Published: 2 July 2024
Last updated: 1 April 2025
The Greens hostility to Israel, particularly in the wake of the October 7 attacks, is projected to hurt them at the polls.
A new survey found 26% of Macnamara voters who recall voting for the Greens in 2022 now intend to vote for a different party.
About 10% of Macnamara voters are Jewish, most reside in the suburbs of Caulfield and East St Kilda, making it the second most Jewish electorate in the country, after Wentworth in Sydney, which is 12.5% Jewish.
The seat is held by the ALP’s Josh Burns, a Jewish MP whose office was recently attacked by antisemitic vandals. The electorate, previously called Melbourne Ports, was held for 21 years by Jewish ALP member Michael Danby.
But the Greens came close to winning the electorate in 2022, with a 5.5% swing bringing them to 29.7% of the first preference vote, compared with 31.8% for the ALP and 29% for the Liberal Party.
It’s now looking like the electorate will swing heavily away from the Greens at the next election, cleanly delivering the seat to Labor.
Of those who say they voted for the Greens in 2022, 12% would now vote Labor, 9% would vote Liberal, and 5% would vote for other parties or candidates.
Comments1
Ann Elizabeth Fink4 July at 05:36 pm
The electorate has changed. So many of the Labor voting Jewish community have aged. Or and are dying. In the Southbank and South Melbourne area, young Asian professionals now inhabit the tall apartment blocks. Much more likely to vote Green. Albanese is far too rigid. Democracy is surely about diversity,