Legislative Assembly · District of Gippsland South
Danny O'Brien
Last verified 30 Sept 2026
Seat context — Gippsland South›
Gippsland South is a rural seat in south-eastern Victoria, covering Sale, Leongatha, Foster, Yarram, Mirboo North, Rosedale, Port Albert and Venus Bay, and among the safest National-held seats in the state. Danny O'Brien won it at the March 2015 by-election after Peter Ryan's resignation, and has led the Victorian Nationals since 25 November 2024. In 2022 he won 53.3% of first preferences and 65.2% two-party-preferred against Labor's Denise Ryan. He is treated as the standard-bearer for 2026, and the main contest is One Nation's regional surge: a Redbridge poll cited by the ABC put One Nation on 32% in the Eastern Victoria upper house region, and O'Brien has called it 'a real threat'. The 2026 field found is O'Brien, the Greens' Zave Evans, One Nation's Bianca Wilke and the Victorian Socialists' Lachie McGennisken. No Labor candidate has been found for this seat, and Wikipedia's 2026 table lists Evans as Labor and Wilke as Greens, which the parties' own pages contradict.
Background
Was a senior adviser to former Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile, CEO of the National Irrigators' Council and an agriculture and trade policy adviser at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta. VVerified — PARLVIC-OBRIENParliament of Victoria, "Danny O'Brien MP"View source
Was also chief of staff to Senator Barnaby Joyce, and sat in the Legislative Council for Eastern Victoria Region from March 2014 to February 2015. RReported — WIKI-OBRIENWikipedia, "Danny O'Brien (politician)"View source
Was born and raised in Gippsland, is the youngest of seven children and lives near Sale; he is a Rotary member and local CFA brigade volunteer. VVerified — PARLVIC-OBRIENParliament of Victoria, "Danny O'Brien MP"View source
Wikipedia records he was born in Traralgon. RReported — WIKI-OBRIENWikipedia, "Danny O'Brien (politician)"View source
Platform
Where they stand, issue by issue — grounded in 2026 Victorian polling, not assumed. Every position is tagged with how we know it.
His parliamentary profile lists roles and interests, not policy priorities: country football, travel and promoting Gippsland.
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
The Coalition's bail and sentencing policy, per the ABC, would automatically deny bail to reoffenders under a one-strike rule.
Housing affordability and supply
The Coalition would lift the first-home buyer threshold to remove stamp duty on homes up to $1 million, per a housing-policy comparison.
State government debt and fiscal management
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Infrastructure and public transport delivery
Holds the shadow portfolio for Roads and Road Safety, per his parliamentary profile.
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
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Health and healthcare access
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Urban planning and housing density
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Climate and energy transition
Regional anger over coal, power plant and timber mill closures is the ABC's framing of the One Nation surge in Gippsland; no personal energy position of his was retrieved.
Treaty and First Nations affairs
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Regional and rural Victoria
Holds the shadow portfolios for Regional Development and Liveability and for Emergency Services, per his parliamentary profile.
Says of the regional anger that fuels One Nation, "we understand people are angry", while urging voters to consider that other parties are "parties of protest".
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.
Track record & prior candidacies
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.
As the sitting member, O'Brien met the "elected" limb of the test in 2022, and his 53.3% first-preference vote was also well above 4%.