Legislative Assembly · District of Morwell
Casey Murphy
Last verified 11 Oct 2026
Seat context — Morwell›
Morwell is a Latrobe Valley seat covering Morwell, Moe, Traralgon, Boolarra, Churchill, Newborough, Tyers and Yallourn North. Labor held it from 1970 to 2006 and the Nationals have held it since. Martin Cameron won it in 2022 after Russell Northe retired, finishing second on first preferences with 22.9% behind Labor's Kate Maxfield (31.4%) and winning 54.4% two-party-preferred once Liberal preferences flowed to him, an 8.4-point swing. The Tally Room and the ABC both describe One Nation as the main threat, citing anger over coal, power-plant and timber-mill closures, and One Nation polled 6.1% here in 2022. The 2026 field found is three candidates: Cameron, Labor's Tracie Lund and the Greens' Rochelle Hine. No One Nation, Liberal or Victorian Socialists candidate has been found.
Background
Current occupation not stated. One Nation's profile describes her as a Latrobe Valley mother and community advocate who has "spent her career working in and for her community" and has experience "leading teams" and "managing programs." SSelf-stated — ON-MURPHYOne Nation Victoria, "Casey Murphy for Morwell"View source
The Latrobe Valley Express reports a varied career with stints in media, health and people management. RReported — LVE-MURPHYLatrobe Valley Express, "No furphy: Murphy announced for One Nation" (6 Oct 2026)View source
A Gazette candidate profile from her 2023 Narracan campaign described her as a student and volunteer co-ordinator who previously worked in radio. RReported — GAZ-NARRThe Gazette, "Narracan candidates: Casey Murphy" (24 Jan 2023)View source
No prior elected office or public-body appointment found. A Gazette profile from her 2023 campaign described her as not previously involved in politics. RReported — GAZ-NARRThe Gazette, "Narracan candidates: Casey Murphy" (24 Jan 2023)View source
Described as having been with One Nation "for a number of years." No party office-bearer role found. RReported — LVE-MURPHYLatrobe Valley Express, "No furphy: Murphy announced for One Nation" (6 Oct 2026)View source
Born in Moe, attended school in Warragul, and has lived in Gippsland all her life, per the 2023 Gazette profile. RReported — GAZ-NARRThe Gazette, "Narracan candidates: Casey Murphy" (24 Jan 2023)View source
Described as a Latrobe Valley local who lives and works in the Valley, and as a mother and sports parent for her child's extra-curricular activities. RReported — LVE-MURPHYLatrobe Valley Express, "No furphy: Murphy announced for One Nation" (6 Oct 2026)View source
Her party profile says she has worked multiple jobs to keep up with cost-of-living pressures; the Express quotes her as having once worked four jobs at once. SSelf-stated — ON-MURPHYOne Nation Victoria, "Casey Murphy for Morwell"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.
Cost-of-living relief for local families, and local investment and secure jobs as power stations close, with retraining and new industries developed with local input.
Community safety, stronger support for families, and better access to mental health services.
Education, training and employment opportunities close to home.
Her profile is general and does not name specific policies; it links to the party's policy booklet.
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
Says she has experienced the cost-of-living squeeze firsthand, including working multiple jobs, and that this shaped a focus on practical solutions that put local people first.
Quoted: "I've previously worked four jobs at once to keep up. When families are under pressure, our whole community feels it."
Party platform (not candidate-specific): wind back Labor's land tax increases on rental properties and small owners, lift the payroll tax threshold, and abolish the 10 per cent stamp duty on home, contents and car insurance. The booklet says it will "tell you exactly what that costs" but gives no costings for the land tax change.
Crime and community safety
Lists community safety among her priorities, without specifics, on her party profile.
Told the Latrobe Valley Express the Valley has one of the highest crime rates in regional Victoria, "nearly double the state average," and that early support through mental health services and real jobs for young people is needed so fewer end up "on the wrong path." The figure is her claim and was not checked in that article.
Party platform (not candidate-specific): a presumption against bail for repeat offenders and those offending on bail, mandatory supervised bail for serious offences, a 24/7 bail court, a ninety-day clock from charge to trial for serious violent charges, mandatory minimum sentences for assaults on police and emergency workers, adult sentencing for children charged with serious violent offences, and lowering the age of criminal responsibility back to 10.
Housing affordability and supply
Party platform (not candidate-specific): review fees and charges on new homes, wind back land tax on rental properties, release under-used government land, legal clocks on planning and building approvals, free up granny flats and spare-room rentals, and raise the foreign purchaser duty.
The platform also attributes housing pressure to net overseas migration. No Murphy-specific housing position was found.
State government debt and fiscal management
Party platform (not candidate-specific): says Victoria carries the highest state debt in the country; commits to cutting top-level public service executive roles, agency sunset reviews, a two-out one-in regulation rule, and a searchable public ledger of all government spending.
Commits to cancelling the Suburban Rail Loop and publishing the cost of continuing against the cost of stopping.
Infrastructure and public transport delivery
Party platform (not candidate-specific): cancel the Suburban Rail Loop, fund regional roads to a set standard with a public road-by-road condition register and a Pothole Portal, finish regional freight and commuter track duplication, electrify the Melton line and complete the Airport Rail Link.
Her party profile calls for "genuine local investment" in the Latrobe Valley as power stations close. No Murphy-specific transport position found.
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
Calls for "real education, training and employment opportunities close to home" and for practical retraining for workers affected by power-station closures.
