What makes Byron Bay even more hipster than Australia’s inner-cities

Byron Bay is even more hipster than cosmopolitan inner-city postcodes, from having very expensive house prices to fashionable views.

The celebrity haven on the NSW far north coast this year became the first regional area to have a median house price of more than $2 million.

Hollywood megastar Chris Hemsworth’s adopted home town was also the only regional area where the Greens had a primary vote of more than 50 per cent.

In inner-city areas of Melbourne and Brisbane, where the Greens held or won new seats, the first-preference vote was in the forties – in booths like Docklands, South Brisbane and Teneriffe – where houses typically cost close to $3 million.

But in Byron Bay, it was 53.94 per cent – a 9.73 per cent swing to the minor party in a booth that overlaps with the Greens state seat of Ballina.

Greens candidate Mandy Nolan, a stand-up comedian, had triple the popularity of re-elected Labor MP Justine Elliot.

Ms Elliot had a 17.98 per cent vote share in this polling booth in her Richmond electorate – after suffering a 9.84 per cent swing against her.

The Greens vote is typically higher in postcodes with very expensive property and in Byron Bay, the median house price was $2.803 million in April.

The broader Byron Shire Council has a mid-point house price of $2 million. 

CoreLogic data showed Byron Bay was the only regional council area with a mid-point price in the millions, putting it on par with Sydney’s upper north shore.

Only Greens leader Adam Bandt’s Melbourne electorate had polling booths with a higher primary vote.

But even then, most of his inner-city electorate had a lower vote for the Greens than Byron Bay.

In Docklands, the Greens had a primary vote of 47.55 per cent with only the Carlton polling booths having a higher first-preference vote.

The Carlton North booth delivered a 62.99 per cent for the Greens in a suburb with a median house price of $1.721 million.

With 53.96 per cent of the primary vote, Greens candidate Mandy Nolan, a stand-up comedian, had triple the popularity of re-elected Labor MP Justine Elliot, who had a 17.98 per cent vote share

The federal seat of Melbourne also overlaps with a Greens state seat of the same name. 

In Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Sydney inner-west seat of Grayndler, the Greens won the Newtown East booth with its candidate Rachael Jacobs, a former member of the Australian Democrats, winning 44.65 per cent to Labor’s 44.12 per cent.

The median house price in that seat is $1.789 million. 

Newtown is a state Greens electorate, previously known as Marrickville, which Mr Albanese’s estranged wife Carmel Tebbutt held when she was NSW deputy premier.

The Greens vote wasn’t as high as Byron Bay in the three Brisbane electorates it won from both the Labor and Liberal parties. 

In former Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd’s old Griffith electorate, victorious Greens candidate Max Chandler-Mather had a primary vote of 46 per cent in the South Brisbane booth, compared with 26.89 per cent for defeated MP Terri Butler.

The Greens hold the state seat of South Brisbane, previously held by former Queensland Labor premier Anna Bligh and defeated ex-deputy premier Jackie Trad.

The Greens vote is typically higher in postcodes with very expensive property values and in Byron Bay, the median house price was $2.803million in April. The broader Byron Shire Council has a mid-point house price of $2.004million (pictured is a house in Byron Bay on the market)O

In the federal seat of Brisbane, triumphant Greens candidate Stephen Bates had 41.11 per cent of the primary vote in the Teneriffe booth on the Brisbane River.

This was compared with 30.54 per cent for Labor’s Madonna Jarrett and just 20.99 per cent for defeated Liberal MP Trevor Evans.

Teneriffe’s median house price is $2.948 million, making it Queensland’s most expensive postcode.

In the neighbouring seat of Ryan, successful Greens candidate Elizabeth Watson-Brown had 39.83 per cent of the primary vote in the St Lucia booth compared with 28.31 per cent for defeated Liberal MP Julian Simmonds, who had a 16.94 per cent swing against him.

Ms Watson-Brown had an 11.94 per cent swing to her in a suburb that contains the University of Queensland and has a median house price of $1.805 million.

In Queensland, there were no ‘teal’ independents backed by multimillionaire Simon Holmes a Court’s Climate 200 campaign.

In Sydney, Melbourne and regional coastal areas, they ran only against Liberal and National MPs but not Labor members. 

CoreLogic data showed Byron Bay to be the only regional council area with a mid-point price in the millions, putting it on par with Sydney’s Upper North Shore (pictured are locals by the beach)

This meant the Greens suffered an 18.96 per cent swing against them in the northern NSW marijuana town of Nimbin, in the safe Nationals seat of Page.

Teal independent Hanabeth Luke, an environmental academic opposed to coal seam gas mining, won the Nimbin booth with 29.07 per cent of the vote to Greens candidate Kashmir Miller on 28.72 per cent. 

On Sydney’s northern beaches in the seat of Mackellar, successful climate independent Sophie Scamps won the Palm Beach booth with 44.71 per cent of the primary vote to defeated Liberal MP Jason Falinski on 41.31 per cent – who had an 11.27 per cent swing against him.

Greens candidate Ethan Hrnjak had just 4.97 per cent, ahead of Labor’s Paula Goodman on just 3.4 per cent in an exclusive suburb with a median house price of $4.789 million.

In the Sydney eastern suburbs electorate of Wentworth, independent Allegra Spender won the Woollahra polling booth with 41 per cent of the first-preference vote compared with 37.2 per cent for defeated Liberal MP Dave Sharma.

The Greens had 7.62 per cent in a suburb with a median house price of $4.482 million. 

In Nimbin, a pot smoking town, teal independent Hanabeth Luke, an environmental academic opposed to coal seam gas mining, won that booth with 29.07 per cent of the vote to Greens candidate Kashmir Miller on 28.72 per cent – after suffering a 19 per cent swing against her