Kingston council election, 2024

The City of Kingston covers parts of the south eastern suburbs of Melbourne, including Clayton South, Mentone, Parkdale, Dingley Village, Mordialloc, Chelsea, Patterson Lakes, Clarinda and parts of Cheltenham, Highett and Oakleigh South.

The council had a population of 158,129 as of the 2021 census.

• Wards
• Incumbent councillors
• History
• Council control
• Candidate summary
• Assessment
• Voting trends by ward

Wards
The City of Kingston is divided into eleven single-member wards as of 2024:

• Banksia – at the southern end of the council, covering Carrum, Patterson Lakes and parts of Bonbeach.
• Bunjil – at the northern end, covering Clayton South, Oakleigh South and parts of Clarinda.
• Caruana – in the north-east, covering Dingley Village and parts of Clarinda.
• Chicquita – in the centre, covering Moorabbin Airport and parts of Heatherton and Mentone.
• Como – in the west, covering parts of Cheltenham and Mentone.
• Karkarook – in the north-west, covering Moorabbin and parts of Cheltenham, Clarinda and Heatherton.
• Longbeach – near the southern end, covering parts of Chelsea and Bonbeach.
• Melaleuca – in the south-west, covering Mordialloc.
• Sandpiper – in the south, covering Edithvale, Chelsea Heights and parts of Chelsea.
• Wattle – in the north-west, covering parts of Cheltenham.
• Yammerbook – in the south-east, covering Braeside, Waterways, Aspendale and parts of Aspendale Gardens.

Incumbent councillors

History
The City of Kingston was formed in 1994 as a merger of the Chelsea council are, most of the Mordialloc council area and parts of the Moorabbin, Oakleigh and Springvale council areas.

The council was elected from seven single-member wards until 2008, when the system changed to three three-member wards, electing a total of nine councillors. The current system of eleven single-member wards was imposed for the 2020 election.

In the previous term, councillors Eden and Oxley held the mayoralty for three terms between them, with councillor Staikos winning the other year.

There was a clear change in the current council term. Staikos held the mayoralty for two years, followed by councillors Saab and Davey-Burns, while Oxley and Eden were clearly put in opposition.

Council control
There have not been that many contested mayoral or deputy mayoral elections in the current term, but the 2020 and 2023 meetings made it pretty clear that councillors Eden and Oxley, who are a couple and both affiliated with the ALP, find themselves in opposition to the council’s majority.

Eden held the mayoralty for the first year of the 2016-20 term, with Oxley holding the mayoralty for the final two years, separated by councillor Staikos.

Staikos was elected mayor in 2020 and 2021, unopposed in both years. But the 2020 deputy mayoral election was contested by Oxley. Both Eden and Staikos supported her in 2020, but the other eight councillors voted for Saab for deputy.

Eden and Oxley made another push in 2023, when Oxley nominated for both mayor and deputy. She received the support of councillors Eden, Howe and Hua for mayor. On the deputy mayoral ballot, votes were not counted for Oxley, but the only councillors to not vote for her opponent Davies were Oxley, Eden and the newly-elected mayor (who presumably did not see the need to vote in such a lopsided situation).

There is clearly a dominant majority on the council int he current term, with Eden and Oxley clearly in the minority, but with so few mayoral ballots it’s not entirely clear if every other councillor is part of the majority group. Generally they don’t have trouble maintaining a clear majority. Only six councillors have either been elected to a leadership role or nominated a successful candidate in the current term: Staikos, Hill, Bearsley, Davies, Saab and Davey-Burns.

Candidate summary
Councillors Tamsin Bearsley, Tim Cochrane, George Hua and Steve Staikosare not running for re-election.

The Victorian Socialists are running three candidates, and the Greens are running two.

Assessment
The current council has a clear majority group and some very loud opposition councillors. It’s plausible that the election could produce a shift in this divide.

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 in every ward, with a vote generally stronger in more northern areas. The Labor vote was 65% in Bunjil, the northernmost ward, but every other ward was between 55% and 58%, with the lowest being Banksia at the southern end of the council.

Candidates – Banksia Ward

• Rosemary Parrant
• Kalina Murday
• Heather Smith
• Cr Chris Howe

Candidates – Bunjil Ward

• Tony Athanasopoulos
• Nikki Kaur

Candidates – Caruana Ward

• Caroline White
• Riz Sheikh Nasir
• Joe Crupi
• Gandhi Bevinakoppa
• Michael Carty
• Natan Raykhtin-Breitenfeld
• Sav Peulich
• Shannon Hughes
• Eric Lee

Candidates – Chicquita Ward

• Jane Agirtan
• Wandzia French
• Anna Ricciuti
• Cr Tracey Davies
• Lina Pistone
• Jayden McKay (Victorian Socialists)
• Emma Doble
• Rosemary West
• Ian Baldock
• Lachlan McDonald

Candidates – Como Ward

• David Beckett
• Ya Ge Xu
• Cr Chris Hill
• Victoria Oxley
• Brendan Lenarcic

Candidates – Karkarook Ward

• Lauren Stevenson (Victorian Socialists)
• Jono Ling
• Cr Hadi Saab
• Shiva Ambadgatti

Candidates – Longbeach Ward

• Bronwyn Currie
• Samara Dixon
• David Walker
• Luke Gilling
• Rohan Parrant
• Cr Georgina Oxley

Candidates – Melaleuca Ward

• Jack Cassidy
• Tess Law
• Alex Breskin (Greens)
• Declan Dubout
• Gavin Nolan
• Louise Black

Candidates – Sandpiper Ward

• Kirralee Ashworth-Collett
• Abraham Jesus Garcia
• Graham Fountain
• Kealey Nutt

Candidates – Wattle Ward

• Geoff Woods
• Trent Pirihi
• Georgia Erevnidis
• Cr Jenna Davey-Burns
• Amiriya Dorian (Victorian Socialists)
• Nadica Visic
• Aldo Comazzetto

Candidates – Yammerbook Ward

• Cr David Eden
• Tony Firman
• Sarah O’Donnell
• Susanna Moore (Greens)
• Mellissa Glanville
• Daniel Loza
• Mark Tarulli
• Greg McMahon

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