Posted on Monday, 2 September
Council elections are taking place in Victoria this October. In the last council elections in 2020, Victorian Socialists ran fewer than 20 candidates and limited our campaign to the Maribyrnong, Moreland (now Merri-bek), Darebin, Hume and Melbourne City council areas. This time, we’ve got more than 80 candidates running in councils across Melbourne and in parts of regional Victoria too. You can find our (constantly expanding) list of them here.
In 2020, Jorge Jorquera was elected in Maribyrnong to become Victorian Socialists’ first local councillor. This year Jorge will be seeking re-election in the Burndap Ward. Newly established single-member wards across most council areas make the challenge steeper for smaller parties like us. There are a number of other areas however—particularly in Merri-bek, Hume, Darebin and Banyule—in which we’re in with a shot.
Victorian Socialists candidates are campaigning on a platform of taking real action on housing costs, promoting equitable, liveable and sustainable development, fighting for local, and global, solidarity and justice (including taking a stand against Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza), opposing sell-offs of council services and assets, and improving councils’ transparency and accountability to the community. We don’t accept the argument that local government is only about roads, rates and rubbish. Councils have a responsibility to fight for our communities, rather than stay silent in the face of state and federal government decisions that affect us.
To have a chance of electing more Victorian Socialists councillors this October—people who will take on the big business interests that dominate politics and put people before profit on a local level—we need your help. One way to do that is to make a donation. Every dollar raised will help our campaign reach more people. Another way to help for people in the Maribyrnong, Merri-bek, Hume, Darebin or Banyule council areas in particular is to request a yard sign to put up in front of your house promoting the Victorian Socialists candidate in your area.
Finally, the best way of all to help is to join Victorian Socialists and get involved—between now and the election there will be no shortage of letterboxing, phone banking and other campaign activities to participate in.