Stephen Jolly | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Councillor of the City of Yarra for Langridge Ward | |
Assumed office 26 November 2004 | |
Personal details | |
Born | 1962 London, England |
Nationality | Australian |
Political party | Independent (2017–2018, 2019–present) |
Other political affiliations | Labour (Ireland) (1982–1985) Socialist (1985–2016) The Socialists (2016–2017) Victorian Socialists (2018–2019) |
Residence(s) | Melbourne, Australia |
Alma mater | University of Cape Town |
Occupation | Construction worker CFMMEU delegate Councillor (Yarra City Council) |
Profession | Politician |
Part of a series on |
Socialism in Australia |
---|
Stephen Jolly (born 1962) is an Australian politician, socialist activist, author and construction worker. [1] He is a councillor in the City of Yarra and previously was the President and lead candidate for the Victorian Socialists during the 2018 state election.
Jolly was born in London to a single Irish mother who had left Ireland due to concerns regarding the predominant Catholic Church's attitude towards single parents. [2] [3] He was raised in Ireland by his grandparents in a public housing estate. [2] He moved to study at the University of Cape Town in 1977. In the early 1980s, he moved to Ireland and became involved in the Militant faction of the Irish Labour Party. [3] In 1983 he supported underground opposition to Robert Mugabe's regime in Zimbabwe. [3]
Jolly moved to Sydney in 1985 and became involved in the Militant faction of the Australian Labor Party (later renamed to the Socialist Party), serving as Editor of its newspaper The Militant and as National Secretary until 2000. [2] [4] While working in construction, he has served as a shop steward with the Construction, Forestry, Mining, Maritime and Energy Union. [5]
In 1989, at the age of 27, Jolly was a first-hand witness of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre while he was speaking to protestors and helped them organise. [6] [7] Jolly was reportedly the only Westerner to address "the half-a-million strong crowd of students occupying Tiananmen Square". [2] He noted in a 1990 news article that the protestors "never believed the People's Army would turn against them" and has since been involved in pro-democracy in China rallies. [8]
In 1993, Jolly and Militant was involved in a year-long occupation of Richmond High School, organised to prevent the Victorian government from closing the school. [9] In 2000, he supported and was involved in the S11 anti-globalisation protests in Melbourne. [10] In 2011 and 2012, he pledged to support the Occupy Melbourne movement against corporate influence in politics. [11] [12]
Jolly's socialist political stances have led to hostile reactions from far-right groups such as the United Patriots Front, which has promoted rallies and death threats against him. [13] [14] [15] In 2015, a man was charged over death and rape threats towards Jolly. [16]
In 2016, Jolly led a mass resignation from the Socialist Party (now Socialist Action). He alleged there had been a cover-up of allegations of sexual abuse within the party,. [17] The party denied any cover-up. [18] [19] Jolly and others who had left then established a new group, The Socialists. [20] In 2018 he joined the Victorian Socialists, an electoral alliance combining the Socialist Alliance, Socialist Alternative, as well as non-party affiliated socialists.
In 2004 he was elected as a Councillor for The City of Yarra in the Langridge Ward, representing the suburbs of Abbotsford, Alphington, Clifton Hill, Collingwood, Fairfield, Fitzroy and Richmond. [21] Jolly was reportedly the first elected socialist councillor in Melbourne "since the Second World War". [3]
In 2017, Jolly voted in favour of the controversial decision to cancel its Australia Day ceremony as a part of the Change the Date campaign. [22] This resulted in backlash from the federal government whereby the council was stripped of its citizenship powers and the council being protested by nationalist groups. [23] [24]
Yarra City Council, Landgrige Ward | |||||
Election year | Total votes | % | ±% | Seats | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2004 | 1,162 | 12.34 | ![]() | 1 / 3 | |
2008 | 2,830 | 26.29 | ![]() | 1 / 3 | |
2012 | 3,515 | 34.24 | ![]() | 1 / 3 | |
2016 | 3,884 | 31.06 | ![]() | 1 / 3 | |
2020 | 4,836 | 26.07% | ![]() | 1 / 3 |
Jolly has attempted to contest the Victorian electoral district of Richmond as a member of the Socialist Party several times. In these elections he stood as an independent, as the party was not registered with the VEC. In the 1999 Victorian state election he gained 12.0% of the vote. [25] They re-contested the seat in the 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014 state elections, with lesser success. During these elections the party campaigned for policies such as free public transport, promoting the local arts scene, and anti-capitalism. [26] Their 2010 campaign was supported by the CFMEU, ETU, and UFU, who raised $25,000 for the campaign. [27]
Electoral district of Richmond | |||||
Election year | Total votes | % | ±% | Overall vote rank | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1999 | 4,213 | 12.0 | ![]() | 3/3 | |
2002 | 629 | 2.0 | ![]() | 5/5 | |
2006 | 1,805 | 5.6 | ![]() | 4/7 | |
2010 | 3,097 | 8.7 | ![]() | 4/5 | |
2014 | 3,407 | 8.5 | ![]() | 4/7 |
In February 2018, Jolly announced that he will be contesting a seat in the Legislative Council in the 2018 Victorian state elections as a leading candidate of the Victorian Socialists ticket. [28] [5] Jolly stated this campaign attempted to fight for the programs promoted by international left-wing politicians such as Jeremy Corbyn, Bernie Sanders, and Jean-Luc Mélenchon. [29] The decision to run in the Northern Metropolitan Region has been considered controversial by Reason Party's Fiona Patten, due to the possibility of splitting the non-conservative vote in the count for the last seat. [30] This ticket was supported by a wide variety of trade union groups, including the ETU, NUW, CFMMEU, UFU, AMIEU, and VAHPA. [31] [32] [33] The ETU secretary Troy Gray justified this support over parties such as the Australian Labor Party, a traditional unionist party, by stating that Jolly was the only candidate representing "blue collar values". [31] The campaign was also endorsed by several public figures such as Noam Chomsky, Gary Foley, and Tariq Ali.
