Jaidyn Kennedy
Wyndham’s upcoming council election is shaping up to be a highly contested affair that will see all 11 sitting councillors run again, as more than candidates battle for 11 seats.
The electoral structure has received a shake up since the last election, changing from three multi-councillor wards to 11 wards with one councillor each.
Former mayor Henry Barlow will contest the Wimba Ward, having previously served five terms as councillor and three as mayor between 1997-2020.
Alongside him will be another former mayor in Kim McAliney. They will go head-to-head with current deputy mayor Josh Gilligan.
Joining them will be bioentrepreneur Paul Hopper, whose last name is steeped in Wyndham’s history, with Hoppers Crossing being named after his great-great-great grandmother’s husband.
Incumbent mayor Jennie Barrera will stand again for Heathdale, running against former Liberal state MP Andrew Elsbury in a ward that has only three candidates.
Councillors Heather Marcus and Mia Shaw, whom have heatedly debated the future of the fire-ravaged Kelly Park, will be vying for the Werribee Park Ward.
Despite being the geographically smallest of the new wards, Featherbrook will not be short of competitive candidates, with councillor Jasmine Hill staking her claim.
Notably opposing her will be Tony Hooper, the spearhead of Point Cook’s campaign to secede from Australia in 2015- which earned national coverage, fame and infamy.
The Bemin Ward will sport the most candidates out of any ward, with 15 candidates putting their hat in the ring.
Bemin is also sporting 15 fresh faces, with no current councillors contesting the ward.
One of the few wards to retain its name in the shake up, Iramoo will also be fielding a batch of fresh faces.
Williams Landing Ward, of which is now Wyndham’s most populous at over 19,000 residents, will feature councillors Adele Hegedich and Sahana Ramesh’s bids to return.
Councillor Peter Maynard will be running again for the Quangdong Ward, while councillor Marcel Mahfoud will contest the Grange.
Councillor Robert Szatkowski will need to fend off seven other suitors if he is to earn re-election in the Brinbeal Ward.
Councillor Susan McIntyre’s re-election campaign will be for the Cheetham Ward.
Bemin Ward (1 vacancy)
Syeda Bahadur
Linda Cron
Cesar De Castro
Janette Diep
Geet Gaba
Nusrat Islam
Nick Ladbrooke
Jazeer Nijamudeen
Rav Sri Panditharathne
Rufo Paredes
Ian Ruxton
Sadra Saeed
Ramesh Suthar
Gursharan Singh
Preet Singh
Brinbeal Ward (1 vacancy)
Ian Devapura
Peter Hili
Virpal Kaur
Aijaz Moinuddin
Rishi Prabhakar
A. Raheem Rifai
Robert Szatkowski
Kishaun Thiruchelvam
Cheetham Ward (1 vacancy) 6
Kamran Javed
Susan McIntyre
Emi Neville
Angela Newhouse
Satnam Singh
Shyam Viswanathan
Featherbrook Ward (1 vacancy)
Arthur Fernandes
Jasmine Hill
Tony Hooper
Vladimir Molotsky
Hasan Naim
Raja Reddy
Aneez Rehman
Kelvin Small
Tully Smith
Grange Ward (1 vacancy)
Malik Ahmad
Patrizia Barcatta
Azhar Habib
Beth Jackson
Tushar Kumar
Marcel John Mafhoud
Shannon McGuire
Sophie Melhem
Lillian O’Connor
Melba Waugh
Heathdale Ward (1 vacancy)
Jennie Barerra
Jack Boddeke
Andrew Elsbury
Iramoo Ward (1 vacancy)
Jade Austin
Nurul Khan
Maria King
David Kirby
Lisa Markovic
Monica Sharma Raizada
Prashant Tandon
Quandong Ward (1 vacancy)
Monica Dewhurst
Vikas Joshi
Poly Kiyaga
Peter John Maynard
Amanpreet Miglani
Muneet Narang
Werribee Park Ward (1 vacancy)
Thomas Curkowskyj
Heather Marcus
Mia Frances Shaw
Ashok Sherwal
Williams Landing Ward (1 vacancy)
Adrian Abdulovski
Rahima Ahmed
Aaron An
Sayeed Aslam
Luke Faraci
Ali Hashmi
Adele Albina Hegedich
Patrick Joseph Madigan
Inshu Misra
Jagdish Patra
Sahana Ramesh
Larry Zhao
Wimba Ward (1 vacancy)
Deepak Bansal
Henry Barlow
Josh Gilligan
Paul Hopper
Kieran Ives
Paul Mayen Malual
Kim McAliney
Ketan Patel
Satish Patel
Shaikh Rahman
Navpreet Singh Sandhu
Venkat Ram Upparlapalle
