‘Kouta’ came fourth in the race for Lord Mayor. Now he’s running for federal parliament

Carlton legend Anthony Koutoufides’ gargantuan two-goal final quarter in the famous 1999 preliminary final against Essendon was described by future club president Stephen Kernahan as “the greatest quarter of football ever played”.

On that same day, September 18, Steve Bracks’ shock poll result effectively ended the Jeff Kennett era and ultimately ushered in two decades of Labor dominance in Victoria.

Anthony Koutoufides is running for federal parliament in the seat of Melbourne.Credit: Wayne Taylor

Now, “Kouta” is plotting a feat that would outdo his 1999 heroics: unseating Greens leader Adam Bandt from the seat of Melbourne taken from Labor more than a decade ago.

“I believe I can [win] otherwise I wouldn’t run,” the former Dancing with the Stars winner said in an interview in South Yarra, months after getting his first taste of politics running for lord mayor. The enthusiasm he encountered on that failed council race has spurred him to shift into the federal sphere, even though he came fourth.

“I know there’s going to be doubters out there, but I love that,” he said.

Bandt has held the seat of Melbourne since 2010 and won nearly half of all votes at the last election. But the Greens leader’s margin was significantly reduced when a redistribution moved Greens-voting areas into the seat of Wills while Melbourne took in new, Liberal-voting areas south of the Yarra River.

Anthony Koutoufides soars as the teams slugged it out for a grand final berth.Credit: Ray Kennedy

A preference deal between Koutoufides and Labor could eat into Bandt’s numbers if Koutoufides drums up support for a campaign to tackle street crime, revitalise the CBD and condemn antisemitism, which he said the Greens had “failed to call out”.

The 52-year-old, who runs an NDIS experience service for kids with his wife, said pro-Palestine protests in the CBD were making people feel uncomfortable, urging the state government to adopt a NSW-style permit system for protests.

Koutoufides rarely touches on federal policy. Instead he cites ideas revived from his run for Town Hall such as getting workers back into the CBD.

He said his lord mayor pitch to subsidise city cafes to give out free coffees on Mondays was the type of thinking needed to rejuvenate the city.

“We want to stand up and see the city become the way that it was, or the way that it should be, and that is really the most livable city in the world,” he said.

Koutoufides characterises himself as a “community independent”, the same moniker used by the teal independents who shook up the election in 2022.

He said he would work with either party in a hung parliament and says he has voted for different parties over the years.

Asked about whether he considers himself left- or right-wing, he said: “I don’t know. People of Melbourne, really, that’s all it is, because I think I’m the voice of the people.”

Koutoufides was encouraged to run for lord mayor by real estate identity Intaj Khan, for his lavish property portfolio. Khan, a former Wyndham councillor convicted and fined in 2018 for breaching local government disclosure laws, contributed $325,280 to Koutoufides’ run.