The Public Ledger

Legislative Assembly · District of Eildon

Chloe Bond

Last verified 29 Sept 2026

Animal Justice Party
Candidate photo — pending
Seat context — Eildon›
Illustration pending

Eildon is a Legislative Assembly district covering about 10,061 km² of central and north-eastern Victoria, roughly one to two hours' drive from Melbourne. It takes in the Shire of Mansfield and Murrindindi Shire in full, plus parts of the Yarra Ranges and Nillumbik council areas, with major towns including Alexandra, Eildon, Healesville, Kinglake, Mansfield, Marysville, Warburton, Yarra Glen and Yea. The seat was created in the 2013 electoral redistribution, effective at the 2014 state election, from the former districts of Seymour and Benalla, and has been held continuously since then by Liberal MP Cindy McLeish, who represented the predecessor seat of Seymour from 2010. McLeish was re-elected at the 2022 election with a 57.0%-43.0% two-candidate-preferred margin over Labor, a 5.9-point swing to the Coalition. The 2026 field was five candidates: the Liberals' Cindy McLeish, Labor's Kevin Gibson, the Greens' Talia Gulpilil, One Nation's Tim Barber and the Animal Justice Party's Chloe Bond; The Tally Room notes One Nation could pose a serious threat to the Liberals here. The Victorian Socialists have since listed Dylan Little as their candidate. At the 2022 election McLeish won 47.4% of first preferences.

Identity & ballot position§ 01
House
Legislative Assembly
Seat
Eildon
Incumbent
No
Party
Animal Justice Party
Ballot position
Not yet assigned
§ 02

Background

Occupation / profession
No occupation was found in the sources reviewed; the Mansfield Courier announcement is paywalled.
Prior public roles
Is described by local coverage as a Wesburn resident who coaches the local gymnastics class. RReported — SM-BONDStar Mail, "Chloe Bond returns as Animal Justice Party candidate for Eildon"View source
Local ties
Has lived in Wesburn for six years and her daughter attends the local primary school. RReported — SM-BONDStar Mail, "Chloe Bond returns as Animal Justice Party candidate for Eildon"View source
Education
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
§ 03

Platform

Where they stand, issue by issue — grounded in 2026 Victorian polling, not assumed. Every position is tagged with how we know it.

Stated top campaign priorities

No 2026 policy statement was found; the party's candidates page names her without priorities.

What Victorians say matters most

5 poll-led issues

Cost 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

iWhat this coversPosition on everyday household costs — groceries, utilities, insurance, transport.
Candidate’s priority0 / 10

Not detailed in sources reviewed.

Crime and community safety

iWhat this coversPosition on crime rates, policing and community safety, including youth crime and bail law.
Candidate’s priority0 / 10

Not detailed in sources reviewed.

Housing affordability and supply

iWhat this coversPosition on home ownership costs, rental affordability, and housing supply/planning.
Candidate’s priority0 / 10

Not detailed in sources reviewed.

State government debt and fiscal management

iWhat this coversPosition on debt levels and what they mean for future taxes and service funding.
Candidate’s priority0 / 10

Not detailed in sources reviewed.

Infrastructure and public transport delivery

iWhat this coversPosition on congestion, commute reliability, and cost/timeline overruns on major projects.
Candidate’s priority0 / 10

Not detailed in sources reviewed.

Also on the record

6 substance issues

These don't top “biggest issue” polling, but carry real 2026 policy weight and genuine differences between parties.

Education and training

iWhat this coversPosition on school funding and infrastructure, curriculum and teaching quality, university funding and research, and TAFE/VET.
Candidate’s priority0 / 10

Not detailed in sources reviewed.

Health and healthcare access

iWhat this coversPosition on hospital and clinic funding, GP/specialist access and wait times, and ambulance performance including ramping.
Candidate’s priority0 / 10

Not detailed in sources reviewed.

