Melbourne Deputy Lord Mayor Roshena Campbell has secured the Victorian Liberal Party’s top Legislative Council position for Melbourne’s Western Metropolitan Region, defeating sitting upper house MP Trung Luu in a state executive vote that reshapes the Coalition’s election strategy in one of its safest upper house regions.
Campbell won Thursday night’s ballot 12 votes to seven, replacing disendorsed MP Moira Deeming as the Liberal Party’s lead candidate for November’s state election. The top position is widely regarded as all but guaranteeing election under Victoria’s proportional upper house voting system.
Luu, who has already nominated for the second position on the ticket, now faces a more uncertain path back to Parliament as the Liberals confront a more competitive electoral environment, with analysts and party figures warning One Nation could challenge for an upper house seat in Melbourne’s outer west.
Campbell’s selection follows weeks of turmoil within the Victorian Liberal Party after Deeming was stripped of her endorsement over allegations she made against former Opposition Leader Matthew Guy. Police reviewed CCTV footage and found no evidence to support the complaint, and the party’s state executive later voted unanimously to remove her as its candidate. Deeming subsequently resigned from the Liberal Party and now sits as an independent.
A barrister and Melbourne Deputy Lord Mayor since 2024, Campbell previously contested the federal seat of Aston at the 2023 by-election and has built a public profile through local government, including serving as acting Lord Mayor during Lord Mayor Nick Reece’s absences. If elected in November, her departure would trigger a by-election for Melbourne’s Deputy Lord Mayor because more than six months remain in the council term.
Her appointment has already prompted criticism from some Liberal figures and local observers because she lives in Brunswick, outside the Western Metropolitan Region she is seeking to represent. The electorate covers Melbourne’s western suburbs, including Footscray, Williamstown, Point Cook, Tarneit, Werribee, Caroline Springs, St Albans and Sunbury.
Supporters, however, argue upper house members represent broad regions rather than individual electorates and point to Campbell’s legal background, media profile and campaign experience as assets heading into the November poll.
The decision also ends speculation over who would replace Deeming after the Liberal state executive reopened nominations last month. Businessman and community leader Dinesh Gourisetty, who won the party’s original March preselection before later withdrawing, had been regarded as a potential contender, while western suburbs advocate Jenny Matic and former Liberal candidates Tim Beddoe and Steve Murphy were also discussed as possible nominees.
Campbell’s elevation signals the party has opted for a high-profile candidate from outside Melbourne’s west rather than promoting sitting MP Trung Luu to the lead position, as some Liberal MPs had advocated.
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