Legislative Assembly · District of Williamstown
Tony Briffa
Last verified 29 Sept 2026
Seat context — Williamstown›
Williamstown is a Labor seat in Melbourne's inner west held by senior minister Melissa Horne since 2018. At the 2022 election she won 41.5% of first preferences and 63.4% two-party-preferred against the Liberals' Daria Kellander. She is recontesting in a seven-candidate field: the Liberals' Paul Lindemann, the Greens' Ben Hocking, independent Tony Briffa (a former Hobsons Bay mayor), the West Party's Gill Gannon, One Nation's Catherine Loughnan and the Victorian Socialists' Oskar Martin. The Tally Room rates Labor's margin as large, though commentary there suggests Briffa could poll strongly.
Background
Has been a Hobsons Bay City councillor since 2008 (Altona Ward 2008-2012, Cherry Lake Ward 2012-2014 and 2016-2024), and Mayor in 2011-2012 and 2022-2023, and Deputy Mayor in 2009-2011 and 2017-2018. RReported — WIKI-BRIFFAWikipedia, "Tony Briffa (politician)"View source
Has served as President of Intersex Peer Support Australia and Co-executive Director of InterAction for Health and Human Rights, and testified to a Senate inquiry on the forced sterilisation of intersex people. RReported — WIKI-BRIFFAWikipedia, "Tony Briffa (politician)"View source
Wikipedia describes her as the first known openly intersex mayor in the world. RReported — WIKI-BRIFFAWikipedia, "Tony Briffa (politician)"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.
No 2026 policy statement was retrieved: her campaign site did not resolve and no coverage of her platform 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.
Track record & prior candidacies
She is not among the candidates in the 2018 or 2022 Williamstown results. VVerified — WIKI-WILLIAMSTOWN-RESWikipedia, "Electoral results for the district of Williamstown"View source
Her earlier election history beyond council was not retrieved.
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.
Briffa has not previously contested a Williamstown state election as an independent. Independents receive funding only if they reach the 4% first-preference threshold; a commentator on The Tally Room suggests she could poll 15-20%, which is opinion and not a result.