Legislative Assembly · District of Laverton
Ghada Noune
Last verified 30 Sept 2026
Seat context — Laverton›
Laverton is a safe Labor seat in Melbourne's western suburbs, created in the 2021 redistribution from parts of Footscray, Tarneit, Altona, Kororoit and St Albans, and first contested in 2022. Sarah Connolly, who held the predecessor seat of Tarneit from 2018, won it in 2022 with 45.9% of first preferences and 68.4% two-party-preferred against the Liberals' Raja Reddy, and is recontesting. The 2026 field is six candidates: Connolly, the Liberals' Ghada Noune, the Greens' Lucy Nguyen, the Victorian Socialists' Van Thanh Rudd (who contested neighbouring St Albans in 2022), the Animal Justice Party's Shohre Mansouri and the New Democrats' Gurneet Soni. The Tally Room says Labor should hold safely, though community discussion points to strong Greens organising and concern about proposed AI data centres.
Background
Platform
Where they stand, issue by issue — grounded in 2026 Victorian polling, not assumed. Every position is tagged with how we know it.
Reducing crime, lowering costs, supporting small business growth and a government that works.
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
Wants to lower costs, drawing on financial-industry experience.
Crime and community safety
The Coalition's bail and sentencing policy, per the ABC, would automatically deny bail to reoffenders under a one-strike rule; nothing is attributed to Noune personally.
Wants to reduce crime.
Housing affordability and supply
The Coalition would lift the first-home buyer threshold to remove stamp duty on homes up to $1 million, per a housing-policy comparison; nothing is attributed to Noune personally.
Has led a food van supporting people experiencing homelessness.
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
She is not among the candidates in the 2022 Laverton results; the Liberals' candidate was Raja Reddy (22.2%). VVerified — WIKI-LAV-RESWikipedia, "Electoral results for the district of Laverton"View source
No earlier election candidacy was found.
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.
Noune has not previously contested an election. The Liberals' 2022 Laverton candidate polled 22.2%.