Updated August 7, 2026 — 3:16pm,first published 12:22pm
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Melbourne Deputy Lord Mayor Roshena Campbell has replaced ex-Liberal MP Moira Deeming for the top billing on the party’s upper house ticket in Melbourne’s west, all but gaining a place in Victoria’s next parliament.
Campbell secured the No.1 position for the Western Metropolitan Region electorate against incumbent MP Trung Luu through a vote of 12-7 among the Liberals’ state executive on Thursday evening.
Melbourne Deputy Lord Mayor Roshena Campbell.Justin McManus
Luu, who has nominated for the No.2 position, is now at risk of losing his seat at the November state election due to One Nation’s growing appeal on Melbourne’s western fringe.
But Campbell’s appointment has been criticised as lacking a legitimate connection to the region because she lives in the inner-north suburb of Brunswick, outside the sprawling electorate, which takes in Williamstown, Hoppers Crossing, Sunbury, Footscray and Caroline Springs.
During the 2023 federal byelection, Campbell was the Liberal candidate for the seat of Aston, which the party lost to Labor, and in 2021 she also unsuccessfully sought preselection for the federal seat of Casey, another outer-east electorate.
Campbell grew up in Sydney as an only child to parents who migrated from Calcutta in the 1970s, and attended the exclusive all-girls school Pymble Ladies’ College.
Her architect father ran a business in Australia, but it was wiped out during the 1990s recession. The ensuing financial strain saw her parents start a food business.
Moving to Melbourne, Campbell did an arts/law degree at Monash University, where she joined the Liberal Party. Upon graduating, she worked for the law firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth before becoming a barrister.
In 2020, she was elected to the City of Melbourne Council and was re-elected four years later as deputy mayor on the “Team Reece” ticket as running mate and second-in-command to Lord Mayor Nick Reece. If Campbell is elected to parliament in the November state election, she must resign from council, which will force a costly byelection to replace her.
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Though her parents at one stage lived in Point Cook, in Melbourne’s south-west, Campbell herself has never lived in the electorate.
St Albans resident Maria Kerr, who three months ago defected to One Nation after 10 years as a Liberal member, said Campbell’s preselection was “slap in the face to residents of the west”.
“This latest appointment … is extremely disappointing, and I’ve had an overwhelming reaction from my local community,” Kerr said. “People are not happy, they want people that are authentically from the west.”
Kerr is the deputy mayor of Brimbank City Council but spoke to The Age as a resident and former Liberal who in 2022 contested the then-safe Labor state seat of St Albans, and said the Liberal Party was too focused on winning inner-city seats.
“They [the party’s state executive] have lost sight of the forgotten people in the western suburbs, the forgotten people in the outer south-east, and the outer north, and that is evident after this appointment,” Kerr said.
On X, Deeming’s husband Andrew said the Liberal Party’s decision to parachute Campbell into the electorate was “more contempt … for the voters of the west”.
Zareh Ghazarian, a political scientist at Monash University, said as the No.1 candidate on the Liberals’ ticket, Campbell should easily secure a seat in the upper house at the state election.
But he believes the party’s chance of winning two upper house seats in the region – and, therefore, Luu’s political future – is under threat from One Nation.
Ghazarian said Campbell, who is the daughter of Indian migrants and has a public profile on the City of Melbourne Council, was a strong choice for Melbourne’s diverse west.
“I think one of the things the Liberal Party in particular has self-reflected and talked about in the past has been … who’s representing it,” he said.
Deputy Lord Mayor Roshena Campbell with Lord Mayor Nick Reece in 2024.Justin McManus
“So you have to think presenting this high-profile individual under the Liberal banner will go well for securing the seat for Liberals.”
In a statement, Campbell said her parents lived in Point Cook, and she had spent “many years volunteering at the Footscray soup kitchen”.
“Residents of the west are hardworking families from all backgrounds, and they have been let down by a bad government,” she said.
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“Locals in the west have been neglected for too long by this Labor government, with rising crime, rising costs and a government who can’t even do the basics, like fix the pothole-riddled roads.”
Campbell added that the west was Melbourne’s multicultural heart, and that she was “passionate about ensuring our multicultural communities are heard and supported”.
Luu, who as a five-year-old fled Vietnam with his family and found refuge in Australia, first lived in Sydney and Adelaide before settling in Melbourne. He eventually moved to Sunshine North, where he has lived since for two decades. He was elected to Brimbank Council in 2020, and into the Victorian upper house in 2022.
Moira Deeming was dumped as a Liberal candidate in a unanimous decision by the party’s state executive last month after she made unsubstantiated allegations against her then-colleague, Matthew Guy.
The state executive were contacted for comment.
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Angus Delaney is a state political reporter at The Age. Email him at angus.delaney@theage.com.au or contact him securely on Signal at angusdelaney.31Connect via email.From our partners