Legislative Assembly · District of Eildon
Dylan Little
Last verified 11 Oct 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 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.
Background
No elected office found. A "Dylan J. Little" stood as a Victorian Socialists candidate for Yarra Ranges Shire Council's O'Shannassy Ward at the October 2024 council elections (see Previous candidacies). VVerified — TR-YR24The Tally Room, "Yarra Ranges council election, 2024"View source
Describes himself as a community activist for many years, including campaigns against racism and for public housing and refugees, and more recently in solidarity with Palestine. SSelf-stated — VS-LITTLEVictorian Socialists, "Dylan Little – Victorian Socialists (Candidate for Eildon)"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 he is running because he believes in a society "more sustainable, more equitable, and just than the capitalist system we live under today."
Says the state government needs to tackle the housing shortage and the cost of living crisis to improve living standards for all.
Says wealth inequality is soaring while banks, developers and supermarkets make record profits, and that politicians are "in the pockets of big corporations and the super rich."
Says that in parliament he would stand up to entrenched corporate and elite interests; criticises Labor for "years of neglect."
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
His own profile calls the cost of living crisis an urgent issue for the state government, and cites record profits for banks, developers and supermarkets. No candidate-specific policy beyond that was found.
Party platform (not a candidate-specific statement): cost-price food hubs and a cap on supermarket prices.
Party platform: an immediate public cap on household electricity and gas prices, with existing household utility debts wiped.
Party platform: free public transport and removal of tolls on toll roads.
Crime and community safety
No statement by Little on crime or policing was found.
Party platform: raise the age of criminal responsibility to 16, end mandatory sentencing and overhaul bail law toward a presumption in favour of bail.
Party platform: redirect police budget increases into public housing, youth and social services, and treat addiction as a health issue with a harm-reduction approach.
Housing affordability and supply
Says the housing shortage is one of the urgent issues the state government needs to tackle, and lists campaigning for public housing among his activism.
Party platform: a 25 percent cut to residential rents followed by a five-year rent freeze, and 150,000 new public homes.
Party platform: a 30 percent tax on long-vacant residential land, a ban on owning more than five properties, and a State Bank of Victoria offering below-market home loans.
Party platform: a Rental Inspectorate Victoria with powers to investigate landlords, enforce standards and set rooming-house rents.
State government debt and fiscal management
No statement by Little on state debt was found.
Party platform (revenue-focused rather than debt-focused): a 10 percent annual wealth tax on billionaires, a 20 percent bank profits tax, a 20 percent major-retailer super-profits tax and doubled payroll tax for large companies.
Party platform: royalties on coal, gas, oil and minerals raised to a flat 35 percent, and a luxury property tax on the top 1 percent of residences.
Infrastructure and public transport delivery
No statement by Little on infrastructure or transport was found.
Party platform: return trains, trams and buses to full public ownership without compensation, make public transport permanently free, and run a turn-up-and-go network with overnight services.
Party platform: end public-private partnerships for 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
No statement by Little on education was found.
Party platform: cut class sizes to a maximum of 15, hire 12,000 additional teachers and support staff, and cease state funding to high-fee private schools.
Party platform: expand state-run early learning centres by 3,200 and end NAPLAN.
Health and healthcare access
No statement by Little on health was found.
Party platform: at least 3 public hospital beds per 1,000 Victorians, free ambulance services, public ownership of private hospitals and expanded free community health clinics.
Urban planning and housing density
No statement by Little on planning or density was found.
Party platform: 30 percent mandatory inclusionary zoning on new developments, a social infrastructure levy on developers, and an end to the sale of public land.
Climate and energy transition
Describes the kind of society he wants as "more sustainable" than the current system; no specific energy or climate policy by him was found.
Party platform: take energy infrastructure into public ownership and move to a 100 percent renewable grid, including offshore wind, utility solar and wind, batteries and pumped hydro.
Party platform: end old-growth logging.
Treaty and First Nations affairs
No statement by Little on Treaty was found.
Party platform: describes Victoria's Treaty process as a step forward in principle but "hollow in practice," and wants Treaty to deliver material change, with extended powers for statewide and local Treaties.
Party platform: a reparations tax on commercial and investment property, fewer First Nations children in out-of-home care, and implementation of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and Yoorook recommendations.
Regional and rural Victoria
Says he has lived in the Eildon area for most of his life; no regional-specific policy statement by him was found.
Party platform: equal per-capita public transport services with Melbourne, upgraded regional rail, and a funded paid fire and emergency service for rural Victoria.
Party platform: more paramedics and ambulance stations, free housing for regional health workers, and public housing in rural areas to reverse population decline.
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.
No Eildon-specific policy, local project or named local issue was found in Little's profile or in other sources reviewed. SSelf-stated — VS-LITTLEVictorian Socialists, "Dylan Little – Victorian Socialists (Candidate for Eildon)"View source
Regional rail, ambulance response and rural fire services in the party's regional policy are the nearest fit to this large rural-fringe seat, but are not tied to Eildon by name. SSelf-stated — VS-REGVictorian Socialists, "Policy: A fair go for rural and regional Victoria"View source
Stands as an endorsed Victorian Socialists candidate; his own profile is consistent with the party's anti-capitalist framing, housing focus and cost-of-living themes. SSelf-stated — VS-LITTLEVictorian Socialists, "Dylan Little – Victorian Socialists (Candidate for Eildon)"View source
The party publishes a full 2026 policy platform of more than 25 policy areas; Little's profile does not diverge from it, and he has not published separate positions. SSelf-stated — VS-POLVictorian Socialists, "Our policies (2026 state election platform)"View source
Track record & prior candidacies
Listed by The Tally Room as "Dylan J. Little (Victorian Socialists)" among the seven candidates for Yarra Ranges Shire Council's O'Shannassy Ward at the October 2024 council elections; the ward was won by sitting councillor Jim Child. The Tally Room does not state that this is the same person as the 2026 Eildon candidate, but the party and area match. VVerified — TR-YR24The Tally Room, "Yarra Ranges council election, 2024"View source
Did not contest the 2022 state election in Eildon; he does not appear among the eight candidates listed for that contest. VVerified — TR-EILDONThe Tally Room, "Eildon – Victoria 2026"View source
A first run for state parliament, as far as the sources reviewed show. VVerified — TR-EILDON, WIKI-2026CANDSThe Tally Room, "Eildon – Victoria 2026"View sourceWikipedia, "Candidates of the 2026 Victorian state election"View source
Campaign, money & endorsements
Campaign logistics
Endorsements & Donations
Per the VEC's funding guidance for independent candidates (accessed 2026-10-11), a candidate is eligible for public funding if they receive at least 4% of first-preference votes or are elected. The amount is based on the audited statement of expenditure, the number of votes received and legislated maximums.
The VEC notes this guidance is under review following the Electoral Further Amendment Act 2026, which changes political donation disclosure and funding rules, so the details may change before the election. Little is a party-endorsed candidate, so any payment arrangements follow the VEC's registered-party guidance, which was not confirmed here.