The City of Darebin covers parts of the inner north of Melbourne, including Reservoir, Preston, Northcote, Thornbury and parts of Bundoora.
The council had a population of 148,570 as of the 2021 census.
- Wards
- Incumbent councillors
- History
- Council control
- Candidate summary
- Assessment
- 2020 results
- Voting trends by ward
Wards
The City of Darebin is divided into nine single-member wards as of 2024:
- Central
- North Central
- North East
- North West
- South
- South Central
- South East
- South West
- West
In general, the northern wards overlap with Reservoir, Bundoora and Kingsbury, the central wards overlap with Preston and the southern wards overlap with Thornbury and Northcote.
| Central | Lina Messina (Ind) | South Central | Susan Rennie (Ind) |
| North Central | Julie Williams (Ind. Labor) | South East | Emily Dimitriadis (Lab) |
| North East | Tim Laurence (Ind. Labor) | South West | Trent McCarthy (Greens) |
| North West | Gaetano Greco (Ind) | West | Susanne Newton (Grn) |
| South | Tom Hannan (Greens) |
History
The City of Darebin was created in 1994 as an amalgamation of most of the cities of Northcote and Preston.
The council had previously been elected from nine single-member wards, but switched to three three-member wards in 2007. A subsequent review in 2020 reverted the council to single-member wards.
Labor held the mayoralty continuously from the first election in 1996 until 2015, but have since only held the mayoralty for one term, from 2022 to 2023.
In the last decade, the Greens also held the mayoralty from 2016 to 2018 and again since 2023, and the rest of the time the mayoralty has been held by independents.
Council control
The current term of council has seen Labor and Greens each hold the mayoralty for one year, with independent Lisa Messina serving as mayor for the first two years.
Candidate summary
Sitting councillors Tom Hannan and Trent McCarthy are not running for re-election.
The Greens and Labor are both running a full ticket of nine candidates, while the Victorian Socialists are running eight candidates. The other 22 candidates are independents.
Assessment
Labor and the Greens are even in strength in Darebin, but both will be hoping to gain more wards.
| Party | Votes | % | Seats won |
| Independent | 26,794 | 30.0 | 3 |
| Greens | 22,664 | 25.3 | 3 |
| Labor Members for Darebin | 20,519 | 22.9 | 3 |
| Victorian Socialists | 6,977 | 7.8 | 0 |
| Independent Labor | 4,905 | 5.5 | 0 |
| Save The Planet | 2,934 | 3.3 | 0 |
| Reason | 1,913 | 2.1 | 0 |
| Independent Liberal | 1,853 | 2.1 | 0 |
| Liberal Democrats | 899 | 1.0 | 0 |
| Informal | 2,767 | 3.0 | 0 |
Voting trends by ward
In order to understand the relative political position of each ward, I have estimated the results of the 2022 federal election in each ward.
On a two-party-preferred basis, Labor won all nine wards with ease, ranging from 70% in the north-east to 81% in the south-west. But the more relevant question is the Labor vs Greens two-candidate-preferred figure, where the trend is the opposite.
Labor still wins every ward on a two-candidate-preferred basis, but by a lot less, and does best at the northern end of the council.
Labor does best in the North West, North East and North Central wards, while the Greens do best in the South and South West wards.
