The Public Ledger

Legislative Council · Northern Victoria Region

Steve Brooks

Last verified 30 Sept 2026

Liberal
Candidate photo — pending
Seat context — Northern Victoria Region›
Illustration pending

Northern Victoria elects 5 MLCs and comprises 11 Legislative Assembly districts across north-central Victoria — Benambra, Bendigo East, Bendigo West, Eildon, Euroa, Macedon, Mildura, Murray Plains, Ovens Valley, Shepparton and Yan Yean. A bill abolishing group voting tickets for the Council has passed the Assembly and is before the Legislative Council's 11–13 August sitting.

Identity & ballot position§ 01
House
Legislative Council
Seat
Northern Victoria Region
Incumbent
No
Party
Liberal
Ballot position
Not yet assigned
Group ticket order
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
§ 02

Background

Occupation / profession
Is a primary producer in the Murray Valley who spent 11 years selling Australian produce across Asia, Europe and North America. SSelf-stated — LIBV-STEVE-BROOKSLiberal Victoria, "Steve Brooks — Liberal candidate profile" (14 May 2026)View source
Prior public roles
Joined the Liberal Party at 16. SSelf-stated — LIBV-STEVE-BROOKSLiberal Victoria, "Steve Brooks — Liberal candidate profile" (14 May 2026)View source
Local ties
Was raised along the Murray, through his family's small business community. SSelf-stated — LIBV-STEVE-BROOKSLiberal Victoria, "Steve Brooks — Liberal candidate profile" (14 May 2026)View source
Education
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
§ 03

Platform

Where they stand, issue by issue — grounded in 2026 Victorian polling, not assumed. Every position is tagged with how we know it.

Stated top campaign priorities

No personal statement of priorities was found; the candidate's Liberal Victoria page returned a 404.

Championing enterprise and personal freedom, and being an authentic voice for Northern Victoria.

SSelf-stated — WIKI-2026CANDSWikipedia, "Candidates of the 2026 Victorian state election"View sourceSSelf-stated — LIBV-STEVE-BROOKSLiberal Victoria, "Steve Brooks — Liberal candidate profile" (14 May 2026)View source

What Victorians say matters most

5 poll-led issues

Cost 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

iWhat this coversPosition on everyday household costs — groceries, utilities, insurance, transport.
Candidate’s priority3 / 10

Championed enterprise throughout his career.

SSelf-stated — LIBV-STEVE-BROOKSLiberal Victoria, "Steve Brooks — Liberal candidate profile" (14 May 2026)View source

Crime and community safety

iWhat this coversPosition on crime rates, policing and community safety, including youth crime and bail law.
Candidate’s priority1 / 10

The Coalition's bail and sentencing policy, per the ABC, would automatically deny bail to reoffenders under a one-strike rule.

RReported — ABC-BAIL-2026ABC News, "Victorian opposition announces bail, sentencing policy including 'one strike' bail rule"View source

Housing affordability and supply

iWhat this coversPosition on home ownership costs, rental affordability, and housing supply/planning.
Candidate’s priority1 / 10

The Coalition would lift the first-home buyer threshold to remove stamp duty on homes up to $1 million, per a housing-policy comparison.

RReported — UFINANCIAL-HOUSINGUFinancial, "Victoria State Election 2026: which housing policies are the best?"View source

State government debt and fiscal management

iWhat this coversPosition on debt levels and what they mean for future taxes and service funding.
Candidate’s priority0 / 10

Not detailed in sources reviewed.

Infrastructure and public transport delivery

iWhat this coversPosition on congestion, commute reliability, and cost/timeline overruns on major projects.
Candidate’s priority0 / 10

Not detailed in sources reviewed.

Also on the record

6 substance issues

These don't top “biggest issue” polling, but carry real 2026 policy weight and genuine differences between parties.

Education and training

iWhat this coversPosition on school funding and infrastructure, curriculum and teaching quality, university funding and research, and TAFE/VET.
Candidate’s priority0 / 10

Not detailed in sources reviewed.

Health and healthcare access

iWhat this coversPosition on hospital and clinic funding, GP/specialist access and wait times, and ambulance performance including ramping.
Candidate’s priority0 / 10

Not detailed in sources reviewed.

