City of Melbourne elections: where things are at

We’ve learned plenty more during this past month about the makeup of the field competing for Melbourne Town Hall at October’s City of Melbourne elections. Here’s a snapshot …

The two front runners

Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece wasted little time after being sworn in during July to announce his bid for the city’s top job, announcing a campaign underpinned by a pledge to “get good done”. 

This was followed by announcing Liberal Party member and current councillor Roshena Campbell as his deputy. While the identities of who will be making up the Team Reece councillor ticket remained unconfirmed at the time of publishing, it’s understood long-term Cr Kevin Louey will be given the number one spot, meaning a likely fifth consecutive term on council – 20 years to be precise. 

As for Cr Reece’s main opponent, former Deputy Lord Mayor Arron Wood, who served alongside Reece as a fellow Team Doyle councillor during the 2016 election campaign, also announced his candidacy for Lord Mayor in late July. 

And on August 11, Mr Wood announced his running partner as swimwear entrepreneur Erin Deering, who despite being new to politics is understood to have a “unique ability to innovate and lead on a global scale.” 

Cr Reece’s campaign has so far included promises of lighting up Melbourne’s laneways, a “Melbourne 3000 board”, free swimming lessons for beginners, cost-of-living relief and “Australia’s largest ever renewable power purchasing plan”. 

Mr Wood meanwhile has sworn to implement a zero per cent rate freeze, cut the cost of annual parking permits, establish a comprehensive program to tackle graffiti, make Melbourne Australia’s “Christmas Capital” and axe the Greenline project to free up spending.

The smokey

Announcing their candidacy here in North Melbourne in early August was current independent councillor Jamal Hakim, who has proven to be an impactful contributor during his first term. 

Cr Hakim has made a habit of engaging with all corners of the community and he is looking to make history by having the first Greek-Australian Deputy Lord Mayor Esther Anatolitis, and the first Aboriginal councillor Bebe Oliver elected to the City of Melbourne. 

While the weight of the City of Melbourne’s gerrymander, where businesses are each given two votes to residents’ one, will present a challenge for Team Hakim, preferences will prove the key in who ends up in the Lord Mayoral robes.

Given the number of teams expected to make up this year’s field, depending how preferences flow (particularly the more progressive tickets) don’t be shocked if Cr Hakim emerges as a front runner come October.

The rest

The Greens have announced Roxane Ingleton and Marley McRae McLeod as their Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor candidates, however most of the interest is with who runs in the party’s first two councillor positions. 

The Greens have historically contributed two councillors to the City of Melbourne, and those will most likely be taken by current Cr Dr Olivia Ball, and newcomer in West Melbourne resident Karl Hessian. Three-term councillor and Kensington resident Rohan Leppert won’t be recontesting in October. 

The Labor Party also announced its ticket in Kensington on August 10, headed up again by Lord Mayor candidate and East Melbourne resident Phil Reed. But again, expect Cr Davydd Griffiths to be returned to council at the number one spot on the councillor ticket. 

While the Greens have notoriously been the kingmakers at recent City of Melbourne elections, it will be interesting to see who Labor chooses to preference after Cr Nicholas Reece (a Labor member running as an independent) selected Liberal Cr Roshena Campbell as his running mate – a move which hasn’t been well received by either Labor or Liberal.

More interestingly, the Liberal Party is endorsing a City of Melbourne council team for the first time ever, and it's understood East Melbourne resident and former federal candidate for Macnamara Owen Guest will fill the number one councillor spot. 

That leaves pollster Gary Morgan, who has run for Lord Mayor at the past several elections and is largely there to try and get a councillor elected (most recently this was Carlton resident Dr Jackie Watts) and provide preferences to his preferred Lord Mayoral candidate. Last time around, that was Sally Capp. 

Inner City News can also confirm that East Melbourne Group president Greg Bisinella will lead the resident team Voices of Melbourne as its Lord Mayoral candidate, joined by Carlton Residents’ Association’s Megan Gathercole (deputy) and West Melbourne resident Mary Masters as its number one councillor candidate.

Former Carlton football great Anthony Koutafides has also announced he will run for Lord Mayor, with former federal Liberal MP Gladys Liu taking the number one spot on his ticket. 

While some reports have linked Team Kouta with the Liberal Party, others have speculated that it could be, in fact, a feeder ticket for Cr Reece – a mad Carlton fan who only recently posted a selfie taken with Mr Koutafides at the MCG. 

As for the remaining councillors who haven’t declared their intentions publicly, Cr Phil Le Liu is understood to be running on Arron Wood’s ticket, while Cr Elizabeth Doidge earned her place in 2020 on a predominantly CFMEU-backed ticket. For obvious reasons, it appears her return to council would seem unlikely.

That leave Cr Jason Chang, who earned his spot on Arron Wood’s 2020 ticket, and has been a part-time contributor on council due to the constraints of running his business Calia, which went into receivership earlier this year. He confirmed on August 13 that this term would be his last.  

As per previous elections, Hyperlocal News (publisher of Inner City News) will host a donations register on its website inviting all candidates to declare their donations during the campaign. •