The City of West covers suburbs in inner Melbourne, including Richmond, Fitzroy, Collingwood, Abbotsford, Clifton Hill and parts of Fitzroy North and Fairfield.
The council had a population of 90,114 as of the 2021 census.
- Wards
- Redistribution
- Incumbent councillors
- History
- Council control
- Candidate summary
- Assessment
- 2020 results
- Voting trends by ward
Wards
The City of Yarra will be divided into nine single-member wards as of 2024:
- Boulevard – in the south-east, covering Burnley and parts of Richmond.
- Curtain – in the far north-west, covering parts of Princes Hill, Carlton North and Fitzroy North.
- Hoddle – in the west, covering Collingwood.
- Langridge – in the centre, covering Abbotsford and parts of Richmond.
- Lennox – in the south, covering Cremorne and parts of Richmond.
- MacKillop – in the west, covering Fitzroy.
- Melba – in the south, covering parts of Richmond.
- Nicholls – in the north-west, covering parts of Fitzroy North.
- Yarra Bend – in the north-east, covering Fairfield, Alphington and Clifton Hill.
Redistribution
The council previously consisted of three wards, electing nine councillors. Each ward elected three councillors.
The Langridge ward covered the entire new Langridge ward, most of the new Hoddle and Yarra Bend wards and parts of the new MacKillop ward.
The Melba ward covered the entire Lennox ward and most of the new Melba and Boulevard wards.
The Nicholls ward covered the entirety new Curtain and Nicholls wards and parts of the new MacKillop, Hoddle and Yarra Bend wards.
| Langridge | Melba | Nicholls |
| Michael Glynatsis (Yarra for All)1 | Edward Crossland (Greens) | Bridgid O’Brien (YFA) |
| Stephen Jolly (Yarra for All) | Herschel Landes (Ind) | Amanda Stone (Ind)2 |
| Anab Mohamud (Ind)3 | Claudia Nguyen (Ind) | Sophie Wade (Greens) |
1Michael Glynatsis replaced Gabrielle De Vietri following a countback in 2023.
2Amanda Stone was elected as a Greens member but resigned in February 2023.
3Anab Mohamud was elected as a Greens member but resigned in February 2024.
History
The City of Yarra was created in 1994, taking in the old Collingwood, Fitzroy and Richmond councils and parts of the City of Melbourne and the City of Northcote.
The council was elected from five wards (four electing two and one electing one) up until 2004, when the council switched to a structure of three wards of three each. That structure has been used until this year.
Labor had a majority on the council until 2002. Greg Barber from the Greens became the first non-Labor mayor of Yarra in 2003. The ALP and Greens tended to share the mayoralty from 2002 until 2012. The Greens were locked out of the mayoralty from 2012 to 2016, but took one year of the mayoralty in the 2016-2020 term.
The 2020 election produced a council with the Greens holding an absolute majority, and they have won the mayoralty for three of the four years. But the Greens position was weakened by Gabrielle de Vietri leaving after being elected to Parliament in 2022, and then two other members quitting the party in 2023 and 2024.
Council control
The Greens won five out of nine seats in 2020, giving them an absolute majority. They lost that majority when Gabrielle de Vietri left the council upon her election to Parliament in 2022. But they were still able to share power with independent Claudia Nguyen after that point. Nguyen was elected mayor in 2022 and the Greens’ Edward Crossland won in 2023.
The party’s position was weakened by Amanda Stone leaving the party in early 2023 and deputy mayor Anub Mohamud leaving in early 2024.
Candidate summary
Sitting councillors Herschel Landes, Anab Mohamud, Claudia Nguyen and Amanda Stone are not running for re-election.
The Greens are running a full ticket of nine candidates. The Victorian Socialists are running eight candidates, and Labor is running three. The independent group Yarra For All is running eleven candidates across nine wards.
Assessment
The creation of Yarra For All as a quasi-party of local independents has turned Yarra into a largely two-party system, with Greens and Yarra For All going head to head across the council. It’s quite possible the single-member system could produce a disproportional majority for one of these parties.
The position of the Greens is much weaker than in 2020, with the party struggling to maintain its position while governing the council.
| Party | Votes | % | Seats won |
| Independent | 14,631 | 27.9 | 2 |
| Greens | 14,359 | 27.4 | 5 |
| Labor | 7,501 | 14.3 | 0 |
| Independent Socialist | 7,380 | 14.1 | 2 |
| Reason | 2,609 | 5.0 | 0 |
| Independent Liberal | 2,217 | 4.2 | 0 |
| Richmond First | 1,897 | 3.6 | 0 |
| Liberal Democrats | 1,282 | 2.4 | 0 |
| Animal Justice | 524 | 1.0 | 0 |
| Informal | 2,872 | 5.2 | 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.
The Greens do very well in this area at federal elections. The Greens won a majority of the two-candidate-preferred vote (against Labor) in every ward, with the highest Greens vote in the four wards in the north-west of the council.
Labor’s primary vote was highest in the Yarra Bend ward.
