08/07/2026
I'm just learning that Labor have yet again parachuted in a candidate from outside of my community for the State election, the preselection is completed and I am just disgusted about what they are doing. Essendon deserves local representation - not another Captain's pick
Many people in this electorate still remember 2014, when Danny Pearson was preselected for Essendon after growing up in Melbourne's east, in Wantirna. Over a decade later, the pattern is set to repeat.
Labor's new candidate for Essendon, Katerine Theodosis, is currently a Merri-bek councillor who lives in Hadfield. In her own 2024 submission to the AEC, she described herself as "a lifelong resident of Wills" with deep ties to Pascoe Vale, Hadfield, and the Merri-bek community, and spoke of an eight-year relationship with her federal MP, Peter Khalil. None of the suburbs she named are in Essendon of course.
Her preselection is reportedly being finalised through Labor's national executive rather than a vote of local branch members. Over 100 local Labor members recently passed a motion, with around 60% support, calling for a genuine local ballot - some have said they'll withhold campaign support like corflutes and how-to-vote cards in protest.
This isn't really about any one candidate. It's about a preselection process that keeps producing the same outcome: decisions made by party officials in Melbourne, not by the communities being represented. When that happens, voters are left choosing between candidates chosen for the party, rather than candidates chosen by the community, the members of Parliament don't represent our community as our democracy was designed, they represent an organisation that represents us, the MP doesn't represent us, this has to stop
Essendon deserves a representative who already lives here, understands this community's daily concerns - the Mt Alexander Road intersections, the Buckley Street level crossing, the loss of planning rights under Labor's activity centre reforms - because they've lived through them too, not read about them in a briefing.
That's the choice in front of Essendon on the 28th of November.
Vote 1 Uncle James Williams Greens for Essendon, I'm from here, I have lived here for 20 years, and I am running to serve you, my community, and not a political party.
I'm our Greens candidate, but we are not like the two old parties, my party actively supports me to work for my community, I don't have to "tow the party line" as others claim, we actively fight for and stand up for our community as is what our democracy is mean to do, and I will do that for you.
