Stephen Jolly

• Comment: Australia's a dodgier place than most other countries when it comes to the notability of local politicians -- the major Australian cities actually don't have citywide councils at all, but instead the local government areas (what people in North America or the UK would understand as boroughs of the city) are the only level of local government there actually is. So the only viable case for inclusion of an Australian city councillor is that they have a strong and highly sourceable claim to being a special case of greater notability than most of their colleagues -- even in Sydney and Melbourne, there's just nobody who would get the automatic "instant notability because global city" pass.
  So yes, I agree that any basis for notability here would have to come from his leading of a political party, but I also agree with Legacypac that the sourcing here isn't strong enough to get him there yet -- the sourcing that is shown here in the state-level context is too strongly dependent on primary sourcing, like raw tables of election results, as things stand right now. He's not a completely hopeless topic, though -- there is a path to notability here if his sourcing in the context of leading a political party improves in the future, he just hasn't reached the destination yet as of today. Bearcat (talk) 00:02, 14 October 2018 (UTC)

• Comment: Thanks Legacypac! Bkissin (talk) 13:35, 12 October 2018 (UTC)

• Comment: Local council election is not notable. The party he leads is very new, just months old, and remains very minor. Leading it is not notable yet in my opinion. Since it looks like he is the first leader, You might consider adding a little info to the party article on his leadership. As this page s now I doubt it would survive a deletion discussion. Legacypac (talk) 08:54, 12 October 2018 (UTC)

• Comment: Looking at this article from a WP:NPOL perspective, I don't know if city Councillor for Yarra is notable enough as a municipal politician. Bearcat, unless we are considering Yarra part of the larger Melbourne area, I don't see this city council as having worldwide reach.
  Do you think he would be notable as a minor party leader? Bkissin (talk) 17:34, 10 October 2018 (UTC)

• Comment: Following up on the WP:NPOL issue I note this draft has thusfar focused on his history of electoral politics, however a large part of the merit for publication I am able to find doing background research is his history as an author in Australia, including his book on the 1993 Richmond Secondary College protests, as well as for publishing what appears to be one of very few first-hand western accounts of the Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989; having remained there for the full extent after most journalists vacated the square. The latter in particular, combined with his involvement as the National Secretary of several parties over the years prior to this recent project seems to cumulatively meet the notability requirement as opposed to a diversion (see WP:1E) if the authors flesh out those aspects of the article in more depth. In my view once it does that it will meet the criteria for publication. Comradeblinky (talk) 03:30, 17 October 2018 (UTC)

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Cr Stephen Jolly
Leader of the Victorian Socialists
Incumbent
Assumed office 5 February 2018
Councillor for Yarra City Council
Incumbent
Assumed office 26 November 2004
Personal details
Born	1962
Nationality	Australian
Political party	Victorian Socialists (since 2018)
Other political affiliations	Labour Party / Militant (1980s-1993) Socialist Party (Australia) (1993-2016) The Socialists (Victoria) (2016-2018)
Residence(s)	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Alma mater	University of Cape Town
Occupation	Construction worker Councillor

Not to be confused with Stephen Jolly.

Stephen Jolly (born 1962) is an Australian politician, author and construction worker. He is a councillor with a seat in the Yarra City Council and the current leader of the Victorian Socialists.

His radical political stances have led to hostile reactions from far-right groups such as the United Patriots Front, which has promoted rallies and death threats against him. In 2015, a man was charged over death and rape threats towards Jolly.

Biography

Jolly was born in London, England to an Irish mother. Jolly moved to Dublin in the 1970s where he became active with the Militant Tendency of the Labour Party (later the Socialist Party) in the early 1980s. He moved to study at the University of Cape Town in 1977.

In 1983 he supported underground opposition to Robert Mugabe's regime in Zimbabwe. In 1989, at the age of 27, Jolly was a first-hand witness of the Tiananmen Square Massacre while he was speaking to protestors and helping them organise.

He moved to Australia in 1993 and became involved in the Militant Socialist Organisation, the Australian section of the Committee for a Workers' International, serving as Editor of its newspaper The Militant and as National Secretary until 2000. While working in construction, he has served as a shop steward with the Construction, Forestry, Mining, Maritime and Energy Union.

In 2016, however, Jolly led a mass resignation from the Socialist Party due to the cover-up of allegations of abuse within the party.

Political Career

Local Government (2004 - Present)

In 2004 he was elected as a Councillor for The City of Yarra in the Langridge Ward, representing the suburbs of Abbotsford, Alphington, Clifton Hill, Collingwood, Fairfield, Fitzroy and Richmond.

In 2017, Jolly voted in favour of the controversial decision to cancel its Australia Day ceremony as a part of the Change the Date campaign. This resulted in backlash from the federal government whereby the council was stripped of it's citizenship powers.

State Government Campaigns

Jolly has contested the Victorian electoral district of Richmond several times. In the 1999 Victorian state election he gained a swing of 12.0%. He re-contested the seat in the 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014 state elections.

In February 2018, Jolly announced that he will be contesting a seat in the Senate in the 2018 Victorian state elections under the Victorian Socialists ticket. This ticket was supported by several trade union groups, including the Electrical Trades Union of Australia and National Union of Workers. The ETU Troy Gray justified this support over parties such as the Australian Labor Party, a traditional unionist party, by stating that Jolly was the only candidate representing "blue collar values".

Bibliography

• Eyewitness in China (Melbourne: Socialist Party, 1989)

• Behind the Lines - Richmond Secondary College: a school that dared to fight (Melbourne: Global Books, 1996)

• That Which Surrounds Us: Refugees, Racism and Capitalism in Australia (Melbourne: Socialist Party, 2002)

External Links

• Councillor Stephen Jolly | Yarra City Council
• Official party website
• Official Twitter account