MARK Dreyfus has been elected member for Isaacs for a seventh time.
Dreyfus was first elected in 2007. On Saturday he comfortably retained the seat as Labor secured a landslide election win. With just over 72 percent of the vote counted, Dreyfus holds a massive 14.9 percent lead over Liberal Fiona Ottey on the two-party-preferred count.
The Liberals have badly struggled to gain traction in Isaacs in recent times. In 2019 Liberal candidate Jeremy Hearn was disendorsed by the party before election day, and in 2022 the Liberal campaign was damaged when candidate Robbie Beaton was found to have provided a false address to the Australian Electoral Commission.
Ottey’s campaign was uneventful compared to the previous two, but she could not hold off a nationwide swing towards the Labor Party.
As of the morning of 4 May, Dreyfus has secured just over 50 percent of first preference votes. Fiona Ottey received 28.2 percent, and Greens candidate Matthew Kirwan received just over 14 percent.
One Nation and Family First have received 4.3 percent and 3.3 percent of first preference votes respectively.
In a statement on Sunday morning, Dreyfus said “it is an honour to be returned as the member for Isaacs, and as part of a re-elected majority Albanese Labor Government. This victory was hard won and important. It is a resounding defeat of Peter Dutton’s politics of division. “Australians have made it clear – they want to move forward, not back. Thank you to the voters of Isaacs and my hardworking volunteers, and congratulations to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and my parliamentary colleagues both old and new. Now, let’s get to work.”
Dreyfus is the incumbent Attorney-General.
First published in the Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News – 7 May 2025