Candidates – Boulevard Ward
- Sarah McRitchie
- Sharon Harrison (Yarra For All)
- Campbell Watkins
- Annie Toller (Victorian Socialists)
- Ned Lindenmayer (Labor)
- Oscar North (Greens)
Candidates – Curtain Ward
- Peter Sprott (Yarra For All)
- Alan Tse (Yarra For All)
- Cr Edward Crossland (Greens)
- Anna Spark
- Bronwyn Murphy (Victorian Socialists)
Candidates – Hoddle Ward
- Tony Lee
- Sharie Harrold
- Brielle Pope (Yarra For All)
- Holly Cruickshank Medlyn (Victorian Socialists)
- Cr Sophie Wade (Greens)
- S. Geminder
- Cr Michael Glynatsis (Yarra For All)
Candidates – Langridge Ward
- Evangeline Aston (Yarra For All)
- Angus Fretwell (Victorian Socialists)
- Harrison Watt (Greens)
- Ha Tran
Candidates – Lennox Ward
- Peter Razos
- Vicki Redwood
- John Bric
- Thihan Chandramohan
- Theresa Saldanha (Yarra For All)
- Andrew Davies
- Sam Poustie (Greens)
Candidates – MacKillop Ward
- Cr Stephen Jolly (Yarra For All)
- Belle Gibson (Victorian Socialists)
- Charlotte George (Greens)
- Renee Smith
Candidates – Melba Ward
- Karen Hovenga (Greens)
- Meca Ho
- Mubarek Imam
- Stella Heffernan (Victorian Socialists)
- Sarah Witty (Labor)
- Victoria Chipperfield (Yarra For All)
- Katarina Radonic
Candidates – Nicholls Ward
- Thibaut Clamart (Greens)
- Kenneth Gomez (Yarra For All)
- Remy Larocca
- Samuel Eggleston (Victorian Socialists)
- Catherine Noone
Candidates – Yarra Bend Ward
- Cr Bridgid O’Brien (Yarra For All)
- Leonie Gnieslaw
- Jill Post (Greens)
- Amaya Castro Williams (Victorian Socialists)
- Sarah McKenzie (Labor)
Im predicting Yarra For All (independent socialists) control of Yarra council and greens with 2 or 3 seats. Labor wont win any
This is a Greens heartland. It would be a major blow to them if they lost this progressive council, one of the wokest in Australia.
This is probably the most left-wing council in Australia. Inner West Council while left wing includes a wider geography and more centrist areas like Haberfield and Ashfield so not as left wing. The part around Fitzroy and Collingwood is among the leftist parts. However, there is some centrist areas around Cremorne/Burnely where are tech companies based.
The council was criticized as it does not fly the Australian flag or mark Australia Day. It often flies the Assexual Flag, Palestinian Flag., Intersex inclusive flag, Flag of the Saharwi Arab Democratic Flag-not a UN member, Flag of West Papua. On Australia Day it flies the Aboriginal Flag on half mast as mourning.
@Nimalan, agree that Fitzroy, Carlton North and Collingwood areas is probably the most left-wing place in Australia. I assume that Richmond/Cremorne/Burnley is a bit weaker to the Greens probably due to being adjacent to Hawthorn and Toorak hence more fiscal conservatives (but still the differences on each side of the river is still very big) and mostly CALD in public housing. The lowest support to The Greens is the Yarra Bend Ward which I assume is due to having a more suburban Alphington.
@ Marh
Yeah the Richmond/Cremorne is weaker for the left-generally due its proximity to the Inner East. I feel a lot of the young residents who live their often grew up in the Inner East went to private schools and chose to live there so they can enjoy an inner city lifestyle yet closer to their familes and transport connections. I feel it attracts more private sector workers which may explain the difference. In the past the Libs would get around 33% primary in those areas which is much higher than Fitzroy etc.
Also you are correct Alphington is suburban so has more nuclear families it has a signficant Greek Community so prefer a Centre Left approach than Far Left. The CALD Public housing in Richmond is away from the River around North Richmond station which does feel quite different from Cremorne and Burnely.
There is quite some momentum against the greens in the area. Yarra for all (YFA) and labor are preferencing each other against the greens. Every ward will be a 2 way race between YFA and the greens and i think labor preferences will push YFA over the line. I doubt labor will get even 20% in the wards it is contesting (Yarra bend, melba and boulevard)
Behaviour by councillors psrticularly greens councillors has been very poor so that will affect the Greens vote
I would say that the western parts of this LGA are the most leftist and woke suburbs in Australia. They vote Greens on all three levels of politics, almost all of them voted Yes to the Voice and people here tend to be much less patriotic than anyone else in Australia (no national anthem (Advance Australia Fair), no Aussie flag, no Australia Day, etc but they’ll proudly fly the flags of any LGBT denomination including fictional ones). Most wouldn’t care too much about sport or games or life offline either unless it’s for a protest or whatever week/month. Seems like a bunch of boring people for the most part!
*None of that is trying to offend anyone by the way
@ Nether portal
Nothing you said was offensive these are legitimate issues that people ought to debate either way. In the US, for example Christmas trees were renamed Holiday Trees. Some people now refer to Melbourne as Naarm
Do you know any of those people, Nether Portal? Judging them all by stereotypes you’ve read on the internet runs the risk of being inaccurate. What if many of them enjoy real life activities and sports and games?
Were they renamed Holiday Trees, Nimalan? When? By how many people? Did it catch on more widely? In the US the media and internet groups routinely share stories like that in an attempt to outrage people, when they either didn’t happen or happened with a small handful of people, once. The hoax about litter boxes being installed in classrooms is a great example of this.
I actually feel that Brunswick is more left wing than Fitzroy or Collingwood. The Greens have a higher vote here than Brunswick but that’s likely to be because Melbourne is a long term Greens held seat with a party leader and incumbent. Wills has a Labor incumbent.
It feels like the people in Brunswick are more radical than people in Fitzroy/Collingwood, many of the Greens voters are what you might call ‘moderate Greens’ who are young professionals who want more action on climate change etc.
Warrk Warrk ward in Merri Bek appears to have the highest ALP v LNP margin of any council ward in state.
Yarra Council now elected Stephen Jolly who is a well known for his left-wing political figure and joined Socialist Groups in the past. From sources, he seemed to win as he looked like he had at least moderated his past views and focus on bread and butter issues and the anti-Green swings. Even Greens recently labelled him Trumpian by Yarra City Council Standards.