Legislative Assembly · District of Werribee
Matthew Emerson
Last verified 30 Sept 2026
Seat context — Werribee›
Werribee is a Labor-held seat in Melbourne's outer south-west covering Werribee, Werribee South and Wyndham Vale. Tim Pallas held it and won it in 2022 with 45.4% of first preferences and 60.9% two-party-preferred against the Liberals' Mia Shaw. He resigned in January 2025, and at the 8 February 2025 by-election Labor's John Lister won by 693 votes: the Liberals' Steve Murphy led on first preferences (29.0% to 28.9%), with independent Paul Hopper third on 14.6%, and Lister won 50.8% to 49.2% in the two-candidate count. Lister is recontesting. The Tally Room says the by-election vote was fragmented by Hopper's candidacy. The 2026 field found is seven candidates: Lister, the Liberals' Reece Clark, the West Party's Paul Hopper, the Greens' Tushar Kumar, One Nation's Paul Pateras, Family First's Matthew Emerson, the Victorian Socialists' Sue Munro and the New Democrats' Prashant Tandon. An independent named Matthew De Angelis appears in an earlier audit note but not on The Tally Room's list.
Background
Platform
Where they stand, issue by issue — grounded in 2026 Victorian polling, not assumed. Every position is tagged with how we know it.
Positioning families as society's foundation, parental authority over children's education, opposing what he calls progressive agendas and gender ideologies in schools, defending life from conception to natural death, and preserving religious freedom.
What Victorians say matters most
5 poll-led issuesCost of living and crime have ranked 1st or 2nd in every Victorian poll since mid‑2025, with debt and housing close behind — see schema §3 for the polling this grouping is based on (DemosAU, Ipsos Issues Monitor, Roy Morgan). The 0-10 'priorityScore' on each candidate's issue entries is NOT a measure of true importance or an independent ranking of what a candidate actually cares about. It reflects how much detail and specificity exists in what that candidate has actually said publicly on that issue -- a named policy mechanism and a verified voting record score higher than a one-line stated priority, regardless of the issue's real-world weight. Render this distinction in the UI wherever the score appears; do not label it just 'Priority' without the qualifier.
Cost of living
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Crime and community safety
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Housing affordability and supply
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
State government debt and fiscal management
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Infrastructure and public transport delivery
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Also on the record
6 substance issuesThese don't top “biggest issue” polling, but carry real 2026 policy weight and genuine differences between parties.
Education and training
Wants parents to have authority over their children's education and gender ideologies kept out of schools.
Health and healthcare access
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Urban planning and housing density
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Climate and energy transition
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Treaty and First Nations affairs
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Regional and rural Victoria
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Local & party context
2 fieldsNot scored the way the eleven issues above are — these are fixed facts about the seat and the party, not positions with more or less emphasis behind them.
His priorities align with Family First's campaign positions on family, life and religious freedom. SSelf-stated — FF-EMERSON-2026, FF-VIC2026Family First Party Australia, "Matthew Emerson, Candidate for Werribee"View sourceFamily First Party Australia, "Victorian Election (2026 candidates)"View source
No positions on the economy, housing, health or transport were retrieved, so those issues are left empty.
Track record & prior candidacies
Stood for Family First in Werribee in 2022, receiving 964 votes (2.5%). VVerified — WIKI-WER-RESWikipedia, "Electoral results for the district of Werribee"View source
Stood again at the February 2025 by-election as Matt Emerson, receiving 1,827 votes (4.34%). VVerified — WIKI-WER-BYEWikipedia, "2025 Werribee state by-election"View source
Campaign, money & endorsements
Campaign logistics
Endorsements & Donations
Per the Victorian Electoral Commission's funding guidance (vec.vic.gov.au, accessed 2026-09-29 via search snippets of its independent-candidate and registered-party funding pages), a candidate is eligible for public election funding if they receive at least 4% of first-preference votes in their contest, or are elected. Funding is reimbursed against an audited statement of campaign expenditure, and advance funding must be repaid in full if the threshold is missed.
Emerson polled 2.5% in 2022, below the 4% mark, and 4.34% at the 2025 by-election, just above it, so the by-election campaign qualified for public funding.