Legislative Assembly · District of Sydenham
Ashley Vandenburg
Last verified 30 Sept 2026
Seat context — Sydenham›
Sydenham covers outer north-western Melbourne suburbs including Sydenham, Taylors Hill, Taylors Lakes, Delahey, Hillside, Plumpton, Deanside and Calder Park. It was created for the 2014 election, largely replacing Keilor, and Labor's Natalie Hutchins has held it ever since, winning in 2022 with 43.5% of first preferences and 58.7% two-party-preferred against the Liberals' Joseph Cullia. Hutchins announced on 16 October 2025 that she will not recontest, and left the ministry in December 2025, so 2026 is an open contest. The field found is seven candidates: Labor's Uros Rasic, the Liberals' Nathalie Moussi, the Greens' Maggie Jane, the Victorian Socialists' Shania Khan, One Nation's Joh Bauch and independents Maria Kerr and Ashley Vandenburg. The Tally Room notes a fragmented conservative vote with several right-of-centre candidates, and a proposed AI data centre at Plumpton is a local issue.
Background
Platform
Where they stand, issue by issue — grounded in 2026 Victorian polling, not assumed. Every position is tagged with how we know it.
No personal statement of priorities was found.
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
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Crime and community safety
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Housing affordability and supply
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
State government debt and fiscal management
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Infrastructure and public transport delivery
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
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
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Health and healthcare access
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
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
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.
The Tally Room expects him to direct preferences towards conservative parties, and Wikipedia's 2026 candidates table lists him as an independent. RReported — TALLYROOM-SYDENHAM, WIKI-2026CANDSThe Tally Room, "Sydenham — Victoria 2026"View sourceWikipedia, "Candidates of the 2026 Victorian state election"View source
No personal or party policy detail was retrieved, so all issues are left empty.
Track record & prior candidacies
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.
Vandenburg has not previously contested Sydenham, and any independent would need 4% or more of first preferences, or to be elected, to qualify for funding.