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Labor in bid to claw back local heartland lost to Greens

By Ben Schneiders and Royce Millar

After decades of retreat and loss of territory to the Greens, Victorian Labor is on the verge of a historic re-entry into Melbourne's local politics.

A formal decision to endorse and fund council candidates in key areas is likely in early 2018 following an internal review that saw an outpouring of frustration at Labor's disconnection from communities.

Labor's rethink coincides with this week's Northcote by-election and an analysis by The Age that shows how the Greens have supplanted the ALP as the dominant party in Melbourne's local politics, pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into last year's council elections and colonising Labor's inner city heartland.

The analysis of the donations made to all council candidates at the 2016 local elections reveals the Greens party and its branches across Melbourne tipped almost $250,000 into their candidates.

Inner-city moves: Labor's rethink has coincided with this week's Northcote by-election.

Inner-city moves: Labor's rethink has coincided with this week's Northcote by-election.Credit: Darrian Traynor

The party formally contested elections across most of Melbourne. Once donations from individual donors are included, the Greens spent more than $300,000 on the 2016 elections, the party confirmed.

By contrast, neither Labor nor the Liberals endorsed candidates in any municipality.

Informal Labor contributions of just over $10,000 were made from party branches to a handful of candidates. Union money, where it was donated, overwhelmingly flowed to socialist candidates, not Labor-aligned ones.

All council candidates are required to report donations over $500. Councils must publish the donations online after each election.

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Total donations declared in 2016 were nearly $1.5 million with Robert Doyle's campaign for Melbourne City Council receiving more than $300,000.

Greens state director Clare Quinn said involvement in local politics was consistent with a core party principle of grassroots involvement.

"Local government is definitely a big priority with us," she said.

"Our theory of change not just to pressure Labor into doing progressive things ... we firmly believe in electing people to win seats."

Founded in the 1990s, the party won its first council seat – on Melbourne City Council – in 1999.

It won 29 spots at the 2016 election, up from 17 in the previous round of elections.

On Friday Labor confirmed it was currently reviewing its approach to local government. The review is to be finalised early next year with senior figures expecting a recommendation for the party to return to endorsing and resourcing local candidates in some municipalities..

Labor assistant secretary Kosmos Samaras said the party had suffered at all levels of government after its "retreat" from local politics.

He said withdrawal had been to the detriment of the party because it had lessened the party's grassroots involvement in the community – especially in the inner city where Greens had grown strong.

Senior figures involved in the review say they were inundated with grassroots calls for Labor to return to the local fray.

Traditionally, and especially in the-then industrial inner city, local government was the foundation for the Labor machine.

It provided a direct connection with the community, a reason for clear policies on issues of local concern, resources for pork-barrelling and a training ground for budding politicians.

In the past, Labor formally endorsed candidates for local elections and controlled councils across Melbourne, especially in working class areas across the north, west and south-eastern suburbs.

The Greens now have four councillors at Moreland, Darebin and Yarra and three at Port Phillip.

And they're extending their reach into middle and outer suburbs and the regions including Greater Dandenong, Ballarat and Bendigo. Indigo Council, in north east Victoria, has a Greens mayor, Jenny O'Connor.

For Labor, formal involvement in council elections was costly; and factional turf battles and high-profile scandals, including the 2009 row over Brimbank council, were drawing attention to the darker doings of factional warlords.

But while withdrawal seemed to make sense, Labor was also vacating space for the Greens who were only too willing to occupy it.

ALP anxiety about this week's Northcote by-election - the Greens have four representatives on the local Darebin council - has focused attention on the cost of giving local ground.

Labor is also known to be concerned about the quality and behaviour of some its members recently elected to Melbourne councils. Without formal endorsement, the party has little control over those members, many of whom see councils has a stepping stone to local or federal politics.

The Greens have been criticised for imposing their state agenda on local communities.

But Greater Dandenong Green councillor Matthew Kirwan told The Age that the party advises Green councillors to support community interests ahead of party policy.

"Philosophically we believe local government is important. If a decision can be made locally it should be," he said.

Cr Kirwan said his party's important role in local government in Melbourne had helped challenge the stereotyped view of Greens.

"We tend to be quite conservative financially. That's what people have seen where Greens have been elected to their local areas."

Historian Dr David Dunstan said that Labor started to pull back from local government under Premier John Cain in the 1980s, who famously declared he would not trust the Melbourne City Council to build a chook shed.

Dr Dunstan said if Labor chooses to return to endorsing council candidates it would be "a welcome move".

He said the party had lost touch with housing and planning policy and would need to do a great deal of work if it wanted to compete with the Greens for support in the inner city.

Dr Dunstan said re-engagement with local government would help the parties develop state and federal talent. "Local government background is still one of the best avenues and best ways to demonstrate political capacity."

Senior Liberal sources have confirmed the party is not actively considering greater involvement.

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Original URL: https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/labor-in-bid-to-claw-back-local-heartland-lost-to-greens-20171110-gzj48c.html