Greens lord mayoral candidate and midwife Roxane Ingleton reveals plans, policies for Melbourne

Greens lord mayoral candidate Roxane Ingleton has laid out her plans for Melbourne in the race for the city’s top job, pledging to deliver an “equitable” waste charge and more affordable housing — but not a rate freeze.

Lord mayoral candidate Roxane Ingleton, for the Greens. Picture: David Caird

Greens lord mayoral candidate Roxane Ingleton has revealed her sweeping plans for the city if elected to the top job, pledging to deliver cheaper council services, an “equitable” waste charge, more affordable housing – but not a rate freeze.

Ms Ingleton, a midwife and unionist from North Melbourne, ran for deputy lord mayor at the last two council elections, but told the Sunday Herald Sun she is now ready to lead the city.

In an exclusive interview, Ms Ingleton, 43, laid out her party’s positions on a host of issues expected to define the mayoral race, including the cost of living, crime, e-scooters and the Greenline project.

“Living here, working here, caring for the people who live here in my everyday job, I’m so deeply embedded and connected to the community of the City Melbourne,” she said.

“I love my city and I hope that people can see that and that they want to have somebody running the city who has such a passion for making it a better place to live.”

The Greens’ policy to deliver “quality, affordable services” will buck the trend and not include a rate freeze, which has been promised by Lord Mayor Nick Reece and fellow contenders Arron Wood and Anthony Koutoufides.

“We’re looking at the other candidates talking about freezing rates and we know all that’s going to do is blow a hole in the budget,” Ms Ingleton said, noting the council stands to lose tens of millions of dollars by freezing rates instead of increasing them at the capped rate.

“We know … 60 per cent of our residents are renters. Rate cuts do not help them.

“It’s the services that council provide that are the actual, tangible ways that we can help people with the cost of living.”

Ms Ingleton with her running mate Marley McRae McLeod. Picture: Supplied

She said, if elected, the Greens would limit increases to fees and charges associated with council facilities and services, such as venue hire, access to recreational facilities (gyms, pools, etc) and pet registration.

She also pledged to replace the waste collection charge, which for those with a property valued at more than $515,000 is $330 per year, with a “more equitable” charge.

“No consideration is made for the size of the household or the amount of waste each generates,” she said.

As for housing, Ms Ingleton pledged to build 300 new “low-cost” rentals for key workers on council land and advocate for 30 per cent affordable homes in urban renewal areas.

“I want the inner city to be a place where essential workers can afford to live near their jobs.”

And she said the Greens would not take a “reactionary approach” to reducing crime, such as Mr Reece’s policies to deploy more uniformed officers and more CCTV cameras.

“I’m a healthcare worker. I come at this from a completely different perspective,” she said.

“What are the services that council can provide to prevent these people out there breaking into cars? What are the health/addiction services that we can try to provide?”

Ms Ingleton said the $316m Greenline project was a ‘noble concept’. Picture: Supplied

She added that the power to establish safe injecting rooms could be granted to local councils, rather than the state government, so they could decide if they provided the service in their area.

“I am pretty passionate about prevention overdose services.”

When asked about the $316m Greenline project, which aims to create 4km of connected walkways and parks along the north bank of the Yarra River, Ms Ingleton said it was a “noble concept” that she loved.

“But the budget is a little bit outside the realm of possibility,” she said.

“We would really love to focus more on local green open spaces, making sure that every resident has a park within walking distance from where they live.”

But she said the party would look to “make some of it work” by not ripping up contracts and potentially sticking with small parks along the Yarra River.

The King George V memorial statue in Kings Domain was beheaded in June. Picture: Ian Currie

As for colonial statues, Ms Ingleton said while the Greens had no firm position on whether to take them down, plaques could contextualise the person’s role in colonisation.

“But some community consultation needs to be involved, you can’t just go around making captain’s calls,” she quipped.

But she said she would move to scrap citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day.

Late last month, Ms Ingleton was one of the only candidates to outline their policy on bike lanes.

“I want to see more separated, safe and connected-up bike lanes like (Exhibition St) built in the next term of council,” she said at the time.

As for share hire e-scooters, she said it had become a “complicated issue” due to the recent ban by the council, adding that she wanted to – but could not promise to – bring them back given the companies may not wish to enter into contracts.

“There are absolutely ways around the issues that we’ve been having,” she said.

Ms Ingleton works as a midwife and sits on the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation. Picture: David Caird

She acknowledged she would need to step back from being a midwife and resign from the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation if she was elected alongside her deputy Marley McRae McLeod, 20.

“I would absolutely love to be lord mayor of this beautiful city,” Ms Ingleton said.

“The more I’m actually talking to people about our policies and talking about the great ideas that we have to make this city better, the more I want it.”

She added: “I would hope that maybe I could pick up a casual midwife shift every now and then and keep my registration, because it’s a fantastic job.”