Legislative Assembly · District of Ivanhoe
Michelle Kennedy
Last verified 29 Sept 2026
Seat context — Ivanhoe›
Ivanhoe is a very safe Labor seat in Melbourne's north-east (Heidelberg, Ivanhoe, Eaglemont, Rosanna, Macleod), won by Anthony Carbines with a 13-point two-party-preferred margin in 2022. Carbines has held the seat since 2010 and is now Minister for Artificial Intelligence and the Digital Economy and Leader of the House, among other portfolios, after the 4 August 2026 ministry. The 2026 field is six candidates: Labor's Carbines, the Liberals' Oscar Lopez, the Greens' Nina Crawley, the Victorian Socialists' Ben Milne, One Nation's Wayne Hutchinson and independent Michelle Kennedy. At the 2022 election Carbines won 42.7% of first preferences and 63.0% two-party-preferred.
Background
Platform
Where they stand, issue by issue — grounded in 2026 Victorian polling, not assumed. Every position is tagged with how we know it.
No policy statement or priorities were found in the sources reviewed.
What Victorians say matters most
5 poll-led issuesCost of living and crime have ranked 1st or 2nd in every Victorian poll since mid‑2025, with debt and housing close behind — see schema §3 for the polling this grouping is based on (DemosAU, Ipsos Issues Monitor, Roy Morgan). The 0-10 'priorityScore' on each candidate's issue entries is NOT a measure of true importance or an independent ranking of what a candidate actually cares about. It reflects how much detail and specificity exists in what that candidate has actually said publicly on that issue -- a named policy mechanism and a verified voting record score higher than a one-line stated priority, regardless of the issue's real-world weight. Render this distinction in the UI wherever the score appears; do not label it just 'Priority' without the qualifier.
Cost of living
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Crime and community safety
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Housing affordability and supply
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
State government debt and fiscal management
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Infrastructure and public transport delivery
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Also on the record
6 substance issuesThese don't top “biggest issue” polling, but carry real 2026 policy weight and genuine differences between parties.
Education and training
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Health and healthcare access
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Urban planning and housing density
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Climate and energy transition
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Treaty and First Nations affairs
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Regional and rural Victoria
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Local & party context
2 fieldsNot scored the way the eleven issues above are — these are fixed facts about the seat and the party, not positions with more or less emphasis behind them.
Track record & prior candidacies
Campaign, money & endorsements
Campaign logistics
Endorsements & Donations
Per the Victorian Electoral Commission's funding guidance (vec.vic.gov.au, accessed 2026-09-29 via search snippets of its independent-candidate and registered-party funding pages), a candidate is eligible for public election funding if they receive at least 4% of first-preference votes in their contest, or are elected. Funding is reimbursed against an audited statement of campaign expenditure, and advance funding must be repaid in full if the threshold is missed.
Kennedy has not previously contested a state election in Ivanhoe, so she has no funding entitlement from an earlier contest. Independents receive funding only if they reach the 4% first-preference threshold.