Chris Slee & Graham Matthews, Melbourne
Stephen Jolly, national secretary of the Socialist Party, was elected to the Yarra City Council for the ward of Langridge in the November 27 Victorian council elections.
An ALP and a Greens member were also elected to the ward. Jolly and two other Socialist Party candidates stood on an anti-neoliberal platform, demanding a change of council priorities. Jolly received 1162 primary votes (12.3%).
The Socialist Party promised to be a voice on council for public housing tenants, to work to reverse the council's decision to increase rates, fines and fees for council services such as leisure centres, to support maternal and child health centres and to support the Fitzroy Carlton Community Credit Co-op.
The ticket also called for rubbish collection and Meals on Wheels to return to council ownership and for job security for council workers and an end to casualisation.
Asked why he won the seat, Jolly told Green Left Weekly: "Firstly, we took up the concerns of ordinary people. We were a progressive opposition to the Labor-Green council, which was in practice a neoliberal council. It slashed social services, increased fines, fees and rates, and refused to stand up to dodgy business people.
"Secondly, the Socialist Party has a history of a decade of hard work in the local area. During the campaign we did two letterbox drops of the area and door-knocked 3000 homes.
"We called for the redirection of resources towards social services ... We demanded that the council stand up to dodgy development projects. We also called on the council to organise a campaign to get more resources from state and federal governments. The council has been bled dry by these governments. Instead of standing up to these attacks, the council has increased fees on local people.
"I will be an advocate for the concerns of ordinary people. But real change only comes about through mass action. We will use my position to work with the community to mobilise people on the issues that concern them."
Socialist Alliance candidates also stood on an anti-neoliberal platform for the Moreland, Darebin, Yarra and Boroondara councils. In Moreland, the Socialist Alliance stood candidates in the North-East and South wards, campaigning on the need to make council accountable to residents, to bring council-owned pools back under council management, and a pledge to support residents' blockades and green bans in opposition to inappropriate development.
In the North-East Ward, Brian Maher received 1298 votes (6.2%), while Tessa Theocharous received 1016 votes (4.9%) — a total vote of 11.1% for the alliance. In the South Ward, Terry Costello received 772 votes (4.6%), while Judy McVey received 723 votes (4.3%).
In Boroondara, in Melbourne's affluent eastern suburbs, Leon Zembekis received 1142 votes (12.3%), running on a campaign that stressed the needs of the elderly, those with the lowest disposable income and young families. Zembekis' vote is the highest received by the Socialist Alliance for any level of government contested to date.
Jody Betzien was the Socialist Alliance candidate for the Yarra ward of Nicholls. A housing worker, Betzien campaigned on the needs of the homeless in Yarra and received 302 votes (3.2%) in a ward that the Socialist Alliance has not previously contested.
In the Darebin ward of Rucker, Arun Pradhan stood against 12 other candidates, including several ALP factions. Campaigning on the need for council resources to be used to provide better public transport, free English classes for migrants and refugees, and the rehabilitation of Merri Creek, Pradhan received 259 votes (3.1%).
From Green Left Weekly, December 8, 2004.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.