Legislative Assembly · District of Williamstown
Paul Lindemann
Last verified 30 Sept 2026
Seat context — Williamstown›
Williamstown is a Labor seat in Melbourne's inner west held by senior minister Melissa Horne since 2018. At the 2022 election she won 41.5% of first preferences and 63.4% two-party-preferred against the Liberals' Daria Kellander. She is recontesting in a seven-candidate field: the Liberals' Paul Lindemann, the Greens' Ben Hocking, independent Tony Briffa (a former Hobsons Bay mayor), the West Party's Gill Gannon, One Nation's Catherine Loughnan and the Victorian Socialists' Oskar Martin. The Tally Room rates Labor's margin as large, though commentary there suggests Briffa could poll strongly.
Background
Platform
Where they stand, issue by issue — grounded in 2026 Victorian polling, not assumed. Every position is tagged with how we know it.
Safer communities, better local infrastructure and lower costs.
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 lower costs.
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 Lindemann personally.
Wants safer communities.
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 Lindemann personally.
State government debt and fiscal management
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Infrastructure and public transport delivery
Wants better local infrastructure.
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 Williamstown results; the Liberals' candidates were Pallavee Joshi (18.06%) and Daria Kellander (28.0%). VVerified — WIKI-WILLIAMSTOWN-RESWikipedia, "Electoral results for the district of Williamstown"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.
Lindemann has not previously contested an election, so he has no funding entitlement from an earlier contest. The Liberals' 2022 Williamstown candidate polled 28.0%.