Melbourne federal election preview: can anyone unseat Adam Bandt? 

Despite two celebrity candidates in the running and recent local voting trends favouring the Liberal Party, the leader of the Greens Adam Bandt is confident he will retain his stronghold on the seat of Melbourne in the upcoming federal election.

The two recent state by-elections have seen votes swing in favour of the Liberal Party, which dethroned the Greens in Prahran and narrowly trailed Labor in the historically safe seat of Werribee, where Labor suffered a 16.5 per cent swing against its primary vote.

However, despite these results at a state level and strong Liberal votes in the City of Melbourne election, the Liberals’ campaign team is focused on picking up marginal seats like Aston and Chisholm, leaving the incumbent Adam Bandt confident he will be able to retain his seat.

In addition to Mr Bandt, the current candidates for Melbourne include former Carlton premiership player Anthony Koutoufides, reality TV star Tim Smith, and the Liberals’ Stephanie Hunt, who has previously held advisory roles for prominent Liberal MPs.

At the eleventh hour, Labor also decided to enter the race, nominating foster parent and CEO of the Nappy Collective, Sarah Witty, in early February.

Mr Bandt, who was first elected in 2012, is looking to focus on the cost of living if re-elected, pushing for Medicare to include dental and mental health support, making public schools “genuinely free” and making housing more affordable.

“In this term of parliament, I have been working tirelessly for people in Melbourne and across the country,” the Greens leader told CBD News. “I have pushed the government to implement the solutions to the housing and cost-of-living crisis that will help millions of people.”

He drew attention to the Greens’ success in securing $3 billion for public and community housing, securing workers the right to disconnect, stopping around half of the coal and gas projects in Labor’s approval pipeline, and securing $1.7 billion to help homes and businesses lower their energy bills.

However, Liberal candidate Stephanie Hunt, who has worked in international arbitration and litigation in both the private and public sectors, believes that not enough is being done federally to ensure that Melbourne is “back on track”.

She said that café owners and restaurants in the CBD were in “a lot of pain” and that more needed to be done to ensure that small businesses received better support, citing the Liberals’ tax deductions on business lunches as an important policy to provide this support.

The policy, which was dubbed the “long-lunch policy” by Treasurer Jim Chalmers, aims to cut red tape for small businesses by introducing a capped tax deduction of $20,000 for business-related meal and entertainment expenses.

“This will be a welcome relief to small businesses experiencing the strain of Labor’s cost-of-living crisis and higher taxes,” Ms Hunt said.

Additionally, the Liberal Party plans to lower inflation through a reduction in “wasteful” spending, provide Australians with an energy mix that includes renewables, gas, and nuclear, and unlock new affordable homes through investment in essential infrastructure.

A prominent Liberal Party member who wished to remain anonymous told CBD News that Melbourne was not a priority for the major parties, given Mr Bandt’s popularity and that federal opposition leader Peter Dutton’s populist campaign strategy didn’t resonate with the Melbourne voter.

They also noted that Mr Bandt had effectively engaged with voters in Melbourne, and as the leader of the Greens he was “recognisable” and people were comfortable with him representing them.

“It’s more a question of what will happen after Bandt is gone,” the source said, believing that leaders with a strong public image and profile were able to retain popularity within their electorates.

The seat of Melbourne was historically a safe Labor seat until Mr Bandt took the reins in 2012, but Labor candidate Sarah Witty is hoping to win the seat back.

In 2024, Ms Witty unsuccessfully ran as a Labor councillor candidate for the City of Yarra and she has since embarked on her federal tilt, with the cost of living at the top of her priorities.

She expressed dissatisfaction with Mr Bandt, believing that he has blocked “strong” policies that will benefit Australians in a difficult time, particularly the Help to Buy shared equity scheme for home ownership and Build to Rent tax incentives, which were ultimately passed with the Greens’ support late last year.

“I’m personally disappointed by the fact that he’s been sitting in that seat for so long and really done nothing,” she said.

If elected, Ms Witty’s approach will be to actively engage with the community and ensure that the issues she campaigns for are shared by the voters in the electorate.

Another candidate whose recent dalliance with local politics has inspired their federal tilt is Carlton football legend Anthony Koutoufides, who is campaigning on easing the burden of the cost-of-living crisis, improving city safety, and combating antisemitism.

Mr Koutoufides told CBD News that he had watched Melbourne decline over the years and wanted to make the city prosper again.

His team is confident about his chances, noting that the redistribution of the electorate of Higgins will favour a “strong” independent candidate like Mr Koutoufides, with the traditionally more conservative suburbs of Prahran and South Yarra now part of the electorate.

Additionally, in the north, Clifton Hill is now part of Cooper, while Brunswick East, Carlton North, and Fitzroy North are part of Wills, which are historically Green suburbs.

Mr Koutoufides isn’t the only celebrity in the running this time around, with Married at First Sight contestant Tim Smith also announcing his candidacy. Mr Smith was contacted for comment but did not respond. However, on social media, he said, “I’ve officially thrown my hat into the ring to run for parliament for the city of Melbourne for the upcoming federal election.”

CBD News will bring readers more of each candidate’s plans for Melbourne ahead of the election. •