2004 Victorian local elections
26 November 2004
Registered800,000+
Turnout71.1%
  First party Second party Third party
 
IND
Leader N/A N/A No leader
Party Independents Labor Greens
Last election [lower-alpha 1] [lower-alpha 1] 4[lower-alpha 1]
Seats before 4
Seats won 159 22 6
Seats after 10
Seat change Increase 2
Popular vote 608,333 77,530 21,995
Percentage 77.14% 9.83% 2.79%
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
SA
DLP
Leader N/A No leader No leader
Party Liberal Socialist Alliance Democratic Labour
Last election 8[lower-alpha 1] 0 0
Seats before 0 0
Seats won 9 0 1
Seat change Steady Increase 1
Popular vote 21,686 5,512 4,378
Percentage 2.75% 0.70% 0.56%
  Seventh party
 
SOC
Leader No leader
Party Socialist
Last election 0
Seats before 0
Seats won 1
Seat change Increase 1
Popular vote 1,359
Percentage 0.17%
Swing Decrease 0.02

The 2004 Victorian local elections were held on 26 November 2004 to elect the councils of 22 of the 79 local government areas in Victoria, Australia.[1]

Until 2008, local elections in Victoria were conducted periodically, meaning 54 councils were not up for election in 2004. An additional three LGAs that were scheduled to vote in 2004 also did not have elections.[2]

A shift away from single-member wards in favour of multi-member wards began in 2004, in particular in the Greater Melbourne area.[3]

The election in Yarra saw the first-ever victory for the Socialist Party, with Stephen Jolly elected in Langridge Ward.[4] He was reportedly the first elected socialist councillor in Melbourne "since the Second World War".[5]

In Melbourne, Labor Party members ran on a ticket called 'Active Local Progressive' (ALP), led by Raymond Collins.[6]

Party changes before elections

A number of councillors joined or left parties before the 2004 elections.

CouncilWardCouncillorFormer partyNew partyDate
Melbourne Unsubdivided Kevin Chamberlin   Labor   Independent 7 November 2002
Melbourne Unsubdivided Kevin Chamberlin   Independent   Kevin Chamberlin For Melbourne 2004

Results

Council votes

Party Votes  % Swing Seats Change
  Independents 608,333 77.14 159
  Labor 77,530 9.83 22
  Greens 21,995 2.79 6 Increase 2
  Liberal 21,686 2.75 9
  John So - Melbourne Living 18,155 2.30 3
  Socialist Alliance 5,512 0.70 0 Steady
  Democratic Labour 4,378 0.56 1 Increase 1
  Independent Labor 3,613 0.46 1
  Kevin Chamberlin For Melbourne 3,297 0.42 0
  Melbourne Civic Group 3,018 0.38 1
  Advance Melbourne 2,742 0.35 1
  Serving Melbourne 2,335 0.30 1
  Residents First - Stop The Rates Ripoff 2,210 0.28 0
  Melbourne First 1,454 0.18 0
  Active Local Progressive 1,441 0.18 0
  Campaign for a Better City 1,375 0.17 0 Steady
  Socialist 1,359 0.17 1 Increase 1
  Melbourne: Building An Even Better City 1,261 0.16 0
  Melbourne At Work 904 0.12 0
  Melbourne Matters 860 0.11 0
  Sue Chambers Act Local Team 822 0.11 0
  Growing Melbourne 777 0.10 0
  Melbourne Arts Fashion Design Innovation 777 0.10 0
  Transparency And Accountability 724 0.09 0
  !ST@ND UP 4 MELBOURNE! 555 0.07 0
  Strengthen Melbourne 493 0.06 0
  Evolving Melbourne 394 0.05 0
  Save Our Streets 332 0.04 0
  Sustainable City 231 0.03 0
 Total 788,563 100.0 204
 Informal votes
 Turnout

Council control

Party Councils
Number Change
  Independent 17
  No overall control 2
  Labor 2
  Melbourne Living 1

Aftermath

The Greens gained two seats at the elections, bringing their total amount of councillors to 10. Although the party lost one of their four seats in Yarra (partly due to the electoral structure change) and its sole councillor in Colac Otway, they were able to elect one councillor in Melbourne and two in Moreland.[7][8]

In August 2006, Greater Geelong Labor councillor David Saunderson was charged by police over his alleged failure to disclose campaign donations from local powerbrokers, including Geelong Football Club president Frank Costa.[9] He was later sacked from council in November 2009 for failing to declare a conflict of interest.[10]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 This only includes the 22 councils up for election in 2004, not councillors in the remaining 57 councils.

References

  1. ↑ "Local council election results timeline". Victorian Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 2017-03-03.
  2. ↑ "VOTING METHOD FOR THE 2008 COUNCIL ELECTIONS" (PDF). City of Melbourne. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2023-11-02.
  3. ↑ "Victorian councils 2020 – the impact of the Somyurek changes". The Tally Room.
  4. ↑ "Yarra City Council election results 2004 – Victorian Electoral Commission". www.vec.vic.gov.au.
  5. ↑ "Monument still damns bad choices". The Age.
  6. ↑ "AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY MEMBERS FOR MELBOURNE". Trove. Active Local Progressive.
  7. ↑ "Results put Greens in mood to celebrate". The Age. Archived from the original on 15 May 2023.
  8. ↑ "Yarra Council Elections 2004" (PDF). Yarra Council Elections 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 November 2023.
  9. ↑ "Geelong ALP activist charged". The Age.
  10. ↑ "City councillor: Guilty, sacked". Geelong Independent.
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