Legislative Assembly · District of Melbourne
Ellen Sandell
Last verified 21 Aug 2026
Seat context — Melbourne›
Melbourne covers the CBD and surrounding inner areas including Kensington, Carlton and Docklands (~25 km², ~54,500 voters as of 2022). It was the first seat the Greens won in the Legislative Assembly (2014, alongside Prahran) and has stayed Greens-held since. Confirmed per Wikipedia's own candidates table: Sandell, Davydd Griffiths (Labor) and Jordan van den Lamb (Victorian Socialists) are the three candidates on record; no Liberal candidate has been confirmed here.
Background
Deputy Leader of the Victorian Greens (2018–2024), serving under then-leader Samantha Ratnam. VVerified — WP-ESWikipedia, "Ellen Sandell"View source
Before politics: CSIRO researcher; climate change policy adviser in the Department of Premier and Cabinet under Labor premier John Brumby; director of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition (2011–2012); campaign manager for Simon Sheikh's unsuccessful 2013 ACT Greens Senate bid. VVerified — WP-ESWikipedia, "Ellen Sandell"View source
Platform
Where they stand, issue by issue — grounded in 2026 Victorian polling, not assumed. Every position is tagged with how we know it.
Building "a fair, sustainable and equitable society," with an explicit critique that Victoria's democracy is currently "built for... big corporations and developers" rather than people.
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
Named repeatedly alongside housing as a top priority for pressuring the government — no itemised policy specifics beyond the housing and public-service positions below.
Crime and community safety
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Housing affordability and supply
Actively campaigning (March 2026) against the state government's demolition of public housing towers — seven more towers, including in North Melbourne, Kensington and Flemington, added to the list.
Arguing refurbishment would be cheaper than demolition and pushing to expand public housing rather than privatise it.
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
Campaigning (March 2026) to save a Kensington community health GP clinic at risk of closure from lack of government funding.
Has cited voluntary assisted dying legislation among her past legislative work.
Urban planning and housing density
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Climate and energy transition
Wants Victoria to become "a renewable energy powerhouse," transition away from coal and gas, and end native forest logging.
Her parliamentary spokesperson portfolio explicitly covers climate change and emissions, and gas and resources.
Has cited campaigning against fracking and introducing plastic-bag ban legislation.
Treaty and First Nations affairs
Her spokesperson portfolio explicitly includes First Nations affairs — no specific stated position on the Statewide Treaty's implementation found beyond that portfolio remit.
Regional and rural Victoria
N/A — Melbourne is an inner-metro seat.
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.
Victorian Greens platform.
As leader, her parliamentary spokesperson areas cover climate change and emissions, biodiversity/environment/forests, gas and resources, Treasury and finance, First Nations affairs, and emergency services/climate disaster preparedness. VVerified — WP-ESWikipedia, "Ellen Sandell"View source
Track record & prior candidacies
Campaign, money & endorsements
Campaign logistics
Endorsements & Donations
Victorian Greens party endorsement: Sandell is the endorsed Greens candidate for Melbourne at the 2026 election, and has led the party since April 2024 as Leader of the Victorian Greens and Manager of Parliamentary Business. VVerified — GRN, GRN-PROFILE, GRN-RECONTESTAustralian Greens Victoria, "Ellen Sandell candidate profile"View sourceAustralian Greens (Victoria), "Ellen Sandell, Leader of the Victorian Greens, State Member for Melbourne"View sourceAustralian Greens (Victoria), "Ellen Sandell to re-contest seat of Melbourne at state election"View source
A broad search for independent third-party endorsements (unions, environment/housing advocacy groups such as Friends of the Earth, Environment Victoria and renters' groups, business chambers, cross-party or local-identity endorsements) found none publicly reported for her 2026 campaign beyond party backing. VVerified — GRN, GRN-PROFILE, GRN-RECONTESTAustralian Greens Victoria, "Ellen Sandell candidate profile"View sourceAustralian Greens (Victoria), "Ellen Sandell, Leader of the Victorian Greens, State Member for Melbourne"View sourceAustralian Greens (Victoria), "Ellen Sandell to re-contest seat of Melbourne at state election"View source
Eligible under the Electoral Act 2002 (Vic): public funding is payable to a Legislative Assembly candidate who receives at least 4% of first-preference votes, or who is elected, calculated against audited campaign expenditure and vote count up to a legislated per-vote maximum indexed annually by the VEC — indexed to $7.70 per first-preference vote for the FY2026-27 period covering the 28 November 2026 election.
As the sitting MP for Melbourne, who won 15,855 first-preference votes (37.29% of the primary vote) at the 2022 election, Sandell would be expected to clear the funding threshold comfortably if her primary vote holds anywhere near recent levels.