‘Slum lord’ tag sticks like mould on Birkenstocks to Greens mayoral candidate

There’s a little over a week to go before voting closes in the council elections. Are you excited? We’re excited. In the words of the late Jack Karlson, “This is democracy manifest.”

A note for our spies: we’re keeping a particularly close eye on any spammy texts and emails that candidates are sending out as part of their campaigns. Forward your screenshots to rachael.dexter@theage.com.au and tom.cowie@theage.com.au.

BREAK THE MOULD

Whack! Greens lord mayoral candidate Roxane Ingleton has been labelled “a bit of a slum lord” by renters’ advocate and now Victorian Socialists federal Senate candidate purplepingers (also known on his ID as Jordan van den Lamb).

Labor complains about the Greens coming at them from the left. Now the Greens are getting a taste of their own medicine over renters’ rights.

For those unaware of the pingers oeuvre: he’s been on a TikTok crusade shaming the nation’s landlords and real estate agents for poor treatment of tenants, setting up a database called ShitRentals.

This week, he went after Ingleton for renting out a property in North Melbourne that was “filled with mould”, including vision of infested shoes, clothes and walls.

When the tenants complained, Ingleton provided a dehumidifier (borrowed from the local Facebook good karma network). According to van den Lamb, the tenants were later issued a notice to vacate, with 24 hours to move out.

It’s not a great look for Ingleton, a 43-year-old midwife campaigning as “a renter in North Melbourne” who knows the struggles to find affordable housing.

In a formal response posted on the Greens website, Ingleton explained that she bought the apartment in 2016 and lived with a flatmate. During COVID-19 lockdowns, she moved out and put it up for rent.

Once notified, Ingleton said she sourced the dehumidifier and “acted immediately” to get rid of the mould by engaging a qualified tradie.

The mould was treated five times over an eight-month period, she said. Offers were apparently made to the tenants to break the lease without penalty.

Ingleton said the notice to vacate came after “concern for the tenants’ health and safety” and they moved out after four weeks.

“I offered a backdated rent reduction to compensate for the situation,” she said.

The apartment was later sold, and Ingleton no longer owns property. She said renters deserved a safe place to call home.

Whether that’s enough to explain the situation, we’ll have to wait and see.

But van den Lamb – a homeowner himself – has thrown down the gauntlet at the Greens, declaring “all landlords are bastards”, regardless of party.

WIKI-TWEAKS

A piece of advice: never leave your fingerprints on the cookie jar when editing Wikipedia.

A Ward Games reader has drawn our attention to the City of Yarra’s Wikipedia page, in particular the “talk tab” where editors chat about the changes being made and whether they meet the rules.

And the logs show someone using the name of current Yarra councillor Stephen Jolly unsuccessfully arguing with Wikipedia’s mods to reinstate their changes to the council’s official page.

As reported previously in The Age, there is brouhaha around whether Jolly’s entity, “Yarra For All”, is acting like a party. Jolly claims it is more of an alliance of independents. Others disagree.

Which brings us to Wikipedia. In March, a user named @roslacklife tried to delete references to Jolly and two other sitting councillors (and candidates in the current election), Michael Glynatsis and Bridgid O’Brien, being listed as members of a political party, rather than independents.

“I feel that a fair and reasonable person would find that it is misleading,” @roslacklife wrote in defence of the changes.

The missives were signed off using Jolly’s full name – we applaud the transparency. Unfortunately, the other editors weren’t convinced.

“The definition of a political party is straightforward: it is an organisation or collective entity that coordinates candidates for election,” responded user @Axver (Curtin University political historian Dr Andre Brett, we can confirm).

Jolly told The Age he had no idea about the edits and thought it might have been one of his supporters acting on his behalf without telling him.

“I wouldn’t f---in’ bother with that,” he said in characteristic Jolly style.

“I don’t even know how to do it. If I spent my time trying to correct things online, I wouldn’t be doing anything else.”

BAYSIDE BIFFO

Now to Brrrriiiiiighton, where a whopping 18 candidates are running in Bayside Council’s Dendy ward. Now that’s a big ballot paper.

We’ve checked: 18 is the biggest field in the state at these elections (it could have been 20, but two withdrew their nominations) – the next highest is 15. So, what gives?

Well, we scratched the surface, and it largely looks like a preference-harvesting war between two former Bayside mayors, Hanna El Mouallem and Michael Heffernan.

Read the statements of those running in Dendy and you’ll see six candidates directing preferences to Heffernan. Meanwhile, six others are doing the same for El Mouallem.

We’re trying to get to the bottom of the political beef, but it’s a little hazy. It’s Liberal Party territory, so there are several members on the ballot.

Heffernan is a party member, however El Mouallem isn’t – although he has received an endorsement from Liberal state MP for Brighton James Newbury, who is a Bayside resident.

There’s plenty of tit-for-tat from both sides about issues such as Australia Day and nuclear weapon prohibition, preferring a “back-to-basics” approach focusing on neighbourhood crime and home invasions instead. That’s important in Bec Judd country.

The two went up against one another at the last election, with El Mouallem coming out on top.

Heffernan told us the size of the field was ridiculous, but said his opponent had “a lot of people helping him and I have a lot of people helping me too”.

El Mouallem noted the number of candidates was “interesting”, adding cryptically: “If you say too much, people try to cancel you.″