Legislative Council · Southern Metropolitan Region
Bettina Terry
Last verified 30 Sept 2026
Seat context — Southern Metropolitan Region›
Southern Metropolitan elects 5 MLCs and comprises 11 Legislative Assembly districts covering some of Melbourne's wealthiest inner-southeastern suburbs — Albert Park, Ashwood, Bentleigh, Brighton, Caulfield, Hawthorn, Kew, Malvern, Oakleigh, Prahran and Sandringham — with Oakleigh the only traditionally safe Labor seat among them. A bill abolishing group voting tickets for the Council has passed the Assembly and is before the Legislative Council's 11–13 August sitting.
Background
Platform
Where they stand, issue by issue — grounded in 2026 Victorian polling, not assumed. Every position is tagged with how we know it.
Preventing over-development, preserving heritage sites and green spaces, protecting residential neighbourhoods from high-rise, tackling the urban heat island effect, giving residents a say in planning, and combating corruption and special interests.
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
Wants transparency in government and less developer and special-interest influence.
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
Wants over-development prevented, heritage and green spaces preserved, neighbourhoods protected from excessive high-rise, and residents' voices heard in planning.
Climate and energy transition
Wants urban heat island effects addressed through tree and open space conservation.
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.
The party page lists Bettina Terry as its Southern Metropolitan candidate; no Sustainable Australia platform document was retrieved, so only her own priorities are recorded. SSelf-stated — SAP-BTSustainable Australia Party, "2026 Victorian election: Southern Metropolitan Region candidates"View source
Wikipedia's 2026 candidates table lists them under the Southern Metropolitan Region. RReported — WIKI-2026CANDSWikipedia, "Candidates of the 2026 Victorian state election"View source
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.
Terry has not previously contested a state election on the sources retrieved, and Sustainable Australia's earlier results in this region were not retrieved.