Legislative Assembly · District of Prahran
Clayton Doueihi
Last verified 5 Sept 2026
Seat context — Prahran›
Prahran is one of Victoria's most marginal Legislative Assembly districts, held by Liberal MP Rachel Westaway since she won an 8 February 2025 by-election (51.35% two-candidate-preferred), ending almost 11 years of Greens control after long-serving MP Sam Hibbins resigned amid a personal scandal. Analysts describe the 2026 contest as a genuine three-way race between Liberal, Labor and the Greens; Greens preferences (historically flowing roughly 85% to Labor) are likely to be decisive if the count reaches a Labor-Liberal two-candidate-preferred stage.
Background
Platform
Where they stand, issue by issue — grounded in 2026 Victorian polling, not assumed. Every position is tagged with how we know it.
A hospitality and retail worker and United Workers Union member, Doueihi frames his candidacy around bringing "working-class fighters" into parliament, on the streets and in workplaces, rather than "more representatives of" a "broken system."
He names energy providers, big supermarkets, banks and insurance companies as prioritising profit over people, saying they are "destroying our living standards" amid mounting financial pressure on ordinary Victorians.
For several years he has been a community activist, organising in solidarity with the Palestinian people and "standing up to the bigotry of the far right" — a personal focus distinct from the party's general platform.
His closing campaign message is a direct personal pledge: "If elected, I'll fight for you."
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
In his own campaign bio, Doueihi names energy providers, big supermarkets, banks and insurance companies as "destroying our living standards," arguing corporate profit-seeking — not just government failure — drives the cost-of-living squeeze on ordinary people.
Victorian Socialists policy would cap household electricity and gas prices at "genuinely affordable levels" and wipe all existing household utility debts and arrears — the party's most concrete cost-of-living relief measure found.
Crime and community safety
Victorian Socialists policy would raise the age of criminal responsibility to 16, end mandatory sentencing, and shift bail law so prosecutors must justify detention rather than defendants having to earn bail.
The party would take military-style weapons out of police hands, introduce a stop-receipting system and an independent ombudsman, and hold a Royal Commission into policing, while banning new prison construction in favour of public housing.
Its stated approach favours prevention over incarceration — universal housing, secure employment and fully funded public education — over expanded police and prison funding.
Housing affordability and supply
Victorian Socialists policy would cut all residential rents by 25 percent, then freeze them for five years, with future rises capped at half of CPI or WPI (whichever is lower) and enforced by a new Rental Inspectorate Victoria.
The party would build at least 15,000 new public housing units a year for a decade, plus 15,000 shared-ownership homes annually capped at $400,000 with 2 percent interest loans, and halt demolition of 44 existing public housing towers.
It would tax vacant residential land at 30 percent after six months, cap individual property ownership at five dwellings (seizing excess for public housing), and mandate 30 percent public housing in all new private developments.
State government debt and fiscal management
Victorian Socialists policy focuses on raising revenue from wealth and business rather than debt or deficit management: a 10 percent annual wealth tax on billionaires, a 5 percent tax on the top 1 percent of luxury properties, and a doubled payroll tax on firms with wage bills over $5 million.
Further proposed revenue measures include a 20 percent bank profits tax on the five largest banks and a 20 percent super-profits tax on large retailers. No specific position on state debt levels or deficit reduction was found on this page.
Infrastructure and public transport delivery
Victorian Socialists policy would make all public transport permanently free (funded by ending private operator contracts), run key lines through the night, and increase bus, tram and train frequency.
The party would invest $140 million a year in protected cycling infrastructure, oppose a third Melbourne Airport runway, reverse the airport's privatisation, and make the airport train service free.
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
Victorian Socialists policy would end state funding to high-fee private schools, move to needs-based public school funding covering excursions, devices and uniforms, and hire 12,000 additional teachers and support staff to cap class sizes at 15.
It would abolish VCE for a "holistic strengths-based" curriculum set by teachers, students and communities, fully fund the AEU's log of claims, and require every public school to have a qualified school librarian.