Urban planning and housing density

iWhat this coversPosition on zoning and density, heritage and consultation processes, urban sprawl versus infill, and access to parks and green space.
Candidate’s priority0 / 10

Not detailed in sources reviewed.

Climate and energy transition

iWhat this coversPosition on renewable energy targets, offshore wind delivery, transmission infrastructure, and the reinstated State Electricity Commission.
Candidate’s priority3 / 10

Names water policy among his areas of knowledge.

SSelf-stated — LIBV-STEVE-BROOKSLiberal Victoria, "Steve Brooks — Liberal candidate profile" (14 May 2026)View source

Treaty and First Nations affairs

iWhat this coversPosition on implementing the Statewide Treaty and the new Gellung Warl representative body, and on future local treaties.
Candidate’s priority0 / 10

Not detailed in sources reviewed.

Regional and rural Victoria

iWhat this coversPosition on water security, the native-forest-logging transition, road and service funding, and population decline in country towns.
Candidate’s priority6 / 10

Brings firsthand knowledge of regional economies, water policy and global markets.

SSelf-stated — LIBV-STEVE-BROOKSLiberal Victoria, "Steve Brooks — Liberal candidate profile" (14 May 2026)View source

Local & party context

2 fields

Not 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.

Seat-specific issues
Water policy in the Murray Valley. SSelf-stated — LIBV-STEVE-BROOKSLiberal Victoria, "Steve Brooks — Liberal candidate profile" (14 May 2026)View source
Party platform alignment

Wikipedia's 2026 candidates table lists them on the Coalition list for the Northern Victoria Region. RReported — WIKI-2026CANDSWikipedia, "Candidates of the 2026 Victorian state election"View source

Their profile presents them as part of Jess Wilson's Liberal team, and the policies it names are the party's own plan rather than independent positions of theirs. SSelf-stated — LIBV-STEVE-BROOKSLiberal Victoria, "Steve Brooks — Liberal candidate profile" (14 May 2026)View source

V VerifiedS Self-statedR Reported— hover or tap any mark for what it means
§ 04

Track record & prior candidacies

Terms served
No elected office found.
Portfolios held
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Notable votes, bills, committee work
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Previous candidacies
No earlier campaign is recorded in the sources retrieved.
§ 05–08

Campaign, money & endorsements

Campaign logistics

Social
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Contact
steve.brooks@vic.liberal.org.au (per their Liberal Victoria profile).
How-to-vote card
Not yet published

Endorsements & Donations

Organisational
None reported in sources reviewed.
Individual
None reported in sources reviewed.
VEC disclosure
Not yet available.
Public funding

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.

Steve Brooks has not previously contested a state election on the sources retrieved, and the Liberals's earlier results in this region were not retrieved.

Dataset housekeeping

Nomination status
Expected — Listed as a Liberal Northern Victoria candidate by Liberal Victoria's public team API (per the 2026-09-24 gap audit) and Wikipedia's 2026 candidates table, where he is named first among the Coalition candidates; no profile page could be retrieved, and the roll had earlier spelled his name 'Steven Brookes'. No VEC nomination lodged yet — nominations close 4 November 2026. Re-checked 2026-09-30: Liberal Victoria's own profile (via the public API behind vicliberal.org.au) is now used, resolving the earlier 404 and script-rendering gap.
Last verified
30 Sept 2026
Sources
See the Source register below — every V/S/R mark on this page names its specific source on hover.

Source register

WIKI-2026CANDS
Wikipedia, “Candidates of the 2026 Victorian state election” — Encyclopedia (crowdsourced) — View source · accessed 30 Sept 2026
ABC-BAIL-2026
ABC News, “Victorian opposition announces bail, sentencing policy including 'one strike' bail rule” — News outlet — View source · accessed 30 Sept 2026
UFINANCIAL-HOUSING
UFinancial, “Victoria State Election 2026: which housing policies are the best?” — Commercial commentary — View source · accessed 30 Sept 2026
LIBV-STEVE-BROOKS
Liberal Victoria, “Steve Brooks — Liberal candidate profile” (14 May 2026) — Party's own material — View source · accessed 30 Sept 2026