Candidates – Central Ward
- Alexander Taylor
- Craig Walters
- Zheng Chin
- Cameron Rowe (Victorian Socialists)
- Courtney May (Greens)
- Rob Beck
- Cr Lina Messina
- Kristine Olaris (Labor)
Candidates – North Central Ward
- Carmel Italiano
- Carmen Lahiff-Jenkins
- Jess Lenehan (Victorian Socialists)
- Vasilios Tsalkos (Labor)
- Mohammad Helmy (Greens)
- Cr Julie Williams
- Hamish Kemp
Candidates – North East Ward
- Cr Tim Singh Laurence
- Nathan Mackie (Victorian Socialists)
- Craig Smith
- Nina Laitala (Greens)
- Kim Ly Nguyen
- Matt Arturi (Labor)
Candidates – North West Ward
- Cr Gaetano Greco
- Adam Slater (Victorian Socialists)
- Geraldine Wood (Labor)
- Patchouli Paterson (Greens)
Candidates – South Central Ward
- Ruth Jelley (Greens)
- Liz Landray (Labor)
- Carmel Davies
Candidates – South East Ward
- Cr Emily Dimitriadis (Labor)
- Melanie Thewlis (Greens)
- Mark Johnston
- Mary Greene
- Carolyn M. Lunt
- Cr Susan Rennie
- Elias Tsigaras
- James Atyeo (Victorian Socialists)
Candidates – South Ward
- Melentie Pandilovski (Labor)
- Edward Plowman (Victorian Socialists)
- Julie O’Brien (Greens)
Candidates – South West Ward
- Kate Polglaze (Labor)
- Alexandra Sangster (Greens)
- Cat Rose (Victorian Socialists)
Candidates – West Ward
- Steph Price (Victorian Socialists)
- Brian Sanaghan
- Leon Zembekis
- Alex Bhathal
- Cr Susanne Newton (Greens)
- Connie Boglis (Labor)
Interesting looking at ward map, that Labor even won the areas to the south by 55-57. The state seat if Northcote was won by less than 1%. Shows the difference that the Liberal preferences can make, and that if the Liberals revert to preferencing Labor in 2026, Labor would be in the box seat to retain Northcote yet again.
@ Adam
I agree 100% with you. Both Kat Theophenous and Ged Kearney are very popular MPs. If State Libs preferenced Labor ahead of the Greens in Nov 2022 it would have been an easy retain. Unlike in Wills, the Palestine issue is not really a big deal here with not many Muslims and the Greek community the main ethnic community in Darebin
@Adam unless it swings to the Greens that is. If the LNP preferenced Labor in South Brisbane then Labor might’ve almost hung on but nobody thinks they’re holding on now, and while I’ll give you that Queensland will certainly change governments in 12 days time so Labor won’t win it back given they’re gonna be turfed out, the Greens will retain it, it will be Greens vs LNP.
@ Nether Portal
I see your point but even if there is an ALP to LIB swing at the next state election that does not mean there will be an ALP to GRN swing with it. For example, in 2013 while there was an ALP to LIB swing in NSW there was no ALP to GRN swing in Grayndler and Sydney in fact even as Labor lost in a landslide there was an increase in the Labor primary vote in both seats. This seat is not really Tealish like Albert Park so there is no GRN-Liberal swing voters either so Greens cannot pick up Liberal voters here.
Early results are in for Darebin and it is looking very bad for the Greens.
Greens mayor Susanne Newton is trailing Labor in her Central, with a fair chunk of the preferences to come from two very unfriendly ex-Greens.
The two heavily gentrified Northcote wards (South and South West) both have retiring Green members and both are being led by Labor. South Ward very comfortably so, with Labor on 48%, and South West the Greens are (just barely) coming third behind Labor and the Vic Sols.
And Green-in-all-but-name independent councillor Susan Rennie has utterly failed in her bid to oust Labor councillor Emily Dimitriades in South East ward. Dimitriades is miles out in front 42%, with Rennie a distant fourth (of eight) on 10%.
@3z Where are you getting these results? I live in South Ward, and am interested in seeing the count so far.
I know someone who is scrutineering
Current South Ward:
ALP 3507
GRN 2769
VS 1021
I believe this is 100% of Group A or near enough.
Green wipeout in darebin… Labor ahead in West, Southwest, Southeast and central wards
Final results are:
5 ALP / 3 GRN / 1 Ind (Greco)
Greens did substantially better on Group B votes and have won South (from substantially behind on strong VicSol prefs), South West and South Central.
Former councillors Susanne Newton (Green), Lina Messina, Julie Williams and Tim Singh Laurence have all been defeated by ALP candidates. Former councillor Susan Rennie was also defeated in South East, but her move to this ward was apparently only to act as a feeder candidate for the Green. This has proved unsuccessful with ALP councillor Emily Dimitriades comfortably reelected.
If the Greens are to win Northcote this isn’t a good start for them.
I cannot see the Greens winning Northcote. They are going backwards not forward. If there had not been a switch in Liberal preferences last election there would have been a swing to Labor. If there is a swing to the LNP statewide, including in Northcote, and the LNP reverse their preference decision ALP will easily retain Northcote.
Northcote will be a tough fight for the Greens at the state level but at this council election they have over-performed their 2022 federal 2CP results by 5-8% in their wards against Labor.