Party platform (not candidate-specific): a knowledge-rich curriculum prioritising literacy, numeracy, science, history and civics, systematic phonics, school behaviour protocols, more trade schools, specialist and behaviour support settings, and school vouchers so funding follows the student.
Health and healthcare access
Lists better access to mental health services as a priority, and told the Express she wants mental health support to help young people before they offend.
Quoted in the Express linking early mental health support to the area's crime rate.
Party platform (not candidate-specific): a regional healthcare guarantee including 24/7 emergency departments and core maternity and surgical capacity in major regional hospitals, a statewide real-time view of waiting lists, interoperable electronic medical records and more transitional care beds to cut ramping.
Urban planning and housing density
Party platform (not candidate-specific): genuine community consultation before high-rise development is imposed on established suburbs, and a ban on new data centres and large batteries on prime agricultural land. No Murphy-specific planning position found.
Climate and energy transition
Told the Express she backs One Nation's commitment to keep coal-fired power stations open and to scrap the national moratorium on nuclear energy.
Says closure dates locked in by Labor for Yallourn and Loy Yang A are "one of the biggest pushes for me," and that she will push for genuine investment, secure local jobs and new industries so workers "aren't left carrying the cost."
Party platform (not candidate-specific): scrap all net-zero targets and subsidies, give long-term industry security for upgrading coal power infrastructure, cancel VNI West and other large transmission projects, repeal the Nuclear Activities (Prohibitions) Act 1983, and reverse the ban on gas connections in new homes.
Treaty and First Nations affairs
Party platform (not candidate-specific): scrap the Statewide Treaty entirely, abolish Gellung Warl and end its legislated funding, which the booklet puts at roughly $70 million a year rising 2.5 per cent annually. The booklet frames this as respecting the 2023 federal Voice referendum result.
Regional and rural Victoria
Describes the region as changing as power stations close and wants workers and families supported with local investment, secure jobs, practical retraining and new industries developed with the Latrobe Valley "not imposed from Melbourne without local input."
Says the Valley "has powered Victoria for generations" and workers and families "can't really be left behind."
Party platform (not candidate-specific): a selective-harvest forestry rebuild and local wood first procurement, restricting water trading to irrigators, reinstating a 1,500 gigalitre cap on buybacks, banning industrial solar, wind and battery projects on irrigated, bushfire-prone or catchment land, and a regional healthcare guarantee.
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.
Closure of the Latrobe Valley's coal power stations. Murphy cites the closure dates Labor has locked in for Yallourn and Loy Yang A as one of her main motivations and wants local investment, jobs and retraining to replace them. RReported — LVE-MURPHYLatrobe Valley Express, "No furphy: Murphy announced for One Nation" (6 Oct 2026)View source
Her party profile argues the Valley wants a say in its transition rather than decisions made in Melbourne. SSelf-stated — ON-MURPHYOne Nation Victoria, "Casey Murphy for Morwell"View source
No divergence from One Nation Victoria's platform found. She told the Express she backs the party's position on keeping coal plants open and scrapping the nuclear moratorium, and praised state leader Warren Pickering as "a really strong leader for Victoria." RReported — LVE-MURPHYLatrobe Valley Express, "No furphy: Murphy announced for One Nation" (6 Oct 2026)View source
The One Nation Victoria policy booklet (October 2026) is the party's statewide platform; most of the detail above comes from it rather than from Murphy personally. SSelf-stated — ON-BOOKLETOne Nation Victoria, "The Real Deal: One Nation's Policy Platform (policy booklet, October 2026)" (2026-10)View source
Track record & prior candidacies
One Nation candidate for Narracan at the 2022 Victorian state election, where she was among the candidates who initially nominated. That election was declared failed after the Nationals candidate died six days before polling. VVerified — WP-NARR-SUPPWikipedia, "2023 Narracan state supplementary election"View source
Recontested Narracan for One Nation at the supplementary election on 28 January 2023, receiving 2,246 first-preference votes (6.04%), sixth of 11 candidates. The Liberal Party's Wayne Farnham won with 45.0%. VVerified — VEC-NARRVictorian Electoral Commission, "Narracan District supplementary election results" (28 Jan 2023)View source
Her party profile says she first stood in 2022, which matches. The Latrobe Valley Express describes the Narracan result as a six per cent swing at the 2022 election; the result in fact came at the January 2023 supplementary, and One Nation had no previous Narracan vote to swing from. SSelf-stated — ON-MURPHYOne Nation Victoria, "Casey Murphy for Morwell"View source
This is her second run for Assembly and her first in Morwell. VVerified — VEC-NARR, WP-NARR-SUPPVictorian Electoral Commission, "Narracan District supplementary election results" (28 Jan 2023)View sourceWikipedia, "2023 Narracan state supplementary election"View source
Campaign, money & endorsements
Campaign logistics
Endorsements & Donations
Eligible for public funding if she receives at least 4% of first-preference votes in Morwell, or is elected. Under the VEC's own funding guidance (accessed 2026-10-11) the payment is the lower of an amount calculated on first-preference votes or the eligible expenditure actually incurred, and candidates who fall short of 4% and are not elected must repay any advance funding received.
The VEC notes Victoria's political finance laws changed under the Electoral Further Amendment Act 2026, so the current rates and caps should be checked against the VEC's political finance page. No donation disclosures for her were found; One Nation's state party will also have its own disclosures.