Familiar faces have resurfaced as candidates for local government after nominations closed for the coming council elections.
In the City of Melbourne election, councillor Kevin Louey – who has a reputation as a ‘‘kingmaker” because of his influence on elections – has nominated to run on Lord Mayor Nick Reece’s ticket.
Nominations closed at noon yesterday, with the polls to be held across the state in October.
One City of Melbourne councillor, who asked to remain anonymous, said Louey’s contacts in the Chinese community were key to his influence. ‘‘I don’t think anyone knows exactly what Louey does,” they said.
Veteran pollster and political analyst Kos Samaras said Louey’s influence was at times overstated.
‘‘If you were to look at how the municipality votes, you have the residents and non-residents – the residents component behaves in line with party political affiliation, so it is who wins the other group that will come out on top,” he said.
‘‘Does Kevin have influence over them? Probably some of them.”
Reece’s ticket also includes deputy mayoral candidate Roshena Campbell, former aerobics queen Sue Stanley, Ripe Cheese founder Mark Scott, digital entrepreneur Lisa Teh, community organiser Hamdi Ali, Southbank3006 deputy president Jannine Pattison and professional Simone Hartley-Keane.
Louey said he was looking forward to being part of Reece’s team and standing up for small businesses and residents.
Rival lord mayoral hopeful Arron Wood’s ticket is deputy mayoral candidate Erin Deering, councillor Philip Le Liu, former councillors Cathy Oke and Nicolas Zervos, social worker Hala Nur, Queen Victoria Market trader Michael Caiafa, Docklands resident Hope Wei and Wood’s campaign manager Steve Michelson.
Oke is a former City of Melbourne Greens councillor who accused ex-lord mayor Robert Doyle of sexual harassment.
Michelson is a Labor Party member and was – until he quit in 2017 after photos emerged of him dressed in a ‘‘blackface” costumean aide to Bill Shorten.
The Greens ticket is Roxane Ingleton for lord mayor and Marley McRae McLeod for deputy, while councillor Dr Olivia Ball, Aaron Moon and Barry Berih are also running.
Independent Jamal Hakim has teamed up with deputy lord mayoral candidate Esther Anatolitis, architect Michael Smith, global equities expert Lawrence Lam and strategic communications leader Judy Gao.
Former Carlton star Anthony Koutoufides’ ticket includes former Liberal MP turned fitness instructor Gladys Liu, ex-Wyndham councillor and property developer Intaj Khan, commercial property developer Zaim Ramani and former triathlete Emma Carney.
The Labor ticket is consultant Phil Reed, lawyer Virginia Wills, councillor Davydd Griffiths, community development worker Zainab Sheik and Centre for Sustainability Leadership fellow Michael Aleisi.
Businessman Gary Morgan’s ticket includes Rafael Camillo – the head of Residents 3000 – and Liz Ge and William Caldwell.
Lord mayoral candidate Arron Wood (centre) with his team members outside Town Hall yesterday.