The City of Melton covers parts of the western suburbs of Melbourne, including Caroline Springs, Taylors Hill, Harkness, Melton, Brookfield, Kurunjang and parts of Truganina.
The council had a population of 178,960 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 Melton will be divided into ten single-member wards as of 2024:
- Bullum Bullum – in the east, covering Burnside.
- Cambrian – in the west, covering Brookfield.
- Coolibah – in the south-west, covering Eynesbury, Weir Views and parts of Melton South.
- Hilltop – in the north-east, covering Diggers Rest, Plumpton and parts of Hillside.
- Jackwood – in the centre, covering Aintree, Bonnie Brook, Deanside and Fraser Rise.
- Lake Caroline – in the east, covering Burnside Heights, Caroline Springs and parts of Taylors Hill.
- Mount Atkinson – in the south-east, covering Fieldstone, Mount Cottrell, Ravenhall, Rockbank, Strathtulloh and Thornhill Park.
- Stringybark – in the north-west, covering Harkness and Kurunjang.
- Sugar Gum – in the east, covering parts of Hillside and Taylors Hill.
- Watts – in the centre, covering Melton, Cobblebank and Grangefields.
Redistribution
The council previously consisted of three wards, electing nine councillors. The Watts ward elected two members, the Cambridge ward elected three members, and the Coburn ward elected four members.
The south-eastern Cambridge ward covered the entire new Bullum Bullum ward, most of the new Lake Caroline and Mount Atkinson wards, and parts of the new Jackwood, Sugar Gum and Watts wards.
The south-western Coburn ward covered the entire new Cambrian and Coolibah wards, and parts of the new Mount Atkinson, Stringybark and Watts wards.
The northern Watts ward covered the entire new Hilltop ward and parts of the new Jackwood, Lake Caroline, Stringybark, Sugar Gum and Watts wards.
| Cambridge | Steve Abboushi (Ind Lab) | Goran Kesic (Ind Lib) | Kathy Majdlik (Ind) |
| Coburn | Sophie Ramsey (Ind) | Julie Shannon (Independent Liberal) | |
| Bob Turner (Independent) | Ashleigh Vandenberg (Independent Labor) | ||
| Watts | Lara Carli (Ind Labor) | Justine Farrugia (Independent Liberal)1 | |
1Justine Farrugia replaced Moira Deeming following a countback in 2023.
History
The Shire of Melton dates back to at least 1871, with the shire expanding on a number of occasions. Most recently Melton took in the Exford area from the City of Werribee in 1994.
The shire became a city in 2012.
The council was elected through seven single-member wards until 2008. The council was then elected by three multi-member wards, with seven members until 2015, and nine members since 2015.
Council control
The current council includes three Labor councillors, three Liberal councillors and three other independents, but there is no evidence of factions or divisions in the minutes of mayoral elections since 2020. Every mayoral and deputy mayoral election since 2020 has been uncontested, with a mixture of members of each party (or no party) being elected or nominating others. While I’m sure there may be some divisions amongst members, the power seems to be shared consensually.
Candidate summary
Councillor Justine Farrugia is not running for re-election.
The Greens are running in two wards, and all other candidates are unendorsed by any party.
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. The Labor vote was slightly weaker in the western end of the council, but the north-eastern ward of Hilltop had the lowest Labor 2CP.
Candidates – Bullum Bullum Ward
- Cr Steve Abboushi
- Steve Galevski
- Keegan Hand-Howden
Candidates – Cambrian Ward
- Kubir Khanal
- Aamer Kiani (Greens)
- Ken Hardy
- George Palackalody
- Cr Bob Turner
Candidates – Coolibah Ward
- Veronika Levchenkova (Greens)
- Gurjant Singh
- Brandi Morris
- Andrew Majdlik
- Md Omor Faruq
- Victor Ikeh
- Roderick Borg
- Jasmeen Kaur Grewal
- Affan Hashmi
- Nasim Uddin
Candidates – Hilltop Ward
- Julian Cugliari
- Ujjala Camilleri
- John Verdon
- Andrew Deeming
Candidates – Jackwood Ward
- Melanie Jones
- Cr Ashleigh Vandenberg
- Cr Goran Kesic
- Satinder Singh
- Lokesh Makkar
- Wally Harpreet Singh Walia
- Jasmeet Singh Pannu
- Mandip Singh
Candidates – Lake Caroline Ward
- Sarah O’Neill
- Ajay Pasupulate
- Mimmie Claudine Watts
- Iris Du
- Cr Kathy Majdlik
- Jake Krohn
Candidates – Mount Atkinson Ward
- Phillip Zada
- Harpreet Singh Marwaha
- Rohit Reddy Rampur
- Ranjit Singh
- Golam Haque
- Matt Pearse
Candidates – Stringybark Ward
- Chander Sharma
- Ravinder Kaur
- Nib De Santis
- Cr Julie Shannon
- Stephen Waddell
- Sushma Nagaraj
Candidates – Sugar Gum Ward
- Bill Au
- Cr Lara Carli
- Daniel Toncic
Candidates – Watts Ward
- Ashleigh Warren
- Cr Sophie Ramsey
- Michael Tat
- Kulwant Singh Bhambra
- Merrick Price
- Vincent Fasulo
- Graham Watt
- George D. Rozario
- Ted Caruana