Who is this
Justin Halliday?
Local Expertise
I’m a long-term resident of St Kilda East, and I’m a passionate and tireless advocate for our local community.
My Core Values
The hardest part about voting is working out which candidate best aligns with your values and needs. It’s even harder to do this with independent or micro-party candidates. Some hide fringe ideas behind legitimate-sounding parties, while others rely on populist slogans.
As a progressive community candidate, I offer these values as my commitment to you.
Equity: Fair council investment across Port Phillip
Port Phillip is one of the most diverse communities in Melbourne, and that’s why I love living here. But it is also unequal. Yet, the council invests much in areas with excellent facilities. They gold-plate those facilities instead of helping underserved and underprivileged areas.
Integrity: No donations, no obligations, just good decisions
We’ve seen the harmful impact of donations on local government. Councillors take large donations from vested interests. They are beholden to those donors when elected. I do not accept donations for my campaign. I do this to ensure I can faithfully represent our community and follow our values.
Stewardship: Long-term outlook for all funding decisions
Having lived in St Kilda for over half a century, I’ve seen the community grow and change. We’re now at a crucial juncture where cost-of-living pressures, population growth, and climate impacts – flood risks, insurance costs, urban heat – are squeezing Port Phillip. It’s no longer good enough to make decisions for the next year, the next budget, or the next election. We need a council that’s looking 20 and 50 years ahead.
Sustainability: Ensuring a livable city for future generations
Our neighbourhood of St Kilda East and Balaclava has the highest population density and lowest public open space in Port Phillip. Our 20,000 residents don’t have the beach over the road or the lake nearby. Unlike the rest of Port Phillip, many St Kilda East residents don’t have nearby open space.
Localism: Thriving precincts for local communities
St Kilda East and Balaclava exemplify the benefits and challenges of high-density urban environments. Population density keeps rising in our neighbourhood. This is true whether we like it or not. The council’s job is to ensure these changes improve livability. They should create places for people. These places should have walkable neighbourhoods and accessible active transport. They should have thriving local shops, access to parks and green spaces, and shady trees to cool the streets.
Community: Action for residents, not special interests
Our current council can’t make long-term decisions or carry out a clear program. They choose to react to noise, not act for the wider community. On council, I’ll make decisions for the collective good. I won’t make them to satisfy special interests.
Activism: Proactive representation for our local community
Standing for the council is a big commitment. But, it’s nothing compared to the work of elected councillors. If I’m elected, I won’t just fill a seat. I’ll use my role and vote to actively pursue projects and initiatives. I’ll make a real difference for our community.
Life Experience
I was born in St Kilda West, and grew up roaming the pre-gentrification streets of St Kilda; school at St Kilda Park Primary, icecream from Leos, pizza from Topolinos, and arcade games at the old pinball arcade on Fitzroy St. My first jobs were in Acland St (at Cosmos Books and Music) and at the supermarket on Tennyson St in Elwood.
Since those days, I’ve lived in Balaclava, a few years over the road in Prahran, and now almost 20 years in St Kilda East.
Most of my professional career has been in the creative industries, and more recently working as a project manager in the state government.
Creative Industries: In the creative industries, I’ve worked extensively in the videogame industry, with over 20 years of game design, development, and production experience. Following my time developing videogames, I worked in the screen industry as an investment manager across digital platforms and games. These days, I run my own small business publishing game projects.
Government: For the last 10 years, I’ve worked in the state government, focusing on project management in innovation projects inside government. This work has given me valuable experience working in government and inside bureaucratic organisations. My projects have spanned family violence, youth justice, bushfire preparedness and response, learning and development, and organisational development.
Community Advocacy: Over the last decade, I’ve become more active in community advocacy. This started when I co-founded the School For Prahran community group, which successfully advocated to the Victorian government for a new public high school in Prahran.
Environmental Advocacy: I’ve always been active in the environmental and climate change communities, but I’ve become more engaged in this area as our governments have failed to adequately tackle the climate crisis and its impacts have accelerated. I joined Extinction Rebellion in 2019, with a focus on community outreach and council advocacy, and in 2020 I joined the Port Phillip Climate Emergency Action Network (PECAN). Through these organisations I’ve advocated to Council for local action to reduce our emissions, developed PECAN’s climate emergency action plan, successfully advocated to Council for new public open space in St Kilda East and Balaclava, and developed the Green Line project to create an active transport bio-link between Alma Park, Carlisle St, Ripponlea, and Elsternwick. Both Glen Eira and Port Phillip councils have allocated funding to initiate the Green Line project.
Small Business: For the last 10 years I’ve run my own small publishing business. In growing my business, I’ve gained valuable experience across customer service, accounting, project management, community engagement and paying bills to keep the lights on.
These complementary careers have given me decades experience and insights that I bring to my professional and community work.