On tertiary education, the party would abolish all university fees, levy university endowments and campus real estate to fund the sector, and boost TAFE funding so most vocational training is publicly funded and controlled.
Health and healthcare access
Victorian Socialists policy would raise healthcare worker wages at least 2.5 percent above inflation, lift public hospital beds to at least 3 per 1,000 Victorians, and open public community health centres offering free GP and allied health consultations.
It would expand the ambulance fleet to cut wait times, remove Ambulance Victoria membership fees so callouts are free for everyone, and expand free access to psychologists, psychiatrists and other mental health specialists.
Urban planning and housing density
Victorian Socialists policy would mandate at least 30 percent public and low-cost housing ("inclusionary zoning") in all new developments, require homes within walking distance of frequent public transport, and extend Green Wedges to permanently block farmland rezoning.
The party would levy developers for public transport, parks and schools, mandate 30 percent canopy tree coverage (doubled in Melbourne's west), and allow no-compensation public acquisition of land where heritage buildings were unlawfully demolished.
Climate and energy transition
Victorian Socialists policy would bring Victoria's energy infrastructure back into public ownership starting with distribution networks, cap household electricity and gas prices.
It would also accelerate the grid to 100 percent renewables via public investment in offshore wind, solar, batteries and pumped hydro.
The party would cut emissions 75 percent below 2005 levels by 2030, close the Loy Yang A coal plant by 2030 (five years early), ban new fossil fuel projects onshore and offshore, and reverse the 2025 offshore gas exploration program.
It would mandate 100 percent electric new car sales by 2035, electrify public bus fleets, and repeal Victoria's anti-protest laws used against environmental activists.
Treaty and First Nations affairs
Victorian Socialists policy would extend the powers of statewide and local Treaties and support increased First Nations control over First Nations affairs, alongside a reparations tax on commercial and investment properties to fund land theft reparations.
It would act to end the "contemporary stolen generation" by reducing First Nations children in out-of-home care, establish payments for Indigenous stolen wages, and fund schools to teach First Nations languages. The page did not name the Gellung Warl body specifically.
Regional and rural Victoria
Victorian Socialists policy would fund a dedicated rural and regional roads maintenance program and reverse rural population decline by building public housing and public-sector jobs in regional towns hit by industry closures.
The regional policy page itself sets out no specific water-security or native-forest-logging-transition measures; the party's separate climate policy pledges to defend native forest logging restrictions and guarantee jobs for displaced workers.
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
Doueihi's Victorian Socialists candidate biography describes his union membership and community activism but makes no reference to any prior electoral campaign, council candidacy, or party role, unlike VS bios for repeat candidates that typically note past runs. SSelf-stated — VS-DOUEIHIVictorian Socialists, "Clayton Doueihi"View source
The Victorian Socialists fielded no candidate in the February 2025 Prahran by-election (11 candidates contested: independents, Liberal, Greens, Family First, Libertarian, Sustainable Australia, Animal Justice), and Doueihi does not appear among the party's identified 2018/2022 state or 2022 federal contested seats. VVerified — WIKI-PRAHRAN-BYEL-2025, WIKI-VICSOCWikipedia, "2025 Prahran state by-election"View sourceWikipedia, "Victorian Socialists"View source
Campaign, money & endorsements
Campaign logistics
Endorsements & Donations
Per the Victorian Electoral Commission's own guidance (vec.vic.gov.au, accessed 2026-09-05), 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 then calculated against the candidate's audited campaign-expenditure statement and vote count, up to legislated maximums indexed annually to the consumer price index, with separate maximums for the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council.
The VEC's funding page notes it is under review following passage of the Electoral Further Amendment Act 2026 (enacted in response to the Hopper v Victoria [2026] HCA 11 High Court decision), but the displayed 4% threshold and calculation methodology are unchanged by that review as of the access date. The VEC's real-time Disclosures Portal is separately offline for review, which is why no donation disclosure could be located for this candidate.