The City of Port Phillip covers suburbs in the inner south-east of Melbourne, including St Kilda, Elwood, South Melbourne, Albert Park, Balaclava and parts of Port Melbourne, Southbank and Windsor.
The council had a population of 101,942 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 Port Phillip will be divided into nine single-member wards as of 2024:
- Albert Park – in the centre, covering Middle Park, St Kilda West and parts of Albert Park.
- Alma – in the east, covering St Kilda East and part of St Kilda.
- Balaclava – in the south-east, covering Balaclava, Ripponlea and parts of Elwood and St Kilda.
- Elwood – in the south-east, covering parts of Elwood.
- Lakeside – in the centre, covering Albert Park Lake and parts of St Kilda and Windsor.
- Montague – in the north-west, covering parts of Port Melbourne and South Wharf.
- Port Melbourne – in the north-west, covering parts of Port Melbourne.
- South Melbourne – in the north, covering South Melbourne.
- St Kilda – in the south, covering parts of St Kilda.
Redistribution
The council previously consisted of three wards, electing nine councillors. Each ward elected three councillors.
The Canal ward covered the entire new Balaclava and Elwood wards and most of the new Alma ward.
The Gateway ward covered most of the new Montague, Port Melbourne and South Melbourne wards and part of the new Lakeside ward.
The Lake ward covered the entirety of the new St Kilda and Albert Park wards, most of the new Lakeside ward and small parts of the new Alma, Montague, Port Melbourne and South Melbourne wards.
| Canal | Gateway | Lake |
| Tim Baxter (Greens) | Heather Cunsolo (Ind) | Andrew Bond (Ind. Liberal) |
| Rhonda Clark (RoPP) | Peter Martin (Labor) | Robert Nyaguy (Labor)1 |
| Louise Crawford (Labor) | Marcus Pearl (Ind. Liberal) | Christina Sirakoff (RoPP) |
1Robert Nyaguy replaced Katherine Copsey following a countback in 2023.
History
The City of Port Phillip was created in 1994, taking in the old St Kilda council and parts of the old Port Melbourne, South Melbourne and Prahran councils.
The council was elected from seven single-member wards until 2015. The council was elected from three wards of three councillors each until 2024.
In the current term, Labor’s Louise Crawford held the mayoralty from 2020 until 2021, followed by Liberal Marcus Pearl from 2021 until 2022. Independent Heather Cunsolo has served as mayor since November 2022.
Council control
The current council has seen Labor, Liberal and independent mayors, and Labor, Liberal and Greens deputies. The ROPP group hasn’t shared in any of the leadership roles.
The council has a progressive bloc which started out as 2 Labor and 2 Greens, and became 3 Labor and 1 Green when one of the Greens won a seat in state parliament. On the other side there is the two ROPP members and two independents, with Heather Cunsolo sitting in the middle.
Candidate summary
Sitting councillors Rhonda Clark, Marcus Pearl, Andrew Bond and Christine Sirakoff are not running for re-election.
The Greens and Labor are each running for eight out of nine wards. The Victorian Socialists are running in one ward.
There are also two local quasi-parties running in multiple wards. The right-leaning Residents of Port Phillip are running in four wards, while the centrist People Empowering Port Phillip are running in seven wards.
Assessment
The partisan groups are very clear in Port Phillip and I expect there to be some clear partisan voting trends. The new electoral system creates the potential for a side to dominate the council if they can win in the right places.
The council leans to the left but Labor and Greens are competing in a busy space. There are a number of independents in the centre with PEPP, while ROPP are competing on the right.
| Party | Votes | % | Seats won |
| Labor | 13,228 | 22.4 | 2 |
| Independent | 11,926 | 20.2 | 2 |
| Greens | 11,881 | 20.1 | 2 |
| Independent Liberal | 11,740 | 19.9 | 1 |
| Residents of Port Phillip | 8,279 | 14.0 | 2 |
| Sustainable Australia | 1,559 | 2.6 | |
| Independent Ratepayers | 482 | 0.8 | |
| Informal | 2,287 | 3.7 |
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.
Labor won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote in every ward, with their strongest vote at the southern end of the council area.
Labor’s primary vote was much more even, as their two-party-preferred vote included a lot of Greens primary votes.
The Greens polled a higher vote at the southern end of the council, while the Liberal Party polled better at the northern end.
