We saw a Greens majority and a Labor wipeout in 2020 − could things get even more interesting in 2024?
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Yarra City Council is one of the most interesting races to watch at the 2024 Victorian local elections. The Greens are seeking to gain a number of seats they've lost over the past term, mainly due to defections, while Labor is set to run candidates having lost all their seats in 2020.
It's been called Australia's "most left-wing local government" and in the past had councillors from the now-defunct Socialist Party (known as Socialist Action in its later years). Labor had representation on council from the first election in 1996 until 2020, including a majority until 2002.
Yarra is made up of the federal electorates of Melbourne (held by Greens leader Adam Bandt) and Cooper (held by Labor's Ged Kearney in a two-candidate-preferred contest against the Greens).
Labor is not trying to get a majority − they're only endorsing three candidates.
2020 election
At the last election in 2020, the Greens won a majority with five out of nine councillors − two in Langridge Ward and Nicholls Ward each and one in Melba Ward.
Labor lost its only two seats, while two independents and two Independent Socialists were elected.
Elected councillors
Langridge | Melba | Nicholls |
Stephen Jolly (IND-SOC) | Edward Crossland (GRN) | Amanda Stone (GRN) |
Anab Mohamud (GRN) | Claudia Nguyen (IND) | Sophie Wade (GRN) |
Gabrielle de Vietri (GRN) | Herschel Landes (IND) | Bridgid O'Brien (IND-SOC) |
Greens lose majority
In November 2022, the Greens lost their majority (but retained a plurality) when councillor Gabrielle de Vietri was elected to the Victorian parliament.
The Langridge Ward countback in January 2023 was won by Michael Glynatsis, an independent who Jolly preferenced second on his 2020 how-to-vote card.
Defections
On 6 February 2023, Nicholls Ward councillor Amanda Stone quit the Greens to sit as an independent. This saw the number of Greens councillors drop to three, with four independents (and still two Independent Socialists).
A year later on 27 February 2024, Langridge Ward councillor Anab Mohamud also quit the Greens and announced her intention to contest the elections as an independent. This left the Greens with just two seats.
Around the same time, Yarra For All (YFA/Y4A) was formed by Langridge councillors Stephen Jolly (IND-SOC), Michael Glynatsis (IND) and Nicholls councillor Bridgid O'Brien (IND-SOC). YFA is endorsing candidates across Yarra.
Ward changes
Like many other councils, Yarra is affected by the Local Government Act 2020, which has removed multi-member wards and replaced them with single-member wards across metropolitan Melbourne (excluding the City of Melbourne LGA).
Yarra had 4 two-member wards and 1 single-member ward until 2002.
Unlike some other LGAs, the existing three wards (Langridge, Melba and Nicholls) will remain but with only one member instead of three. The former ward of MacKillop, which had two members when it existed, is re-established.
The following brand new wards have also been created:
Boulevard
Curtain
Hoddle
Lennox
Yarra Bend
Candidates
Asterisks (*) indicate an incumbent councillor, even if they are not contesting their current ward. Candidates are NOT listed in ballot order by 6 News, see the VEC website for more information.
Boulevard Ward
Oscar North (Greens)
Ned Lindenmayer (Labor)
Sharon Harrison (Yarra For All)
Sarah McRitchie (Independent)
Campbell Watkins (Independent)
Annie Toller (Victorian Socialists)
Curtain Ward
Edward Crossland (Greens)*
Peter Sprott (Yarra For All)
Alan Tse (Yarra For All)
Anna Spark (Independent)
Bronwyn Murphy (Victorian Socialists)
Hoddle Ward
Sophie Wade (Greens)*
Michael Glynatsis (Yarra For All)*
Brielle Pope (Yarra For All)
Tony Lee (Independent)
S. Geminder (Independent)
Sharie Harrold (Independent)
Holly Cruickshank Medlyn (Victorian Socialists)
Tony Lee was initially listed as "Yarra For All" but he has confirmed to 6 News he has not received any funding from that group, and his affiliation has been updated accordingly.
Langridge Ward
Harrison Watt (Greens)
Evangeline Aston (Yarra For All)
Ha Tran (Independent)
Angus Fretwell (Victorian Socialists)
Lennox Ward
Sam Poustie (Greens)
Theresa Saldanha (Yarra For All)
Peter Razos (Independent)
Andrew Davies (Independent)
Vicki Redwood (Independent)
John Bric (Independent)
Thihan Chandramohan (Independent)
MacKillop Ward
Charlotte George (Greens)
Stephen Jolly (Yarra For All)*
Belle Gibson (Independent)
Renee Smith (Independent)
Melba Ward
Karen Hovenga (Greens)
Sarah Witty (Labor)
Victoria Chipperfield (Yarra For All)
Katarina Radonic (Independent)
Christine Maynard (Independent)
Meca Ho (Independent)
Mubarek Imam (Independent)
Nicholls Ward
Thibaut Clamart (Greens)
Samuel Eggleston (Labor)
Kenneth "Ken" Gomez (Yarra For All)
Remy Larocca (Independent)
Catherine Noone (Independent)
Yarra Bend Ward
Jill Post (Greens)
Sarah McKenzie (Labor)
Brigid O'Brien (Yarra For All)*
Leonie Gnieslaw (Independent)
Amaya Castro Williams (Victorian Socialists)
Analysis
There's little doubt the Greens will win something at the elections, but the big question appears to be whether Labor can return to representation in Yarra, especially given they are only contesting three wards.
Ben Raue from The Tally Room posted on Twitter a map showing the results of the 2022 federal election two-candidate-preferred results (Greens vs Labor) over the 9 Yarra wards, which shows the Greens winning every one.
The strongest is Curtain with a 63% Greens 2CP, and the lowest is Yarra Bend at 55% 2CP.
Of course, federal election results from two years ago will not match exactly with what we see in Yarra − but it is interesting to look at.
The newcomer here is Yarra For All, which appears to be led by incumbent Stephen Jolly. He was first elected in 2004 and led the Langridge Ward vote totals with 26.07% of the vote in 2020.
Jolly was elected in 2004, 2008 and 2012 for the Socialist Party, in 2016 for The Socialists and in 2020 as an Independent Socialist.
Yarra For All's other incumbents had less of the vote in 2020 and therefore may have less of a chance in single-member wards − Bridgid O'Brien had 15.97% of the vote in Nicholls Ward in 2020, the third-placed out of three elected councillors, and Michael Glynatsis (who was not elected in 2020) had 8.10% in Langridge.
Yarra For All isn't following a traditional party structure, but several candidates do share branding and colours and are thus listed accordingly. Some are more linked than others, but we've based our affiliation labelling off the information we can find, as well as their own VEC statements.
In other news...
In July 2024, the Victorian branch of the CFMEU was placed into administration amid allegations of criminal links. Stephen Jolly is a CFMEU member and received a $5,000 from them in 2020, and when asked whether he would accept donations from the union in the future, he told 6 News:
"No. The CFMEU is under administration now so it won't be able to support its members like me in elections or indeed working class candidates in general. They did this to try to get more diversity on Council and eat into the over-representation of lawyers, public servants, political apparatchik etc as Councillors on so many Councils."
He also said he and Yarra For All have not received any donations from the CFMEU since the start of 2023.