Greater Dandenong council election, 2024

The City of Greater Dandenong covers parts of south-eastern Melbourne, including Noble Park, Dandenong, Keysborough and Springvale.

The council had a population of 158,208 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 Greater Dandenong is divided into eleven single-member wards as of 2024:

• Cleeland – in the east, covering parts of Dandenong and Dandenong North.
• Dandenong – in the east, covering Dandenong South and parts of Dandenong.
• Dandenong North – in the north-east, covering parts of Dandenong North.
• Keysborough – in the west, covering parts of Keysborough.
• Keysborough South – in the south-west, covering Bangholme, Lyndhurst and parts of Keysborough.
• Noble Park – in the centre, covering parts of Noble Park.
• Noble Park North – in the north, covering parts of Noble Park North, Noble Park and Dandenong North.
• Springvale Central – in the north-west, covering parts of Springvale and Springvale South.
• Springvale North – in the north-west, covering parts of Springvale.
• Springvale South – in the west, covering parts of Springvale South.
• Yarraman – in the centre, covering parts of Yarraman.

Redistribution
The council was already divided into eleven wards prior to the recent redistribution. Seven out of eleven wards were slightly modified, but all wards have maintained their name.

Dandenong shifted slightly north, losing its southern edge to Keysborough South while gaining another area from that ward.

Dandenong pushed Yarraman further north into Springvale North, which expanded south into Springvale Central. This caused a knock-on as Springvale South also moved south, along with Keysborough.

Incumbent councillors

¹Phillip Danh replaced Eden Foster following a by-election in 2024.

History
The City of Greater Dandenong was created in 1994 as an amalgamation of the Dandenong and Springvale council areas.

Councillors were elected from eleven single-member wards until 2008, when the council switched to four wards electing eleven members between them.

This electoral system was reversed prior to the 2020 election, with single-member wards restored.

The 2020 election saw a landslide win for Dandenong Labor, consisting of Labor members running without official endorsement from the party. They won eight wards, to two for independent Liberal Party members and one Greens candidate.

Dandenong Labor councillors have held the mayoralty and deputy mayoralty consistently since the last election.

Council control
Mayoral and deputy mayoral elections in the current council has been almost entirely uncontested, with only one contested election.Every mayor and deputy mayor has been from the Dandenong Labor group, suggesting that Labor domination of the council is strong enough to discourage any opponents from contesting the council’s leadership.

Long and Tan were elected unopposed to the mayoral and deputy mayoral roles respectively in 2020. Memeti and Foster won in 2021, Foster and Formoso in 2022, and Formoso was elected mayor unopposed in 2023.

The deputy mayoral contest in 2023 was deadlocked with a 4-4 vote between councillors Lim and Long. Lim gained the support of Formoso, Memeti and O’Reilly, while Long was supported by Milkovic, Tan and Truong, with three other councillors absent. The issue was deferred to a later meeting when Councillor Long withdrew and thus allowed Councillor Lim to win unopposed. Both Lim and Long are Labor members.

Candidate summary
Councillors Tim Dark and Richard Lim are not running for re-election.

The Greens and Victorian Socialists are each running two candidates.

Assessment
There are a large number of ALP members who are dominant on Greater Dandenong, and that group has monopolised the council’s leadership since 2020.

2020 results

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 every ward, with their vote peaking at 67% in three wards in the north-west of the council area.

Candidates – Cleeland Ward

• Cr Rhonda Garad (Greens)
• Zahra Haydar Big
• Cr Angela Long
• Pradeep Hewavitharana

Candidates – Dandenong North Ward

• Daniel Formoso
• Rosana Ierone
• Rhonda Tannous
• Branka Tomic
• Cr Bob Milkovic

Candidates – Dandenong Ward

• Cr Jim Memeti
• Rahima Rizai

Candidates – Keysborough South Ward

• Ajdin Muzur
• Alexandra Bryant
• Isabella Do (Greens)
• Geraldine Gonsalvez
• Sasha Jankovic

Candidates – Keysborough Ward

• Melinda Yim
• Reinaldo Ivan Pincheira
• Peter Brown
• Hemara In
• Tevyn Gov (Victorian Socialists)
• Daniel Dang
• Sinan Akkurt

Candidates – Noble Park North Ward

• Will Billings
• Love Agravante
• Karl Rathnayake
• Cr Lana Formoso

Candidates – Noble Park Ward

• Cr Sophie Tan

Candidates – Springvale Central Ward

• Meng Bunlay
• Hor Truong
• Brian Dalton
• Alice Phuong Le
• Minh Le
• Sean Stebbings (Victorian Socialists)

Candidates – Springvale North Ward

• Huong Dinh
• Angela Holl
• Cr Sean O’Reilly

Candidates – Springvale South Ward

• Malab Hem
• Thayhorn Yim
• Cr Loi Truong
• Andy Tran
• Lin Sok
• Yen Thai

Candidates – Yarraman Ward

• Cr Phillip Danh
• Ian Cook

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