr Barber said the Greens hoped to win the balance of power in the upper house as well as other lower house seats.
He promised to try to stop the sale of the Port of Melbourne and redirect federal funds for the East West Link to public transport.
Green supporters were in a giddy mood and turned up the music, continuing the partying on a historic night for the party.
© AAP 2014
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