The 2024 City of Melbourne election: a review
With just a matter of days until voting closes on October 25, who looks the most likely to take charge at Melbourne Town Hall following a lengthy and, at times, fiery campaign?
CBD News reflects on the past month since the City of Melbourne entered caretaker mode, with ballot packs mailed out to voters across the city in early October. At the time of publishing, around 40 per cent of ballots had been returned.
It’s been a typically spirited campaign by those contesting, but even as the election draws to a close, it’s not easy to determine who looks the most likely to take the reins as Lord Mayor for the next term.
The frontrunners still appear to be incumbent Lord Mayor Nick Reece and former Deputy Lord Mayor Arron Wood; however, most would agree that there hasn’t been a whole lot separating their campaigns.
Following them are the two dark horses in Anthony Koutafides and current Cr Jamal Hakim, both who are outside chances with equally narrow pathways to victory that will depend on a lot going their respective ways.
But it’s been that sort of election – one that’s been devoid of a clear winner. The contest of ideas that many had been hoping for has produced some interesting policies, but largely it hasn’t been the most inspiring of campaigns.
One could argue Arron Wood is the most likely to emerge the winner. He’s run the most well-organised and coherent campaign of the lot, which was affirmed by receiving the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s endorsement for having the most financially sound policies.
But while his campaign has had plenty of cut-through complete with some exciting initiatives, his message about getting the city back on track and getting the council’s budget under control hasn’t really stuck.
The council’s budget is far from out of control, and the savings he wants to bank by scrapping the Greenline project, for example, are modest at best. He’s also pledging to spend big on a range of other projects himself, so his economic narrative is fairly neutralised.
But he’s campaigned tirelessly, got a good team behind him – complete with seasoned council veterans Phil Le Liu and Dr Cathy Oke – and will benefit from Greens and Labor preferences if he can poll a strong primary vote. He’ll need around 20 per cent to be safe.
Equally, one could argue it’s still Cr Reece’s election to lose as we head into the final days. Despite holding the marginal power of incumbency, it’s fair to say he hasn’t leveraged the advantage as well as he could have.
While he’s spent big and left no stone unturned in connecting with all corners of the city during what’s been a positive campaign, it’s been somewhat confused and misfired at times.
Despite running as an independent, the well-known Labor Party figure’s decision to run alongside Liberal Party member Roshena Campbell under a “unity ticket” has presented mixed messages to voters in itself.
While there’s been a lot of good things pledged under the campaign slogan of “Gets Good Done”, they haven’t always been well-executed. Take the AI image blunder and the policy to sell the council’s share in The Regent Theatre, as examples.
But despite not delivering the perfect campaign that Cr Reece had hoped for, further backed up by losing Labor preferences to Arron Wood, he’s still going to be hard to beat. Especially if Team Kouta performs well, but not too well.
Team Reece benefits from Team Kouta, Liberal, Team Morgan and Rip up the Bike Lanes preferences – a fairly surprising entourage of support for an “unofficial” Labor Lord Mayoral candidate.
But it’s Team Kouta which is providing the most intrigue in this election. People have perhaps underestimated Mr Koutafides, who has decades of media training and presents well in front of a crowd.
While his policy about free coffees has proven to be a lightning rod, he does boast some respectable policies and the question surrounding his chances is twofold: whether voters take his message seriously, and the extent of his influence as this year’s “celebrity candidate”.
His team is predicting a primary vote of 18 per cent, which is not impossible given the size of the field and the lack of a clear frontrunner. But they’ll need to outpoll Nick Reece in order to benefit from his preferences.
Finally, there’s Cr Jamal Hakim, who’s produced some of the most innovative and thought-provoking policies in this campaign, including plans for Experience Improvement Districts in the CBD and a renewed focus on Postcode 3000.
Being a lesser-known candidate without the mainstream media in his back pocket, it was always going to be a challenge to get his messages out to voters over the top of the big spending tickets.
But he’s also worked hard to get out in front of voters, and his positive agenda for change will undoubtedly resonate with many residents in particular, so it will be interesting to see where his primary vote count lands. He only needs around 10 per cent to make an impact in this election with the help of second preferences from The Greens. •

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