7 October 2001
Report by the Socialist Party (Australia):
Council by-election in Nicolson Ward, City of Yarra
Socialists in Melbourne, Australia are over the moon at the result of yesterday's (Saturday October 6th) Council by-election in Nicolson Ward, City of Yarra. The area includes North Fitzroy and North Carlton. Denise Dudley, standing for the Socialist Party (SP), received 30.2% of the vote (1745 votes), the highest percentage vote for an openly socialist candidate in Australia for years. The SP was close to winning as the full results below show.
Denise, 24, works with people at risk in a city centre NGO. She is co-ordinator of the Community Campaign for Heroin Reform. Denise co-ordinated the first aid crew at both S11 in 2000 and the M1 rally in Melbourne in 2001. She is on the National Committee of the Socialist Party, the Australian section of the Committee for a Workers' International. The area has been a Labor Party stronghold for decades. The Labor-dominated Council has outsourced, cutback, sacked in a rapid shift to the Right in the past years. Recently they sacked the three sexual assault support workers from Council and introduced new and more expensive parking meters in the ward area.
Their candidate received 34.8% (2010 votes) and came second to the Greens on 35.0% (2026 votes). Socialist Party preferences got the Greens over the line (Australia has preferential voting).
SP gave its preferences to the Green, then ALP. Greens gave their preferences to SP, then ALP. ALP gave their preferences to Greens, then SP. With no right-wing candidates, most Liberal voters turned to the ALP, with the SP picking up many ex-Labor voters.
65% of the electorate voted for either Green or Socialist! The bosses' media will try and say the vote for us was an anti-parking meter vote, but they ignore the fact that all three candidates said they opposed the parking meters and both Greens and SP candidates signed a pledge on the issue put to them by the local campaign against parking meters.
Also, as the full results below show, the SP vote was lowest (23%) in the area where the parking meters are proposed to be introduced--North Fitzroy. The high vote for the SP was partially an anti-Council vote, with we believe most of our votes coming from ex-ALP voters (the ALP received 65%+ in the last election for this ward in 1999).
We also received a minority of our votes from a layer of young people becoming radicalised by recent events including the anti-globalisation movement, the refugee crisis, the impending military conflict, and the general job insecurity and low pay facing young people.
The SP has a range of initiatives planned to build on the success of yesterday. We send our congratulations to Gurm Sekron, the Green candidate, and look forward to continuing our good relationship with him and his party in the next period.
Full results - not including informal votes:
Postal votes
ALP 64 (39%) - Greens 29 (18%) - SP 63 (39%)
Prepoll votes at electoral commission office
ALP 6 (17%) - Greens 8 (24%) - SP 17 (50%)
Prepoll votes at Carlton Library
ALP 255 (21%) - Greens 425 (35%) - SP 525 (44%)
St Michaels Church Hall, North Carlton
ALP 416 (38%) - Greens 366 (34%) - SP 309 (28%)
Fitzroy North Primary School, North Fitzroy
ALP 452 (37%) - Greens 418 (38%) - SP 281 (23%)
Merri Creek Primary School
ALP 326 (41%) - Greens 227 (28%) - SP 213 (26%)
Carlton North Primary School
ALP 425 (32%) - Greens 553 (42%) - SP 336 (24%)
TOTAL: ALP 2010 (34.8%) - Greens 2026 (35.0%) - SP 1745 (30.2%)
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