Urban planning and housing density

iWhat this coversPosition on zoning and density, heritage and consultation processes, urban sprawl versus infill, and access to parks and green space.
Candidate’s priority0 / 10

Not detailed in sources reviewed.

Climate and energy transition

iWhat this coversPosition on renewable energy targets, offshore wind delivery, transmission infrastructure, and the reinstated State Electricity Commission.
Candidate’s priority0 / 10

Not detailed in sources reviewed.

Treaty and First Nations affairs

iWhat this coversPosition on implementing the Statewide Treaty and the new Gellung Warl representative body, and on future local treaties.
Candidate’s priority0 / 10

Not detailed in sources reviewed.

Regional and rural Victoria

iWhat this coversPosition on water security, the native-forest-logging transition, road and service funding, and population decline in country towns.
Candidate’s priority0 / 10

Not detailed in sources reviewed.

Local & party context

2 fields

Not 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.

Seat-specific issues
No Eildon-specific issue is attributed to her in the sources found.
Party platform alignment
No 2026 Animal Justice Party platform or personal statement was retrieved, so no comparison is possible and all issues are left empty.
V VerifiedS Self-statedR Reported— hover or tap any mark for what it means
§ 04

Track record & prior candidacies

Terms served
No elected office found.
Portfolios held
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Notable votes, bills, committee work
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Previous candidacies

She stood for the Animal Justice Party in Eildon at the 2022 election, receiving 1,340 votes (3.2%). VVerified — WIKI-EILDON-RESULTSWikipedia, "Electoral results for the district of Eildon"View source

Local coverage describes 2026 as her fourth run for politics: after 2022 she stood for the party in the 2024 council elections (O'Shannassy) and the 2025 federal election (Casey). RReported — SM-BOND, SM-BOND-2024Star Mail, "Chloe Bond returns as Animal Justice Party candidate for Eildon"View sourceUpper Yarra Star Mail, "Animal Justice Party's Chloe Bond nominates for O'Shannassy"View source

§ 05–08

Campaign, money & endorsements

Campaign logistics

Social
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Contact
Not yet published — no campaign contact found in sources reviewed. (Her Facebook page found in searches is titled for her 2025 federal Casey campaign, not confirmed as an active channel for this Eildon state race.)
How-to-vote card
Not yet published

Endorsements & Donations

Organisational
None reported in sources reviewed.
Individual
None reported in sources reviewed.
VEC disclosure
Not yet available.
Public funding

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.

Bond polled 3.2% in Eildon in 2022, just under the 4% mark, so that campaign did not qualify for public funding.

Dataset housekeeping

Nomination status
Expected — Chloe Bond is listed as the Animal Justice Party's candidate for Eildon on the party's own Victorian candidates page and was reported as announced by the Mansfield Courier on 26 August 2026. She previously contested Eildon for the Animal Justice Party at the 2022 election, which supports the current lead's plausibility. No VEC nomination can be lodged yet (nominations open 4 November 2026), so status is 'expected' rather than 'confirmed'.
Last verified
29 Sept 2026
Sources
See the Source register below — every V/S/R mark on this page names its specific source on hover.

Source register

AJP-CANDIDATES
Animal Justice Party (Victoria), “Animal Justice Party Candidates – VIC State Election” — Party's own material — View source · accessed 2 Sept 2026
MC-BOND-ANNOUNCE
Mansfield Courier, “Animal Justice candidate for Eildon announced” (26 Aug 2026) — Local news — View source · accessed 2 Sept 2026
SM-BOND
Star Mail, “Chloe Bond returns as Animal Justice Party candidate for Eildon” — News outlet (via search summary) — View source · accessed 29 Sept 2026
SM-BOND-2024
Upper Yarra Star Mail, “Animal Justice Party's Chloe Bond nominates for O'Shannassy” — News outlet (via search summary) — View source · accessed 29 Sept 2026
WIKI-EILDON-RESULTS
Wikipedia, “Electoral results for the district of Eildon” — Encyclopedia (crowdsourced) — View source · accessed 29 Sept 2026