The City of Stonnington covers suburbs in the inner east of Melbourne, including Malvern East, Toorak, Prahran, Malvern, Armadale and parts of Glen Iris, South Yarra and Windsor.
The council had a population of 104,703 as of the 2021 census.
- Wards
- Redistribution
- Incumbent councillors
- History
- Council control
- Candidate summary
- Assessment
- Voting trends by ward
Wards
The City of Stonnington will be divided into nine single-member wards as of 2024:
- Como – in the north-west, covering parts of South Yarra.
- Greville – in the south-west, covering Windsor and part of Prahran.
- Hedgeley Dene – in the east, covering parts of Glen Iris and Malvern East.
- Malvern Valley – in the south-east, covering parts of Malvern East.
- Orrong – in the south-west, covering parts of Prahran and Armadale.
- South Yarra – in the north-west, covering the southern half of South Yarra.
- Toorak – in the north, covering most of Toorak.
- Tooronga – in the north-east, covering parts of Glen Iris, Kooyong and Malvern.
- Wattletree – in the centre, covering parts of Armadale and Malvern.
Redistribution
The council previously consisted of three wards, electing nine councillors. Each ward elected three councillors.
The East ward covered the entire new Hedgeley Dene and Malvern Valley wards and parts of the new Tooronga and Wattletree wards.
The North ward covered the entirety of the new Como, South Yarra and Toorak wards and parts of the new Tooronga ward.
The South ward covered the entirety of the new Greville and Orrong wards, most of the new Wattletree ward and a small part of the Tooronga ward.
| East | North | South |
| Joe Gianfriddo (Independent)1 | Marcia Griffin (Ind. Liberal) | Nicki Batagol (Ind) |
| Jami Klisaris (Ind. Labor) | Kate Hely (Independent) | Mike Scott (Greens) |
| Polly Morgan (Greens) | Matthew Koce (Ind. Liberal) | Melina Sehr (Ind) |
1Joe Gianfriddo replaced Alexander Lew following a countback in 2023.
History
The City of Stonnington was created in 1994, replacing the cities of Malvern and Prahran.
The council was elected from nine single-member wards until 2004. The council was elected from three wards of three councillors each until 2024.
Council control
The current term has seen Kate Hely as mayor for one year, Jami Klisaris for two years, and then Joe Gianfriddo for one year.
There are a number of fluid groups on the council – Gianfriddo and Griffin are on the right, and in 2023 formed an alliance with teal-leaning independents Hely and Batagol along with Greens councillor Scott to elect Gianfriddo as mayor.
On the other side, Labor councillor Klisaris and Greens councillor Morgan are joined by moderate Liberal councillor Koce and have also worked with independent councillor Sehr.
Prior to the 2023 mayoral election, Alexander Lew was also a right-wing member of council but was perpetually in minority, and ended up resigning from council and being replaced by Gianfriddo. It appears that a larger centre/centre-left grouping had won mayoral elections in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
Candidate summary
Councillor Matthew Koce is not running for re-election.
The Greens are running in five wards, the Victorian Socialists in two, and the Libertarian Party in one ward.
Assessment
Stonnington is an area in flux with the Liberal Party losing ground at federal and state elections and with a strong Greens party. It will be interesting to see how these groups perform 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.
The Liberal Party won the two-party-preferred vote for four wards in the centre of the council, while Labor won in the four westernmost wards along with Malvern Valley at the eastern end.
The Greens also did quite well, with a vote peaking at 31% in the Greville ward.
Candidates – Como Ward
- Luke Balasingam
- Clayton Doueihi (Victorian Socialists)
- Meghan Hopper
- Spencer James Millear
- Hamish Taylor (Greens)
Candidates – Greville Ward
- Cr Melina Sehr
- Francois Geraghty
- Cr Mike Scott (Greens)
- Susan Louey
- Alan Menadue
- Alison Baker
- Paul Francazio
Candidates – Hedgeley Dene Ward
- Josh Fast
- Claudio Bevilacqua
- Joel Iglicki
- Sally Davis
Candidates – Malvern Valley Ward
- Cr Jami Klisaris
- Cr Joe Gianfriddo
Candidates – Orrong Ward
- Henry Buch
- Samantha Choudhury
- Arkie Paten (Greens)
Candidates – South Yarra Ward
- Mitch Fuller (Greens)
- Julie Mclean
- Cr Kate Hely
Candidates – Toorak Ward
- Cr Marcia Griffin
- Tom Humphries
- David Segal (Libertarian)
- Lloyd Bickerton
Candidates – Tooronga Ward
- Peter Hammond
- Cr Polly Morgan (Greens)
- Jamie Bell
Candidates – Wattletree Ward
- Tammy Lidano
- Kerrie Nasser
- Steve Stefanopoulos
- Cr Nicki Batagol
- Allyssa Gardner (Victorian Socialists)
We can see why the Greens did not win Higgins in 2022 they only outpolled Labor west of Williams Road. For the Greens to have a chance the need to outpoll Labor in the areas between Williams Road and Burke Road (basically the Glenferrie Road Corridor). The Further East you go it is more middle class it becomes and classic ALP/GRN territory.
@Nimalan you mean Labor/Liberal territory, right?
@ NP
Yep sorry it was a typo Classic Labor/Lib territory
The Greens should be the favourite to win Greville Ward here and probably have a shot in South Yarra Ward too. If they win both of them it should at least match their result under the three-member proportional system, but I can’t see single-member wards really helping them increase their presence here at all, unlike Port Phillip where they’re now competitive in about 5 or 6 wards compared to having a ceiling of 3 seats under the proportional system.
It does not seem like there are any Labor candidates and wondering if they could win Malvern Valley ward.
In Stonnington, the Greens always had a chance of winning 1 of the 3 seats in each former ward:
– South pretty much being a guarantee due to Windsor/Prahran
– East being a very good chance because most of that territory is around 20-25% Greens
– North being the more iffy one due to Toorak having the lowest Greens vote
That’s exactly how it played out with them winning 1 each in South & East. But with the single-ward system, they really have no chance of getting above 50% after preferences anywhere east of Williams Road. So that keeps their ceiling at around 3 and their most likely number at 1-2.
Port Phillip is quite different. Previously they were almost guaranteed to win in both Canal & Lake (and they did) and a long shot in Gateway, which they didn’t win. So, basically the same situation as Stonnington.
But Port Phillip leaning more to the left means there are a lot more wards where they have a realistic chance of coming first among progressive candidates then getting above 50% on preferences: Alma, St Kilda, Balaclava, Elwood, Lakeside and South Melbourne (probably in that order of likelihood). So single-member wards I think will really benefit them there. Not that I think they will win 5-6 wards (maybe 3-4) but they are at least competitive in 6 which doubles their ceiling.
I think the backlash against the state government’s planning proposals regarding density would hurt Labor candidates in the more NIMBY councils like Stonnington, Boroondara and Bayside at the moment.