Legislative Assembly · District of Preston
Serena Ashmore
Last verified 29 Aug 2026
Seat context — Preston›
Preston is a genuinely marginal Labor-vs-Greens contest (roughly a 2-point margin in 2022), not the safe Labor seat the original breadth pass implied. Sitting Labor MP Nathan Lambert is recontesting, facing the Greens' Loki Sangarya, Victorian Socialists' Serena Ashmore, and Animal Justice's Rachel Unicomb. No Liberal candidate has surfaced for 2026.
Background
Describes herself as "an activist and a unionist"; no specific union name, position, or title identified despite targeted searches (including HACSU and ANMF, the unions most plausible given her mental-health-sector occupation) and general web/news searches. SSelf-stated — VS-ASHMORE-BIOVictorian Socialists, "Serena Ashmore — Candidate for Preston"View source
States she has been active in campaigns for a free Palestine and against Australia's involvement in weapons manufacturing and military exports, and has been involved in organising against racism and opposing the far right. SSelf-stated — VS-ASHMORE-BIOVictorian Socialists, "Serena Ashmore — Candidate for Preston"View source
The Victorian Socialists' 2022 candidate for the district of Preston was Steph Price, a different person — confirming this is Ashmore's first run for this seat. VVerified — WIKI-PRESTON-DISTRICTWikipedia, "Electoral district of Preston"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.
Secure housing and a decent standard of living for people in Preston and Reservoir.
Bring the Preston Market into public hands and protect it from developer interests.
Properly fund public services and treat care (childcare, healthcare, aged care) as a public responsibility, not a business opportunity.
Proper funding and long-overdue upgrades for the Reservoir Leisure Centre.
"Challenge Labor's neglect of Preston and Reservoir and fight to put people before 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
Candidate's own framing names rising rents and rising costs of childcare, healthcare and aged care as the everyday pressures facing Preston/Reservoir residents.
Party platform (not candidate-specific): immediate cap on household electricity and gas prices via a new publicly owned, not-for-profit energy operator.
Crime and community safety
No candidate-specific statement found.
Victorian Socialists statewide platform (party platform, not candidate-specific): legal presumption in favour of bail for all offences, shifting the burden to prosecution to justify detention, raising the age of criminal responsibility to 16, ending mandatory sentencing, reversing the past decade's Victoria Police funding increases, disarming patrol police, and establishing an independent police ombudsman.
Housing affordability and supply
"People in Preston and Reservoir deserve secure housing and a decent standard of living... many are dealing with rising rents, insecure housing... Governments continue to side with developers, landlords and big business instead of the people who live here. We must put people before profit."
Party platform (not candidate-specific): 25% cut to residential tenancies followed by a 5-year rent freeze, rent control capping annual increases to the lower of half-CPI or half-WPI, a Rental Inspectorate Victoria, a State Bank of Victoria to take over owner-occupier mortgages below market rates, a 30% vacant-land tax, a ban on owning more than five properties, and construction of at least 15,000 new public housing units per year for at least 10 years.
State government debt and fiscal management
No candidate-specific statement found.
Party platform (not candidate-specific): funding public services and infrastructure via taxes on wealth and big business rather than debt.
A 10% annual wealth tax on billionaires, doubled payroll tax on companies with wages above $5m, mining royalties raised to a flat 35%, a 20% bank profits tax on the five major banks, and a 20% super-profits tax on large retailers.
Infrastructure and public transport delivery
No candidate-specific or Preston-specific statement found. Party platform (not candidate-specific): making all public transport permanently free, reversing privatisation of trains/trams/buses, and extending rail to northern and western growth corridors.
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 candidate-specific statement found.
Party platform (not candidate-specific): cease state funding to high-fee private schools, cap secondary class sizes at 15, add 12,000 teachers/support staff, abolish VCE for a holistic strengths-based curriculum.
(For TAFE/VET) increase TAFE funding so public providers dominate the sector and require non-government providers to operate not-for-profit.
Health and healthcare access
Candidate works professionally in the mental health sector (background fact from her own bio; no distinct personal mental-health-policy statement was found beyond this).
Party platform (not candidate-specific): boost public hospital beds to at least 3 per 1,000 Victorians, free ambulance access with no membership requirement.
Specifically on mental health, expand and centralise state-funded mental health services with free access to therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists and crisis support, plus funding for Transforming Trauma Victoria.
Urban planning and housing density
Candidate's general critique that "governments continue to side with developers, landlords and big business instead of the people who live here" and her pledge to protect the Preston Market from "developer greed."
Party platform (not candidate-specific): mandatory 30% inclusionary zoning on new developments, heritage-building protection with no-compensation public acquisition penalties for breaches, permanently protecting Green Wedge land from rezoning, and mandating 30% canopy tree coverage in all suburbs.
Climate and energy transition
No candidate-specific statement found.
Party platform (not candidate-specific): cut emissions 75% below 2005 levels by 2030, zero-carbon economy by 2035, close Loy Yang A by 2030, prohibit all new fossil fuel projects, major public investment in offshore wind/utility-scale solar/battery storage, and a publicly owned not-for-profit energy operator (the platform does not use the term 'State Electricity Commission').
