Werribee MP John Lister has accused the Victorian Liberals of failing to represent Melbourne’s western suburbs, saying, “The Liberals continue to demonstrate they don’t represent communities in Melbourne’s west – particularly the Indian community.”
His comments come as the party faces fallout from the preselection dispute involving Moira Deeming and Dinesh Gourisetty, which has coincided with declining membership across branches in the west.
Tarneit MP Dylan Wight said the situation reflected the opposition’s priorities. “The Liberal Party are more focused on themselves than delivering for the Western Suburbs,” he said.
“The government will keep working to deliver the Health, Education, and community safety solutions that people in our growing area need.”
Mr Lister said, “Members of the Indian diaspora continue to join the Labor Party across the Western suburbs in great numbers and enjoy the support of the party.”
“Labor is always on the side of diversity, not cosying up to One Nation”.
Internal figures reported by The Age point to steep declines in Liberal Party membership in key western suburbs. Point Cook has fallen from 114 members to 24, while Tarneit and Werribee combined have dropped from 175 to just over 50. Laverton has reduced from 47 members to 15. The Tarneit branch, previously made up largely of Indian migrants, has seen participation fall to what was described as “barely a cricket team”.
“The Liberal Party are more focused on themselves than delivering for the Western Suburbs”
The western suburbs remain central to Victoria’s demographic and electoral map. Census data shows 17.3 per cent of Wyndham’s population was born in India, compared with 5.3 per cent across Greater Melbourne. In Tarneit, 28.8 per cent of residents were born in India, with suburbs such as Tarneit and Truganina identified as areas where Indian-born residents form a majority.
Former ministerial adviser Nitin Gupta said the party’s internal focus had affected its broader direction. “Delay in policy work due to too much reliance on possible pre selection of Australian Indian candidates,” he said.
He added, “Now there is none on winning seats,” and said, “And there are no alternative policies announced for Indian community either.”
Mr Gupta also said, “No efforts put towards engagement with Australian Indian community people who had helped in the 2010 winning campaign,” and added, “Jess Wilson yet to do a Multicultural media conference.”
The fallout has also affected candidate planning, with the Liberal Party yet to confirm candidates for several western seats including Tarneit, Kororoit, Laverton and Footscray, less than six months before the state election.
Labor retained Werribee in the 2025 by-election by 693 votes, a margin of 0.82 per cent, after a swing of more than 10 per cent to the Liberals.
The developments leave open questions about how the Liberal Party will rebuild its presence in Melbourne’s west and reconnect with Indian-Australian voters ahead of the November contest.
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