For its first three decades, it was a bellwether seat held by the party of government. It was held by the Liberals from 1967 to 1982 before falling to Labor in the landslide that brought John Cain to power. The Liberals won it back in 1992 as Jeff Kennett won government. While they held onto it in 1999 when Kennett was defeated by Steve Bracks, current Labor member James Merlino won it in 2002 and has held it since. It appears to be trending toward Labor in recent years; Merlino held onto it in 2010 even as Labor lost government, and retained it on a healthy swing in 2014 when a redistribution made it notionally Liberal. Merlino is the former Deputy Premier of Victoria - the second Deputy Premier to hold this seat after Bill Borthwick.
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