Melbourne City Council - Timeline of process and eligibility

Election timeline and important dates - Melbourne City Council

Melbourne City Council is unsubdivided with nine councillors and a Leadership team, consisting of a lord mayor and deputy lord mayor. There are no wards.

Nominating as a Melbourne City Council candidate

Eligible candidates can nominate for two different roles:

• Leadership team – lord mayor and deputy lord mayor
• Councillors – nine vacancies

You can nominate for the leadership team or as a councillor, but not both.

If you nominate for the leadership team, you need to make a single joint nomination.

If you nominate as a councillor, you must nominate individually but you can agree with other candidates to form a group and appear on the ballot paper together.

Further information about Melbourne City Council candidate nominations can be found here.

Eligibility

Qualifications

You are eligible to nominate as a candidate if you are:

• 18 years of age or older
• an Australian citizen
• enrolled on the voters’ roll for the council you wish to nominate in
• not disqualified from being a Councillor (see Disqualifications below)

You must complete the mandatory Local Government Candidate Training before submitting your nomination form.

Disqualifications

You cannot nominate as a local candidate or become a councillor if you:

• are a member of an Australian Parliament, including the Federal Parliament or a Parliament of a state or territory of the Commonwealth of Australia
• are employed as a ministerial officer, parliamentary adviser or an electorate officer (however designated) by a member of an Australian Parliament
• are a Councillor of another council, including interstate councils
• are a member of council staff (unless you have taken leave from that office or position for the election period)
• are an undischarged bankrupt
• have property that is subject to control under the law relating to bankruptcy
• have been convicted of any of the offences referred to in section 34(2) of the Act
• are currently disqualified for any of the reasons referred to in the Act
• are otherwise incapable of becoming or continuing to be a Councillor

Mandatory Candidate Awareness Training

All local council candidates must complete the Local Government Victoria (LGV) local government candidate training.

This training is required even if you are currently or have already been a councillor.

You must provide the time and date you completed the training when submitting your nomination form. Training must be completed within 2 years before the election day for the election in order to be valid.

If you have not completed this training, you are not eligible to nominate as a councillor.