Nick Reece sworn in as Melbourne’s Lord Mayor

In what was a tight race for Town Hall amid one of the most stacked and competitive fields in recent memory, incumbent Lord Mayor Nick Reece has emerged successful and was sworn in as Melbourne’s Lord Mayor on November 19. 

Together with new Deputy Lord Mayor and former Team Capp councillor Roshena Cambell, Cr Reece has promised to make Melbourne the “best and fairest” city in the world through an ambitious policy agenda. 

Among a long list of pledges made over the course of his campaign to “Get Good Done” includes deploying new city safety officers, installing more CCTV cameras, a freeze on rates, $2 swimming pool entry, new parks, and establishing Australia’s largest bulk purchasing renewable energy scheme. 

The election results were calculated by the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) at the Drill Hall near the Queen Victoria Market (QVM) on November 7, with Team Reece also managing to secure places for two of its councillor candidates on the next council.  

Cr Kevin Louey has found his way back onto the City of Melbourne for an impressive fifth consecutive term, and he’ll be joined by fellow Team Reece compatriot in QVM trader Mark Scott, who has been elected for the first time. 

Three further incumbent councillors were also re-elected, including Dr Olivia Ball from the Greens and Labor’s Davydd Griffiths, who both return for a second term, while Phil Le Liu won a third consecutive term after securing his seat through Team Wood. 

Alongside Cr Scott, four other new councillors were elected: Owen Guest from the Liberals, Gladys Liu from Team Kouta, Rafael Camillo from Team Morgan, and North Melbourne local Andrew Rowse from Innovate Melbourne.

Despite ultimately securing the same number of team members on council as his predecessor Sally Capp, Cr Reece described his campaign as a “hard-fought win”, saying there hadn’t been such a competitive field in modern times. 

“[Throughout the campaign] there wasn’t a street or neighbourhood that we didn’t reach out to and connect with,” Cr Reece said. “No one worked harder than us.”

I will build a Melbourne that is cleaner, greener, safer and more prosperous. I will build a Melbourne that is inclusive and diverse.

Early in the count, AFL great Anthony Koutafides potentially looked like pulling off a miraculous victory due to benefitting from preferences from the Liberal ticket, which itself exceeded all expectations by securing more than 13 per cent of the primary vote.

But Team Kouta would ultimately finish fourth in the race because of a late surge from the Greens led by Lord Mayoral candidate Roxane Ingleton, who finished a distant second to Cr Reece following preferences, with 38.51 per cent in comparison to Cr Reece’s 61.49 per cent. 

Team Reece comfortably won the primary vote count in the end with 20,523 votes, well ahead of the Greens on 12,445 votes, while first-time Liberal Lord Mayoral candidate Mariam Riza did incredibly well to finish third with 11,985 votes. Mr Koutafides came fourth with 11,345 votes. 

The great surprise of this election was the underperformance of former Deputy Lord Mayor Arron Wood who despite being considered as Cr Reece’s main rival in the contest ended up in fifth position with just 8856 primary votes. 

The outcome for Mr Wood, who went into the contest benefitting from Greens and Labor preferences, reflects the conservative swing in this election with Team Reece, the Liberals and Team Kouta all doing better than many had predicted. 

The Greens, Labor and now former councillor Jamal Hakim’s Team Hakim ticket meanwhile all underachieved based on the progressive vote seen in recent elections, with Cr Dr Olivia Ball now the sole Green on the next council. 

Despite being a member of the Labor Party, Cr Reece’s decision to run alongside Liberal Party member Roshena Campbell and so secure preferences from the Liberals, as well as Team Kouta, Team Morgan and Rip up the Bike Lanes, has ultimately paid dividends. 

It was an ambitious campaign that has proven to resonate with many across the city, and it will be interesting to see how the more moderate Cr Reece pursues his policy agenda on what looks set to be a much more conservative council. 

Councillors Guest, Liu and Campbell are all established members of the Liberal Party, while Cr Le Liu is a former Liberal Party member, and councillors Louey and Camillo are renowned for their largely conservative stances. 

There is a clear divide between the more moderate to the progressive members of the new council team, with Cr Dr Ball, Cr Griffiths and first-time independent Cr Rowse to be significantly outnumbered. 

During the campaign, Cr Reece also made a number of announcements that didn’t all bode well with the public, namely his call to sell the council’s share in The Regent Theatre, which appears to have fallen on deaf ears within the creative industry. 

Veteran election analyst Roy Collins said the Liberal Party’s decision to run its first-ever endorsed Lord Mayoral ticket has shown the party’s brand had the potential to win a lot of people’s votes. 

The result also perhaps sums up changing attitudes towards the current Labor Victorian Government, with Premier Jacinta Allan continuing to slump in the polls. The Greens brand has also taken a hit in other recent election results across the country. 

Mr Collins also noted that Team Reece and the other conservative tickets had gained from the gerrymander that exists under the current City of Melbourne Act, where businesses are given two votes to residents’ one. After the final results were known, Cr Reece conceded that the legislation “needs a refresh”. •