Legislative Council · Western Metropolitan Region
Dennis Bilic
Last verified 30 Sept 2026
Seat context — Western Metropolitan Region›
Western Metropolitan elects 5 MLCs and comprises 11 Legislative Assembly districts across Melbourne's west — Footscray, Kororoit, Laverton, Niddrie, Point Cook, St Albans, Sunbury, Sydenham, Tarneit, Werribee and Williamstown. In 2022, Labor won 2 of 5 seats (Lizzie Blandthorn and Ingrid Stitt), the Liberals won 2 (Moira Deeming and Trung Luu) and Legalise Cannabis won 1 (David Ettershank). Deeming, elected as a Liberal, was removed as the party's 2026 candidate in July and is now Family First's lead candidate for the region.
Background
Platform
Where they stand, issue by issue — grounded in 2026 Victorian polling, not assumed. Every position is tagged with how we know it.
Housing affordability, de-corrupting politics, protecting neighbourhoods from inappropriate overdevelopment, education, a healthy environment and a clean energy transition.
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
Names housing affordability as a priority.
State government debt and fiscal management
Wants politics de-corrupted.
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
Names education as a priority.
Health and healthcare access
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Urban planning and housing density
Wants neighbourhoods protected from inappropriate overdevelopment.
Climate and energy transition
Names a healthy environment and a clean energy transition as priorities.
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 party page lists Dennis Bilic as its sole Western Metropolitan candidate; no Sustainable Australia platform document was retrieved, so only his own priorities are recorded. SSelf-stated — SAP-DBSustainable Australia Party, "2026 Victorian election: Western Metropolitan Region candidates"View source
Wikipedia's 2026 candidates table lists them under the Western Metropolitan Region. RReported — WIKI-2026CANDSWikipedia, "Candidates of the 2026 Victorian state election"View source
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.
Bilic has not previously contested a state election on the sources retrieved, and Sustainable Australia's earlier results in this region were not retrieved.