The Victorian Liberal Party has removed Grant Hutchinson as its candidate for Croydon, an eastern Melbourne electorate, less than seven weeks before the state election scheduled for 28 November 2026. The decision adds another candidate change to the party’s preparations for a closely watched election campaign.

Opposition leader Jess Wilson said Hutchinson was disendorsed after new information emerged about a civil legal case involving him. The party’s state executive made the decision on Monday night, 12 October. Hutchinson will be replaced by Toby Wooldridge, whose father is former federal Liberal minister Michael Wooldridge and whose aunt is former Victorian MP Mary Wooldridge.

Speaking publicly about the decision on Tuesday, Wilson said the additional information had made it inappropriate for Hutchinson to remain a candidate. She also defended the party’s candidate-vetting processes when questioned about how the issue had been handled. The party has not publicly detailed all the information that led to the decision.

Hutchinson, a lawyer, had previously been involved in a civil dispute with his own law firm. The legal matter had been reported publicly before his Liberal preselection. The latest reporting indicates that party figures had differing views about the timing and reasons for his removal. Some questioned why the party acted at this stage, while another source characterised the replacement as a preferred-candidate decision. Those assessments are attributed to sources and are not established findings about the party’s motives.

Hutchinson did not respond to requests for comment at the time of the report. The underlying civil dispute remains a separate legal matter, and the decision to remove him as a candidate should not be interpreted as proof of wrongdoing. The Croydon electorate is politically significant because the Liberal Party holds it by a narrow margin of approximately 1.4 per cent. Sitting MP David Hodgett is retiring after representing the area for about 20 years, leaving the party with the task of introducing a new candidate while campaigning to retain the seat.

The candidate change follows other disruptions to Liberal Party preselection arrangements in Victoria. The party has also removed sitting MP Moira Deeming as a candidate and declined to endorse another candidate after preselection, according to the report. These developments create additional organisational challenges as parties finalise candidates, campaign teams and local strategies ahead of polling day.

For voters in Croydon, the immediate change is that Wooldridge will represent the Liberal Party in the upcoming election rather than Hutchinson. The contest will now proceed with the new candidate, while the party faces questions about how its selection process operates and how it responds when concerns emerge late in the campaign period.

The election is scheduled for 28 November 2026. The final result in Croydon will depend on voter decisions on polling day, and the candidate change alone does not determine which party will win the seat.