The results of the Melbourne City Council could not have been much worst.  The loss of community based candidate Kevin Chamberlin and the election of Stephen Mayne and two Green Candidates will be strongly felt.

Stephen Mayne is the strongest performer of those elected but he is a lone wolf and his howling will echo through-out the Town Hall.

The two Green Councillors  lack experience and know how and will need to fall back on Stephen Mayne to provide direction and guidance.  Jackie Watts, who is the least experienced candidate will be without direction or guidance, she will have to follow along with the rest of the pack as a lost sheep.

Stephen Mayne, former City of Manningham Councillor, will continue to push his own political maverick agenda but this time backed up by the media appeal and resources of the Melbourne City Council.

With Stephen Mayne leading the “Opposition team” there is little hope that confidence or representation will be restored. Stephen Mayne lives in Templestow not the City and as such residents of Melbourne and small business will be struggling to have a voice at the table.

Liberal Party Member, Councillor, Ken Ong, will hold the balance of power and will find himself being forced to side with Team Doyle to provide stability and leadership to the City.  Councillor Ong is probably the Council’s best hope of delivering stable and effective government.

The other independent voice at the table will be Richard Foster.  Foster, who is the President of the local ALP Carlton Branch, is new to Council and without the experience and guiding voice of Kevin Chamberlin will be struggling to find his voice and role in Council. Foster is unlikely to side with the Greens on a number of issues but may be forced to form an alliance if Team Doyle seeks to cut him out of the picture.

Richard Forster will not necessarily side with Stephen Mayne but they could find some areas of common agreement if not on style on policy related to governance and accountability which could force them to form a working alliance and mutual dependency. Much depends on how Team Doyle decide to run the show. This will certainly be a test of Doyle’s leadership ability.  If he role of opposition leader of to go by, anything could happen.