2016 Melbourne City Council election

Elections to the City of Melbourne were held via postal ballot in 2016 to elect 9 councillors to the council, as well as the direct election of the Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor of Melbourne. Independent Robert Doyle was re-elected as Lord Mayor for a third term.

2016 Melbourne City Council election

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Registered	133,801
Turnout	73,795 4.79%
Candidate Robert Doyle Olivia Ball Phil Cleary Deputy candidate Arron Wood Roxane Ingleton Junxi Su Voting ticket Independent Greens Independent First round 31,743 15,131 7,745 First round (%) 44.62% 21.72% 10.89% Final round 36,974 18,481 15,682 Final round (%) 51.98% 25.98% 22.04%
Lord Mayor of Melbourne before election Robert Doyle Independent Elected Lord Mayor Robert Doyle Independent

Following the resignation of councillor-elect Brooke Wandin, a full recount of councillor ballots was ordered by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal on 14 March 2017.^[1]

Results

Leadership Team

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2016 Victorian local elections § Leadership Team.[edit]

2016 Victorian local elections: Melbourne (Leadership Team)^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Team Doyle	Robert Doyle Arron Wood	31,743	44.62	+3.86
	Greens	Olivia Ball Roxane Ingleton	15,131	21.27	+6.48
	Phil Cleary Means Business	Phil Cleary Junxi Su	7,745	10.89	+10.89
	Together Melbourne	Ken Ong Sue Morphet	7,391	10.39	+10.39
	Team Morgan - A City That Works	Gary Morgan Michael O'Brien	4,830	6.79	−4.53
	Strengthening Melbourne	Ron Hunt Doone Clifton	2,548	3.58	+3.58
	The Light On The Hill Team	Anthony van der Craats Yunli Han	1,749	2.46	+2.46
Total formal votes			71,137	96.40	+0.75
Informal votes			2,658	3.60	−0.75
Turnout			73,795	55.15	−4.79
	Team Doyle	Robert Doyle Arron Wood	36,974	51.98	−0.44
	Greens	Olivia Ball Roxane Ingleton	18,481	25.98	+0.91
	Phil Cleary Means Business	Phil Cleary Junxi Su	15,682	22.04	+22.04
	Team Doyle hold		Swing	N/A

Councillors

#	Councillor	Party
1	Kevin Louey		Independent
2	Rohan Leppert		Greens
3	Nicholas Reece		Independent
4	Cathy Oke		Greens
5	Tessa Sullivan		Independent
6	Philip Le Liu		Independent
7	Jackie Watts		Independent
8	Nicolas Frances Gilley		Independent
9	Susan Riley		Independent

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2016 Victorian local elections § Councillors.[edit]

2016 Victorian local elections: Melbourne (Councillors)^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
Quota			7,240
	Team Doyle	1. Kevin Louey (elected 1) 2. Nicholas Reece (elected 3) 3. Tessa Sullivan (elected 5) 4. Susan Riley (elected 9) 5. Beverley Pinder-Mortimer 6. Sue Stanley 7. Hope Wei	27,116	37.45	−0.03
	Greens	1. Rohan Leppert (elected 2) 2. Cathy Oke (elected 4) 3. Apsara Sabaratnam 4. Jenny Pitts 5. Ben Curnow	14,593	20.16	+4.54
	Together Melbourne	1. Philip Le Liu (elected 6) 2. Tony Penna 3. Barbara Yerondais 4. Alice Poon	6,578	9.09	+9.09
	Phil Cleary Means Business	1. Michael Caiafa 2. Suzanne Vale 3. Sebastian Saggio	5,667	7.83	+7.83
	Stephen Mayne T.I.A.E.	1. Stephen Mayne 2. Johanna Maxwell	3,666	5.06	−0.95
	Team Morgan - A City That Works	1. Jackie Watts (elected 7) 2. Michael Kennedy 3. Farida Fleming	3,557	4.91	−4.69
	Strengthening Melbourne	1. Robin Matthews 2. Wesa Chau 3. Roger Smith	1,905	2.63	+2.63
	Animal Justice	1. Bruce Poon 2. Fiona Creedy	1,770	2.44	+2.44
	Listening To Locals	1. Richard Foster 2. Bridie Walsh	1,718	2.37	+2.37
	An Indigenous Voice On Council	1. Brooke Wandin 2. Nicolas Frances Gilley (elected 8)	1,534	2.12	+2.12
	Serving Melbourne With Integrity	1. Marcus Fielding 2. Sallyann Wilson	1,519	2.10	+2.10
	The Light On The Hill Team	1. Jim Ward 2. Sergey Sizenko	960	1.33	+1.33
	The Heritage Agenda	1. Adam Munro Ford 2. Luke Downing	816	1.13	+1.13
	Melburnian Voice	1. Joseph Sarraf 2. Miroslav Zverina	808	1.12	+1.12
	Science	Luke James	82	0.11
	Independent	Neil Pringle	57	0.11
	Independent	Jing Li	62	0.07
Total formal votes			72,398	98.04	+0.2
Informal votes			1,451	1.96	−0.2
Turnout			73,849	55.19	−4.82

Aftermath

On 8 November, councillor-elect Brooke Wandin stood down from her position amid an investigation by the Local Government Investigations and Compliance Inspectorate into her eligibility.^[3] Wandin and former councillor Richard Foster were later charged with electoral fraud, with prosecutors alleging Wandin did not live at the Kensington address she had nominated when registering for election.^[4] Both parties plead guilty to charges of electoral fraud; Foster received a 12-month good behaviour bond, while Wandin was placed onto a diversion program.^[5]

As a result of Wandin standing down from the council, on 5 December 2016 the Municipal Electoral Tribunal ordered a countback of votes cast. The Victorian Electoral Commission appealed this decision to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, seeking a full recount. On 14 March 2017, the Tribunal ruled in the Commission's favour.^[1] A full recount elected Nicolas Frances Gilley and Susan Riley as the eighth and ninth councilors respectively, displacing Michael Caiafa who would have been retained in a vote countback.^[1] Gilley and Riley were sworn into council on 21 March 2017.