Werribee, Prahran byelection LIVE updates: Major parties battle for crucial Victorian seats

The Victorian opposition leader says his party to trying to gain momentum from today’s Werribee and Prahran byelections ahead of a state election next year.

Speaking from Rockley Gardens in South Yarra, Liberal leader Brad Battin said he hoped for favourable results from today’s byelections to send a “strong message” to the Labor government.

But he said overcoming the 11 per cent buffer Labor has in the seat of Werribee was a “massive, massive ask”.

“The momentum from this one, we’ll be trying to build on, so that in 2026 people know we are the alternative government,” Battin.

The Greens have won the seat of Prahran at the past three elections. Liberal candidate Rachel Westaway is hoping to beat the Greens’ Angelica Di Camillo and independent candidate Tony Lupton.

Battin said voters in the electorate had told him it was too expensive to live in the area, and Chapel Street now felt unsafe.

“People in the area, their rent has gone up dramatically in the last 15 months, and they simply can’t afford it,” he said.

“Families and young people are telling us they have to make a decision: ‘Do I go onto a payment plan for an electricity bill, or do I pay my rent?’”