Victorian Greens MP Tim Read dies aged 64

Victorian Greens MP Tim Read has died aged 64, following a high-profile battle with metastatic cancer.

Dr Read, who announced his retirement from the Victorian parliament in January, used his final year as the Member for Brunswick to fight against the Allan government's decision to close VicHealth.

The former general practitioner told the ABC in January that VicHealth had helped pioneer sun safety messaging that could have helped him reduce his cancer risk if promoted when he was younger.

Paying tribute to Dr Read on social media today, Victorian Greens leader Ellen Sandell said the Brunswick MP was the most liked MP in the state parliament.

"Tim was a brilliant local MP, doctor and scientist — but to those who knew him, he was also the kindest, funniest and most fundamentally decent of people," Ms Sandell said.

"Tim never held back from speaking truth to power, whether it was getting arrested for spray-painting health messages on tobacco billboards prior to getting elected or taking it up to the Premier in Question Time.

"Yet, he was also the most liked MP in state parliament, respected across the community for that rarest combination in a politician: conviction, integrity, wit and genuine humility."

A by-election for the Brunswick electorate will not be necessary as Victoria is already scheduled to go to the polls on November 28.

The Greens hold the inner suburban constituency with a two-candidate preferred margin of 13.7 per cent against Labor.

Dr Read first ran for a parliamentary seat at a federal level, running as the Greens candidate at the 2013 election in former prime minister Bob Hawke's seat of Wills, which overlaps with the state electorate of Brunswick. 

The following year, he stood as the Greens candidate for Brunswick in the Victorian election before ultimately winning the seat on his second attempt in 2018.

Last year, Dr Read told the ABC he had noticed his leg was swollen while getting ready for work.

Scans revealed cancer had grown throughout his body. Dr Read first had a melanoma removed from his leg seven years ago.

His initial diagnosis was grim, forcing the Brunswick MP to retire ahead of the November state election.

In January, Dr Read said closing VicHealth would create a "false economy" — an apparent saving that would in fact lead to more spending.

"We need to be strengthening health promotion, not weakening it," he told the ABC.

VicHealth was set up in 1987 by Labor premier John Cain and his health minister David White with bipartisan political support.

The policy banned outdoor tobacco advertising and used taxes from cigarette sales to promote health, including warning about the dangers of cigarettes.

Revenue was used to fund the arts and sport, which until then had relied heavily on tobacco sponsorship.