Treaty and First Nations affairs
No candidate-specific statement found.
Party platform (not candidate-specific): extend the powers of statewide and local Treaties and support increased First Nations control over First Nations affairs, on the basis that "Treaty processes are only meaningful if they deliver material change."
No mention of the Gellung Warl representative body by name.
Regional and rural Victoria
Not seat-relevant (Preston is an inner-northern Melbourne metro seat) and no candidate engagement found. The party's statewide platform exists in general (regional healthcare, transport and housing commitments) but is not tied to this candidate or seat.
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.
Preston Market redevelopment: pledges to "bring the Preston Market into public hands and protect it from developer greed." SSelf-stated — VS-ASHMORE-BIOVictorian Socialists, "Serena Ashmore — Candidate for Preston"View source
Reservoir Leisure Centre: campaigns for "proper funding and long-overdue upgrades." SSelf-stated — VS-ASHMORE-BIOVictorian Socialists, "Serena Ashmore — Candidate for Preston"View source
"I'm standing as the Victorian Socialists candidate to challenge Labor's neglect of Preston and Reservoir and to fight to put people before profit." SSelf-stated — VS-ASHMORE-BIO, VS-HOUSING-POLICY, VS-CITIES-POLICYVictorian Socialists, "Serena Ashmore — Candidate for Preston"View sourceVictorian Socialists, "Housing for all"View sourceVictorian Socialists, "Making our cities more liveable"View source
She frames her candidacy explicitly as representing the party, and her page's stated priorities (housing, public services, anti-developer stance) track directly onto the statewide Housing for All and Making Our Cities More Liveable platform planks. SSelf-stated — VS-ASHMORE-BIO, VS-HOUSING-POLICY, VS-CITIES-POLICYVictorian Socialists, "Serena Ashmore — Candidate for Preston"View sourceVictorian Socialists, "Housing for all"View sourceVictorian Socialists, "Making our cities more liveable"View source
As a first-time candidate with no other public policy record located, her platform presence is consistent with following the Victorian Socialists' statewide platform rather than diverging from it on any issue researched. SSelf-stated — VS-ASHMORE-BIOVictorian Socialists, "Serena Ashmore — Candidate for Preston"View source
Track record & prior candidacies
No terms served at any level of government (state, local, or federal) were found. VVerified — WIKI-PRESTON-RESULTS-HIST, WIKI-DAREBINWikipedia, "Electoral results for the district of Preston"View sourceWikipedia, "City of Darebin"View source
Wikipedia's electoral-results history for the district of Preston (covering every election 1945–2022) does not list her as a candidate or member in any prior contest, and the City of Darebin council article (covering the 2020 and 2024 local elections) does not list her as a councillor or candidate. VVerified — WIKI-PRESTON-RESULTS-HIST, WIKI-DAREBINWikipedia, "Electoral results for the district of Preston"View sourceWikipedia, "City of Darebin"View source
No ministerial/shadow portfolio, committee membership, formal union office (delegate/organiser), or Victorian Socialists internal party leadership role was found. SSelf-stated — VS-ASHMORE-BIOVictorian Socialists, "Serena Ashmore — Candidate for Preston"View source
Her official candidate bio and campaign social media describe her only as a rank-and-file 'activist and unionist' working in the mental health sector, with no office or title claimed. SSelf-stated — VS-ASHMORE-BIOVictorian Socialists, "Serena Ashmore — Candidate for Preston"View source
Describes herself as having participated in campaigns supporting Palestine and against Australia's involvement in weapons manufacturing and military exports. SSelf-stated — VS-ASHMORE-BIOVictorian Socialists, "Serena Ashmore — Candidate for Preston"View source
Describes herself as having organised against racism and far-right movements. SSelf-stated — VS-ASHMORE-BIOVictorian Socialists, "Serena Ashmore — Candidate for Preston"View source
First run for elected office; no prior candidacies found. VVerified — WIKI-PRESTON-DISTRICT, WIKI-PRESTON-RESULTS-HIST, WIKI-DAREBINWikipedia, "Electoral district of Preston"View sourceWikipedia, "Electoral results for the district of Preston"View sourceWikipedia, "City of Darebin"View source
She was not the Victorian Socialists' Preston candidate in 2022 (that was Steph Price), does not appear in Wikipedia's full Preston electoral-results history for any earlier year, and does not appear among Darebin City Council candidates in the 2020 or 2024 local elections. VVerified — WIKI-PRESTON-DISTRICT, WIKI-PRESTON-RESULTS-HIST, WIKI-DAREBINWikipedia, "Electoral district of Preston"View sourceWikipedia, "Electoral results for the district of Preston"View sourceWikipedia, "City of Darebin"View source
Campaign, money & endorsements
Campaign logistics
Endorsements & Donations
Per the VEC's own funding guidance, accessed 2026-08-29, a Victorian state election candidate is eligible for public election funding only if they receive at least 4% of first-preference votes or are elected.
The funding amount is calculated against the candidate's audited campaign-expenditure statement and first-preference vote count, up to legislated maximums, and any advance funding must be repaid in full if the candidate contests the election but fails to reach the 4% threshold or win.