Northern Metropolitan Region | |||||
Election year | Total votes | % | ±% | Seats | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2018 [34] | 18,899 | 4.19 | ![]() | 0 / 5 |
Socialist Alliance is a socialist political party and activist organisation in Australia, founded in 2001 as an alliance of various socialist organisations and activists, initiated by the Democratic Socialist Perspective and the International Socialist Organisation.
The City of Yarra is a local government area (LGA) in Victoria, Australia in the inner eastern and northern suburbs of Melbourne. It is the second smallest LGA in the state with an area of 19.5 square kilometres (7.5 sq mi), and in June 2021 it had a population of 91,543, making it the second most densely populated LGA, with around 4,695 people per square kilometre. The City of Yarra was formed in 1994 as a result of the amalgamation of the former Cities of Richmond, Collingwood, Fitzroy, and parts of Carlton North and parts of Alphington and Fairfield.
The City of Manningham is a local government area in Victoria, Australia in the north-eastern suburbs of Melbourne and is divided into 12 suburbs, with the largest being Doncaster and Doncaster East. It comprises an area of 113 square kilometres and had a population of 125,508 in June 2018.
The City of Melbourne is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the central city area of Melbourne. In 2021, the city has an area of 37.7 square kilometres (14.6 sq mi) and had a population of 149,615. The city's motto is "vires acquirit eundo" which means "we gather strength as we go".
Socialist Action, known until October 2019 as the Socialist Party, was a Trotskyist political party in Australia. It published a monthly magazine called The Socialist which contained a socialist perspective on news and current issues.
The Victorian Greens, officially known as the Australian Greens Victoria, is the Victorian state member party of the Australian Greens, a green political party in Australia.
The electoral district of Melbourne is an electorate of the Victorian Legislative Assembly. It currently includes the localities of Docklands, Carlton, Melbourne, East Melbourne, West Melbourne, North Melbourne, Parkville, Newmarket, Kensington and Flemington, and includes Melbourne University. The district has been in existence since 1856.
This is a list of candidates for the 2010 Victorian state election. The election was held on 27 November 2010.
Kathleen Maltzahn is an Australian author, academic and anti-sex work activist. She is a former councillor for the City of Yarra and was the Victorian Greens' candidate for the state seat of Richmond in the 2010, 2014 and 2018 Victorian elections.
Local government in the Australian state of Victoria consists of 79 local government areas (LGAs). Also referred to as municipalities, Victorian LGAs are classified as cities (34), shires (38), rural cities (6) and boroughs (1). In general, an urban or suburban LGA is called a city and is governed by a City Council, while a rural LGA covering a larger rural area is usually called a shire and is governed by a Shire Council. Local councils have the same administrative functions and similar political structures, regardless of their classification.
A by-election was held for the Victorian Legislative Assembly seat of Melbourne on Saturday 21 July 2012. This was triggered by the resignation of former minister and state Labor MLA Bronwyn Pike which she announced on 7 May 2012.
Samuel Peter Hibbins is an Australian politician. He has been a Greens member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly since November 2014, representing the electoral district of Prahran. Along with Ellen Sandell who won Melbourne at the same election, Hibbins was one of the first two Greens politicians elected to the Victorian lower house. Hibbins is also the first Greens candidate to gain a seat from a sitting Liberal MP.
The 2018 Victorian state election was held on Saturday, 24 November 2018 to elect the 59th Parliament of Victoria. All 88 seats in the Legislative Assembly and all 40 seats in the Legislative Council were up for election. The first-term incumbent Labor government, led by Premier Daniel Andrews, won a second four-year term, defeating the Liberal/National Coalition opposition, led by Opposition Leader Matthew Guy in a landslide victory. Minor party the Greens led by Samantha Ratnam also contested the election.
The United Patriots Front (UPF) was an Australian far-right extremist group that opposed immigration, multiculturalism and the religion of Islam. Formed in 2015, the group has been largely dormant since their Facebook page was deleted following the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings.
The Victorian Socialists (VS) is a political party based in the Australian state of Victoria.
The 2022 Victorian state election was held on Saturday, 26 November 2022 to elect the 60th Parliament of Victoria. All 88 seats in the Legislative Assembly and all 40 seats in the Legislative Council were up for election at the time the writs were issued, however the election in the district of Narracan was deferred due to the death of a candidate.
The 2023 Warrandyte state by-election was held on 26 August 2023 to elect the next member for Warrandyte in the Victorian Legislative Assembly, following the resignation of Liberal MP Ryan Smith.
The 2020 Victorian local elections were held on 24 October 2020 to elect the councils of 76 of the 79 local government areas in Victoria, Australia.
The 2004 Victorian local elections were held on 26 November 2004 to elect the councils of 22 of the 79 local government areas in Victoria, Australia.