Legislative Assembly · District of Eildon
Cindy McLeish
Last verified 30 Sept 2026
Seat context — Eildon›
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 is 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. At the 2022 election McLeish won 47.4% of first preferences.
Background
Before parliament she was a secondary school teacher, a senior consultant in organisational effectiveness and leadership, CEO of Women's Golf Victoria, and held management roles at WorkCover. VVerified — PARL-MCLEISHParliament of Victoria, "Cindy McLeish - Parliament of Victoria"View source
Wikipedia adds that she trained as a psychologist and worked at the consultancy Right Management before politics. RReported — WIKI-MCLEISHWikipedia, "Cindy McLeish"View source
Says she was CEO of Women's Golf Victoria for a number of years. SSelf-stated — LIBV-CINDY-MCLEISHLiberal Victoria, "Cindy McLeish — Liberal candidate profile" (1 May 2023)View source
Continues to farm on land that has belonged to her family for generations, and is the daughter of a veteran; her electorate office is in Yarra Glen. VVerified — PARL-MCLEISHParliament of Victoria, "Cindy McLeish - Parliament of Victoria"View source
Born in Yea in 1962 and raised on a family farm; her mother ran the Railway Hotel in Yea. RReported — WIKI-MCLEISHWikipedia, "Cindy McLeish"View source
Platform
Where they stand, issue by issue — grounded in 2026 Victorian polling, not assumed. Every position is tagged with how we know it.
Says she is "committed to making the region the best place to live" and wants to hear from constituents.
Her site highlights securing investment in education, sports facilities, health services and road projects.
As Shadow Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence she has pushed to criminalise coercive control.
What Victorians say matters most
5 poll-led issuesCost 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
No cost-of-living statement by McLeish was found in the sources reviewed.
Crime and community safety
Is Shadow Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence, Shadow Minister for Women and Shadow Minister for WorkSafe and TAC.
Introduced a private member's bill to criminalise coercive control, and Opposition leader Jess Wilson adopted the policy as her first commitment to new legislation, per a search summary of Hansard.
Wikipedia lists her as Shadow Minister for Crime Prevention from January 2025, which her parliamentary profile does not.
The Coalition's bail and sentencing policy, per the ABC, would automatically deny bail to reoffenders under a one-strike rule.
Housing affordability and supply
The Coalition would lift the first-home buyer threshold to remove stamp duty on homes up to $1 million, per a housing-policy comparison; nothing is attributed to McLeish personally.
State government debt and fiscal management
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Infrastructure and public transport delivery
Her site cites investment in road infrastructure projects.
Also on the record
6 substance issuesThese don't top “biggest issue” polling, but carry real 2026 policy weight and genuine differences between parties.
Education and training
Her site cites investment in education improvements.
Was Shadow Minister for Education, Youth Affairs and Regional Cities from 2018 to 2021, and is a former secondary school teacher.
Health and healthcare access
Her site cites investment in health services.
Urban planning and housing density
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Climate and energy transition
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Treaty and First Nations affairs
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Regional and rural Victoria
Continues to farm land her family has held for generations and wants the region to be "the best place to live".
Local & party context
2 fieldsNot 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.
McLeish's family-violence policy was adopted by leader Jess Wilson as the Coalition's first legislative commitment, so her positions and the party's coincide on that issue. RReported — HANSARD-MCLEISH-FVParliament of Victoria, "Hansard: Family violence — 3 December"View source
Coalition costings on other issues could not be retrieved, so those issues are left mostly empty.
Track record & prior candidacies
Current shadow portfolios per her parliamentary profile: Women, Prevention of Family Violence, and WorkSafe and TAC. VVerified — PARL-MCLEISHParliament of Victoria, "Cindy McLeish - Parliament of Victoria"View source
Earlier: Deputy Leader of the Victorian Liberal Party (2018-2021) and Shadow Minister for Education, Youth Affairs and Regional Cities (2018-2021). RReported — WIKI-MCLEISHWikipedia, "Cindy McLeish"View source
Introduced a private member's bill to criminalise coercive control. RReported — HANSARD-MCLEISH-FVParliament of Victoria, "Hansard: Family violence — 3 December"View source
In June 2023 then Premier Daniel Andrews called her a "halfwit grub" during a debate over her point of order about a Labor MP's voting eligibility. RReported — WIKI-MCLEISHWikipedia, "Cindy McLeish"View source
Won Eildon in 2018 with 48.35% of first preferences and 52.44% two-party-preferred against Labor's Sally Brennan. VVerified — WIKI-EILDON-RESULTSWikipedia, "Electoral results for the district of Eildon"View source
Won again in 2022 with 47.4% of first preferences and 57.0% two-party-preferred against Labor's Jane Judd. VVerified — WIKI-EILDON-RESULTSWikipedia, "Electoral results for the district of Eildon"View source
Campaign, money & endorsements
Campaign logistics
Endorsements & Donations
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.
As the sitting member, McLeish met the "elected" limb of the test at the 2022 election, so her Eildon campaign qualified for public funding.