The City of Monash covers parts of the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, including Glen Waverley, Mount Waverley, Wheelers Hill, Mulgrave, Clayton and parts of Burwood and Oakleigh.
The council had a population of 190,397 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 Monash will be divided into eleven single-member wards as of 2024:
- Banksia – in the south-west, covering parts of Clayton, Huntingdale and Oakleigh South.
- Blackburn – in the north, covering the Syndal and Tally Ho localities.
- Gallaghers – in the north-east, covering part of Glen Waverley.
- Gardiners Creek – in the north-west, covering parts of Ashwood.
- Jells – in the east, covering parts of Glen Waverley and Wheelers Hill.
- Mayfield – in the west, covering parts of Chadstone, Jordanville and Mount Waverley.
- Scotchmans Creek – in the centre, covering parts of Glen Waverley and Mount Waverley.
- University – in the west, covering Clayton North, the Clayton campus of Monash University and parts of Clayton and Oakleigh East.
- Warrigal – in the south-west, covering Hughesdale, Oakleigh and parts of Huntingdale and Oakleigh East.
- Waverley Park – in the south-east, covering parts of Mulgrave and Wheelers Hill.
- Wellington – in the south, covering parts of Mulgrave and Notting Hill.
Redistribution
The council previously consisted of four wards, electing eleven councillors. The Glen Waverley ward elected two members, while the Mount Waverley, Mulgrave and Oakleigh wards each elected three.
The north-eastern Glen Waverley ward covered the entire new Gallaghers ward and parts of the new Blackburn and Scotchmans Creek wards.
The north-western Mount Waverley ward covered the entire new Gardiners Creek and Mayfield wards and parts of the new Blackburn and Scotchmans Creek wards.
The south-eastern Mulgrave ward covered the entire new Jells and Waverley Park wards and parts of the new Wellington ward.
The south-western Oakleigh ward covered the entire new Banksia, University and Warrigal wards and part of the new Wellington ward.
| Glen Waverley | Geoff Lake (Ind Labor) | Nicky Luo (Ind Labor) | |
| Mount Waverley | Anjalee de Silva (Ind) | Brian Little (Ind Labor) | Rebecca Paterson (Ind Labor) |
| Mulgrave | Paul Klisaris (Ind Labor) | Shane McCluskey (Ind) | Tina Samardzija (Ind Labor) |
| Oakleigh | Josh Fergeus (Ind) | Stuart James (Ind Labor) | Theo Zographos (Burwood Liberals) |
1Anjalee de Silva was elected as a member of the Greens, but resigned from the party in early 2024.
2Josh Fergeus was elected as a member of the Greens, but resigned from the party in early 2024.
History
The City of Monash was created in 1994, out of a merger of the City of Waverley with a large part of the City of Oakleigh.
The council was elected from eight single-member wards until 2005. From 2005 until the last election, the council included eleven members elected from four wards.
The last election saw Labor members (running as independents) winning seven out of eleven seats, along with two Greens, one Burwood Liberal and one other independent.
Throughout the current term, the mayoralty and deputy mayoralty have been consistently held by ALP members, except for independent McCluskey holding the deputy mayoralty from 2020 to 2021. Brian Little held the mayoralty from 2020 to 2021, followed by Stuart James, Tina Samardzija and Nicky Luo.
Council control
The City of Monash’s minutes do not specify how every councillor voted on each mayoral election, but the video indicates that nine councillors generally voted for the successful candidates every year, with then-Greens councillors Josh Fergeus and Anjalee de Silva generally being a minority standing against the majority.
The Labor councillors generally nominated and stood for the mayoralty every year, with the support of a broader nine-councillor block.
Candidate summary
No information.
Assessment
Labor independents are very strong in Monash, and are likely to be very dominant with single-member wards.
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 weakest at the eastern end of the council area, with Labor polling just 52% in the Jells ward. Labor polled over 60% in the two wards to the south-west of Dandenong Road.
I find Monash as a council quite interesting. Yes, if you overlap it with state or federal results, voting pattern is pretty similar – south of the Monash Freeway is stronger for Labor than north. Yet Labor independents are pretty entrenched here, alongside 2 former Greens and then you have the sole Liberal coming out of Oakleigh despite that area being strongest for Labor.
It may very well just be name recognition for certain councillors being that much higher over any political allegiances – Geoff Lake is a name quite well known – some might remember him as the former federal Labor candidate for Hotham in 2013 who was disendorsed by then PM Rudd (the replacement candidate, Clare O’Neill, now the current MP, was the then mayor of Greater Dandenong).
The Monash Freeway acts as social divide and the Two Melbournes meet along the Monash Freeway.
The green independent for University Ward, Josh Fergeus, has stated that corflute’s advertising him have been being stolen. He implied that this was being done by an opponent, although there is no proof of this.