Yarra Council former mayor Amanda Stone quits the Greens party

Greens power has been diluted at an inner city council after its former mayor let her membership lapse.

Former Yarra and Darebin council mayors Amanda Stone and Kim Le Cerf. Picture: Aaron Francis

The Australian Greens have expressed their disappointment after long-time Yarra councillor and former mayor Amanda Stone quit the party.

Cr Stone, first elected in 2008, was mayor in 2017 when Yarra proposed but later scrapped its controversial bin tax.

In a surprise move, Cr Stone has let her Greens membership lapse and has told the party she would now remain as an independent for the Nicholls ward.

The departure dilutes the Greens power in the inner city council. Their previous five-four majority was lost last November when Gabrielle de Vietri left the council to contest, and win, the state seat of Richmond for the party.

Former City of Yarra mayor Amanda Stone has quit the Greens party.

Cr Stone’s resignation means the Greens have just three councillors and will depend on current mayor Claudia Nguyen and independent Herschel Landes to pass motions at meetings.

Both have been broadly supportive of Greens measures since being elected in 2020.

A Victorian Greens party spokesperson said: “Amanda Stone has been a good councillor and representative for her local community over the years. “It’s disappointing that she has left the party, but we wish her all the best as she continues her important work in Yarra.”

Yarra has been a centre of controversy in recent years including bringing in unpopular changes to waste collection, flying “aromantic” flags over Richmond Town Hall and spending $22,000 from a road safety grant on a banana sculpture in Fitzroy.

A municipal monitor was appointed by the state government last year to performance-manage the troubled administration for 10 months.

Abbotsford resident Cr Stone has an education background and is chair of Collingwood Headspace.

Cr Stone refused to comment.