News / Council
Panopoulos elected youngest Mayor in city’s history
• Greens councillor tops off a big week after almost claiming Pascoe Vale at the state election
• Analysis: Test of Mayor’s consensus skills
Mark Phillips
Tuesday, November 29, 2022
DAYS after almost causing an upset at the state election, Angelica Panopoulos has been elected Mayor of the City of Merri-bek, making the 23-year-old the youngest person to hold the position in the city’s history.
Cr Panopoulos, who on Saturday came close to wresting the district of Pascoe Vale from Labor, was elected 7-3 in a contest with outgoing Deputy Mayor Lambros Tapinos.
Helen Davidson defeated Cr Tapinos 6-4 to become Deputy Mayor.
Cr Panopoulos is serving her first term as a councillor for the North-West ward. A lifelong resident of Glenroy, she is the second successive Greens councillor to hold the position following outgoing Mayor Mark Riley.
The contest for Mayor pitted the most experienced councillor against the youngest.
Addressing her fellow councillors before the vote, Cr Panopoulos had emphasised her inclusiveness and her advocacy and activism as qualities which made her suitable for Mayor.
The grand-daughter of Greek migrants, she was drawn to the Greens while still at school through activism for refugee rights.
Get more stories like this delivered to your inbox
“Being elected Mayor sends a very clear message to this community that young people and young women have a right to be in leadership positions in all parts of our society, and that the democratic process no matter the level of government, it belongs to all of us,” she said.
“My recent run at the state election showed me not all people think the same.
“People will attempt to use your age or your gender or your financial position or whether or not you have children against you for political gain.
“To me it’s clear that young people are going to be the biggest winners or the biggest losers of the decisions we make today so I’m pretty proud of the fact that I’ve been elected Mayor and we’ve got a pretty strong track record of sticking up for everyone in our community.”
Cr Panopoulos said key actions over the next year would include beginning construction of the $22.6 million Saxon Street community hub in Brunswick, completion of the $11.3 million redevelopment of Fleming Park in Brunswick East, introducing a new four-bin rubbish system, continuing work to mitigate the impacts of climate change, and advocating to the state government on its level crossing removal project in Brunswick.
Cr Lambros Tapinos
Standing for the Greens on Saturday, Cr Panopoulos achieved a 19.5% two-party swing in Pascoe Vale on Saturday, to come within 2.8% of winning the seat.
In a speech urging other councillors to vote for him, Cr Tapinos hinted that he was disappointed that a convention to share the Mayoralty between Labor and Greens councillors had not been followed this year.
Cr Tapinos said he was a team player who as a Labor councillor with a wide network and previous experience as Mayor was best positioned to advocate for the city with a Labor state government.
“We should be voting for the best person for the job and not necessarily [allowing] the political aspects getting involved,” he said. “There has been political diversity in the past and it’s unfortunate that political diversity is not being respected with two Mayors from the same political party back to back against the arrangements.”
Cr Panopoulos said key actions over the next year would include beginning construction of the $22.6 million Saxon Street community hub in Brunswick, completion of the $11.3 million redevelopment of Fleming Park in Brunswick East, introducing a new four-bin rubbish system, continuing work to mitigate the impacts of climate change, and advocating to the state government on its level crossing removal project in Brunswick.
Standing for the Greens on Saturday, Cr Panopoulos achieved a 19.5% two-party swing in Pascoe Vale on Saturday, to come within 2.8% of winning the seat.
In a speech urging other councillors to vote for him, Cr Tapinos hinted that he was disappointed that a convention to share the Mayoralty between Labor and Greens councillors had not been followed this year.
Cr Tapinos said he was a team player who as a Labor councillor with a wide network and previous experience as Mayor was best positioned to advocate for the city with a Labor state government.
“We should be voting for the best person for the job and not necessarily [allowing] the political aspects getting involved,” he said. “There has been political diversity in the past and it’s unfortunate that political diversity is not being respected with two Mayors from the same political party back to back against the arrangements.”
ANALYSIS: Test of Mayor’s consensus skills
THE conduct of the election of the Mayor of Merri-bek on Tuesday night hints at what could be a fractious final two years in the current council term.
Defeated Mayoral aspirant Lambros Tapinos couldn’t hide his disappointment at what he believed was a broken agreement to allow him to stand uncontested this year.
Both in the council chamber and outside, he has alluded to a power-sharing arrangement to alternate between a Greens and Labor Mayor each year. After Green Mark Riley was Mayor in 2021-22 with Cr Tapinos as his deputy, Labor believed it was his turn for what would have been a fourth term as Mayor.
These kinds of deals made behind closed doors are not an ideal way to decide the city’s top job, but if they are adhered to, they do provide stability.
Now, with one year of the current term left to run, the two Labor councillors may feel unshackled by any stability pact and ready to cause mischief.
As for the Greens – who with four councillors are the largest voting bloc in the 11-member chamber – they must be wary of allowing hubris to overtake common sense, lest they be seen as just another political party with a win-at-all-costs mentality.
It will also be interesting to see how the three independent councillors perform over the next 12 months now that one of them, Helen Davidson, has been elected Deputy Mayor after they were shut out of the senior positions for the first two years of this term.
Former Mayor Oscar Yildiz was an outspoken critic of the renaming from Moreland to Merri-bek but often appears distracted and disinterested in council meetings, while Helen Pavlidis-Mihalakos (who voted for Cr Tapinos) sometimes found herself on the wrong end of procedural rulings by former Mayor Riley.
All of this overshadows the election of Angelica Panopoulos, who at just 23 looks to have a bright future in politics. She is smart and articulate, but the next 12 months will test her self-professed abilities to reach consensus.
Let’s hope the council can find a way to continue to work together. In the neighbouring city of Yarra, we have seen how a dysfunctional Greens-dominated chamber resulted in the state government appointing a monitor to oversee the council. That’s the last thing we would want in Merri-bek.