Greens’ Melbourne Lord Mayor ticket to run on housing affordability issue

The Greens have officially entered the Melbourne lord mayor election race, taking aim at the city’s housing and cost of living crises.

Roxane Ingleton and Marley McRae McLeod will be the Greens’ Melbourne lord mayor and deputy lord mayor candidates.

Midwife and unionist Roxane Ingleton will run for the Greens in the election for Melbourne lord mayor in October, promising to put housing affordability at the top of the agenda.

Ms Ingleton, 43, and deputy lord mayor candidate Marley McRae McLeod, 20, will announce on Thursday their first policy — that 30 per cent of new developments in renewal areas are public and affordable housing.

Ms Ingleton, a North Melbourne resident, is a branch councillor for the Nursing and Midwifery Federation.

She ran in both the 2016 and 2020 elections for deputy lord mayor.

Four years ago, mayoral candidate Apsara Sabaratnam and Ms Ingleton finished second on first preferences behind the Sally Capp-Nick Reece team.

The party also has named Karl Hessian and current councillor Dr Olivia Ball as its two candidates for councillor positions.

Fellow councillor Rohan Leppert, who was first elected to Town Hall in 2012, will not run again.

The battle for Melbourne Town Hall now has four confirmed candidates.

Ms Ingleton, herself a renter, described Melbourne’s housing and renting system as “totally broken”.

“The cost of living and housing crises have put essential workers — like nurses, cleaners, and teachers — into an impossible position where they’ve been totally priced out of our inner city,” she said.

“I know first-hand the crises our city is facing — in housing, healthcare and cost of living — and I have the experience to make a difference.”

Ms Ingleton said the council should lead the way in mandating public and affordable housing in new developments.

Marley McRae McLeod, a CBD resident and mental health support worker, ran as a Greens candidate in the seat of Macedon at the 2022 state election when they finished third behind the Liberal and Labor candidates.

Nick Reece was sworn in as 105th Lord Mayor of Melbourne. Picture: David Caird

Ms Ingleton now joins Lord Mayor Nick Reece, pollster Gary Morgan and Labor’s Phil Reed in the mayoral race, with fewer than 100 days to go. 

Mr Reece, who stepped into the top job in early July after spending four years as Sally Capp’s loyal deputy, announced that he will run for lord mayor earlier this month, pledging to “get things done”.

Fellow former deputy lord mayor Arron Wood is all but certain to run, but he has not made any formal announcement. 

Senior Liberal sources last week confirmed the party will endorse a mayoral candidate for the first time in its history after years of “political control” by Labor and the Greens at a local council level.

The party has remained tight-lipped as it finalises its leadership ticket, but it is expected to announce its candidates for lord mayor and deputy lord mayor in the coming weeks.