Legislative Assembly · District of Mill Park
Joel Drysdale
Last verified 30 Sept 2026
Seat context — Mill Park›
Mill Park is a very safe Labor seat in Melbourne's north, held by Labor since its 2002 creation, that is an open contest in 2026. Sitting MP Lily D'Ambrosio, Australia's longest-serving energy minister and MP for the seat since 2002, announced on 30 July 2026 that she will not recontest and is stepping down from Cabinet, following a Labor leadership change. The 2026 field is Labor's Elizabeth Nealy, the Liberals' Joel Drysdale, the Greens' Binoy Zacharias and the Victorian Socialists' Jesse Lambourn. At the 2022 election D'Ambrosio won 49.9% of first preferences and 61.6% two-party-preferred against the Liberals' Paige Yap.
Background
Platform
Where they stand, issue by issue — grounded in 2026 Victorian polling, not assumed. Every position is tagged with how we know it.
Lowering the cost of living, supporting small businesses and restoring community safety.
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 the cost of living.
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 and treat burglary, serious assault and attempted murder as adult offences; nothing is attributed to Drysdale personally.
Wants community safety restored.
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 Drysdale personally.
State government debt and fiscal management
Names increasing red tape as a burden on small business.
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
He is not among the candidates in the 2018 or 2022 Mill Park results; the Liberals' candidates were Lakhwinder Singh (21.36%) and Paige Yap (25.9%). VVerified — WIKI-MP-RESWikipedia, "Electoral results for the district of Mill Park"View source
Whether he has contested other elections was not established.
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.
Drysdale's own first-preference history could not be established. The Liberals' 2022 Mill Park candidate polled 25.9%.