Legislative Assembly · District of Laverton
Van Thanh Rudd
Last verified 29 Sept 2026
Seat context — Laverton›
Laverton is a safe Labor seat in Melbourne's western suburbs, created in the 2021 redistribution from parts of Footscray, Tarneit, Altona, Kororoit and St Albans, and first contested in 2022. Sarah Connolly, who held the predecessor seat of Tarneit from 2018, won it in 2022 with 45.9% of first preferences and 68.4% two-party-preferred against the Liberals' Raja Reddy, and is recontesting. The 2026 field is six candidates: Connolly, the Liberals' Ghada Noune, the Greens' Lucy Nguyen, the Victorian Socialists' Van Thanh Rudd (who contested neighbouring St Albans in 2022), the Animal Justice Party's Shohre Mansouri and the New Democrats' Gurneet Soni. The Tally Room says Labor should hold safely, though community discussion points to strong Greens organising and concern about proposed AI data centres.
Background
Platform
Where they stand, issue by issue — grounded in 2026 Victorian polling, not assumed. Every position is tagged with how we know it.
Public housing and rent freezes, school infrastructure funding, healthcare expansion at Sunshine Hospital, free childcare and public transport, higher wages and price caps on essential foods.
"I want to shake up the system and flip it the other way round and put people first, not profit."
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
Backs price caps on essential foods and higher wages and better conditions for workers.
The party's fiscal policy would fund services with a 10% annual wealth tax on billionaires, a 20% bank profits tax and a 20% super-profits tax on retailers earning over $100 million.
Crime and community safety
Wants to counter racism and far-right movements in the western suburbs.
Housing affordability and supply
Backs affordable public housing and rent freezes.
The party's housing policy would cut all residential rents 25% then freeze them for five years, and build at least 15,000 public housing units a year for ten years.
State government debt and fiscal management
The party's fiscal policy centres on new revenue including a 10% annual billionaire wealth tax; nothing on debt levels is attributed to Rudd.
Infrastructure and public transport delivery
Backs free public transport.
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
Backs improved school infrastructure funding and free public childcare centres, and works in school maintenance.
Health and healthcare access
Backs public healthcare expansion, particularly at Sunshine Hospital.
Urban planning and housing density
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Climate and energy transition
A summary of the party's energy policies says it would move to 100% publicly owned renewable energy; nothing is attributed to Rudd personally.
Treaty and First Nations affairs
A summary of the party's First Nations policy says it wants a treaty with material change beyond symbolic recognition; nothing is attributed to Rudd personally.
Regional and rural Victoria
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
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.
Rudd runs on the Victorian Socialists' statewide platform, and his priorities match it. SSelf-stated — VS-RUDD, VS-POLICIESVictorian Socialists, "Van Thanh Rudd"View sourceVictorian Socialists, "Policies"View source
No point of divergence was found.
Track record & prior candidacies
He was the Victorian Socialists' candidate for St Albans in 2022, receiving 2,367 votes (6.6%). VVerified — WIKI-STALBANSWikipedia, "Electoral results for the district of St Albans"View source
His 2026 Victorian Socialists profile as retrieved does not mention the 2022 campaign.
He is not among the candidates in the 2022 Laverton results, where the party's candidate was Catherine Robertson (5.9%). VVerified — WIKI-LAV-RESWikipedia, "Electoral results for the district of Laverton"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.
Rudd polled 6.6% in St Albans in 2022, above the 4% mark, so that campaign qualified for public funding. The Victorian Socialists' 2022 Laverton candidate polled 5.9%.