Greens' Lidia Thorpe makes history after Northcote by-election win

Lidia Thorpe makes history as the first Indigenous woman elected to Victorian Parliament after a huge swing of 13 per cent away from Labor.

Greens' Northcote candidate Lidia Thorpe during the State by-election for the Northcote District at Thornbury Primary school in Melbourne, Saturday. Source: AAP

Greens candidate Lidia Thorpe has become the first Indigenous woman elected to the Victorian parliament.

Following the result Ms Thorpe addressed cheering supporters.

"We said we'd make history and we did," she said.

"For a kid that left school at 14 I just want to send a message to every kid out there that anything is possible."  

By around 8.30pm many were calling the race in Ms Thorpe's favour including the ABC's election analyst Antony Green.

Early poll results showed a huge swing away from Labor to the Greens' candidate who is a Victorian NAIDOC Committee member and Treaty campaigner.

The Greens were ahead in a number of booths during early counting. Labor sources were already conceding the seat was lost in the first two hours after spending $500,000 on the campaign.

For comprehensive results visit the Victorian Electoral Commissions live results page.

Traditionally a Labor stronghold, Ms Thorpe's team has been battling to turn Northcote Green and join the two Lower House seats they won at the last election.

"It's going to be a close race, I'm not taking anything for granted," Ms Thorpe told NITV News yesterday. "I'm out talking to as many voters as I possibly can and we'll just have to see what happens." 

The by-election, which was triggered by the death of family-violence prevention campaigner and Labor MP Fiona Richardson in August, took a racist turn recently when posters featuring Ms Thorpe’s photograph were vandalised with racial slurs.

"We've grown up with racism, and it's what's made me tough and helped me get through some hard times. I suppose I'm very resilient and I have good people around me, good family support," she said.

Lidia Thorpe during the campaign for Northcote.

A businesswoman and chair of the Victorian NAIDOC Committee, Ms Thorpe has been heavily involved in the state's treaty discussions since they first kicked off last year. Early on in the talks Ms Thorpe raised concerns that they were not coming from the grassroots and that they seemed rushed.

Speaking to NITV she said she will champion the Greens' position for a clans-based treaty. 

"To have a clan-based treaty is grassroots democracy. I'll be still campaigning to ensure that every clan in this state has the right to decide whether or not they want to participate in a treaty or not," she said.

On top of her commitment of a clans-based treaty, Ms Thorpe said if she wins she will fight for better public transport service, forest protections and rental reform.