Candidates – Albert Park Ward
- Beverley Pinder (People Empowering Port Phillip)
- Connor Slattery (Greens)
- Lauren Sherson (Independent Liberal)
- Rod Hardy (Residents of Port Phillip)
- Joan B. Lamb
- Ellie Williams
- Rhonda Small
Candidates – Alma Ward
- Dick Gross
- Justin Halliday
- Josie Foster (Greens)
- Jill Horman (Labor)
- Brendan Perera (Residents of Port Phillip)
Candidates – Balaclava Ward
- Rachel Iampolski (Greens)
- Berri Wajsbort
- Alex Kats
- Jon Webster
- Michelle Di Donna (People Empowering Port Phillip)
- Libby Buckingham (Labor)
- Alex Darton
Candidates – Elwood Ward
- Liliana Carranza (Greens)
- Janet De Silva (People Empowering Port Phillip)
- Cr Louise Crawford (Labor)
- Sally Gibson
Candidates – Lakeside Ward
- Bryan Mears (Residents of Port Phillip)
- Levi Silcox (People Empowering Port Phillip)
- Jo McDonald (Independent Liberal)
- Ivy Pierlot (Greens)
- Barney Moore (Labor)
Candidates – Montague Ward
- Alex Makin
- Cr Peter Martin (Labor)
- Chris Schwarze (People Empowering Port Phillip)
- David Knoff
- Judy Sahayanathan
Candidates – Port Melbourne Ward
- Richard Whitfield (Greens)
- David Wright (Labor)
- Cr Heather Cunsolo
- Adrian William King
- Sabina Sablok (People Empowering Port Phillip)
Candidates – South Melbourne Ward
- Trina Lewis
- Beti Jay (Residents of Port Phillip)
- Earl James (Greens)
- Bridget Mullahy (Labor)
Candidates – St Kilda Ward
- Jenni Roper
- Cr Tim Baxter (Greens)
- Serge Thomann (People Empowering Port Phillip)
- David Blakeley
- Colleen Bolger (Victorian Socialists)
- Cr Robbie Nyaguy (Labor)
Hey Ben, thanks for these guides!
Just a small correction; Andrew Bond is an Independent Liberal, like Marcus Pearl.
J
It’s worth noting that 2PP vote on the map is quite underestimated in some areas (particularly around St Kilda & Balaclava) due to Macnamara having a huge postal vote from outside Port Phillip – specifically Glen Eira – that is by far the most conservative part of the federal seat.
This makes it differ a lot from looking at similar analysis of suburbs like Fitzroy or Brunswick, where they are in more consistently left-wing federal seats in which the postal vote doesn’t vary so greatly from the polling booth votes, and therefore has less impact on it.
Looking purely at polling places, the wards around St Kilda, St Kilda East and Balaclava had Labor 2PPs of close to 80% (with the Greens winning every booth) so actually very close to the inner north where the polling day 2PPs were in the mid-80s.
But the difference is that Macnamara’s postal vote was closer to 50/50 (due mostly to the Caulfield area) which I think disguises just how left-leaning some parts of this council are. Whereas adding Wills’ postal vote to Brunswick might only bring the 2PP down from 85 to 82 because all of Wills is strongly left-leaning, adding Macnamara’s postal vote brings St Kilda’s 2PP down from 80 to 68 because the biggest postal vote comes from a more Liberal area outside this council.
This isn’t intended to “correct” Ben’s fugures, he already mentioned it himself on Discord when talking about that map, but it’s just worth mentioning because some of the commentary online for example has had people (like Marcus Pearl) talk about St Kilda Ward specifically having a “35-40% blue vote” that needs to go somewhere without a Lib candidate, and I just listen to that and think “Where the hell are you getting a 35-40% Lib vote in St Kilda from?” But it would be either the overall Macnamara vote, or possibly the old Lake Ward vote (which was mostly Albert & Middle Park and didn’t even have all of St Kilda) that they are referencing. Realistically there’s about a 20% “blue vote” around St Kilda & Balaclava, and maybe 25-30% in Elwood.
I’m hoping progressive candidates at least get a clean sweep of Alma, St Kilda, Elwood, Balaclava and either or both of Lakeside & South Melbourne Wards for a majority.
I think Albert Park will go to a conservative, and Montague and Port Melbourne probably to more centrist independents.
My predictions:
Alma – Greens or Justin Halliday
Albert Park – RoPP (unfortunately) or IND LIB
Balaclava – Greens or ALP
Elwood – Louise Crawford (ALP)
St Kilda – Greens or possibly Thomann*
Lakeside – Not sure..
South Melbourne – Greens or ALP
Port Melbourne – Heather Cunsolo (IND)
Montague – One of the INDs
* Labor’s incumbent is preferencing Thomann ahead of Baxter, which if preferences are disciplined enough could make it very close when added to Thomann’s personal vote and the 20-25% more conservative vote.