Brian Shanahan was elected to Melbourne City Council in 2004 and 2008. He has been chair of the Melbourne City Council Finance and Governance Committee and a member of the Audit Committee since 2004. Before that, he was a councillor and mayor of the City of Essendon.

David Nolte was is a former Melbourne City Councillor (1988-93) and Chair of City Finance (1991-93). He has owned and operated his own pharmacy in Carlton North for 35 years, and is standing for Lord Mayor in Melbourne’s 2012 council elections.

Robert Doyle was elected in 2008 and is the serving Lord Mayor of Melbourne. He is a principal at The Nous Group, a management consultancy business based in Melbourne and, since 2007, has been chairman of Melbourne Health (The Royal Melbourne Hospital).

Dr Alison Parkes has over 30 years experience in financial management and is an internationally recognised consultant, author, educator and researcher based at the University of Melbourne. She lives with her husband and two children in North Melbourne. She is standing as Greens candidate for Lord Mayor in Melbourne’s 2012 council elections.

Gary Morgan and his family are long-term East Melbourne residents. He has lived and worked in Melbourne for over 50 years. He is executive chairman of Roy Morgan Research and the proprietor of well-known Collins Street restaurant Morgans at 401.

Sally Warhaft is a Melbourne broadcaster, anthropologist and writer. She hosts the Fifth Estate, the Wheeler Centre’s live series focusing on journalism, politics, media, and international relations, now in its ninth year. She is a former editor of the Monthly magazine and the author of the bestselling book Well May We Say: The Speeches that Made Australia.

Sally is a regular host and commentator on ABC radio and has a PhD in anthropology. She did her fieldwork in Mumbai, India, living by the seashore with the local fishing community.

Previously deputy Lord Mayor of Melbourne (2004–2008) with former Lord Mayor John So, Gary Singer is currently director and chief executive officer of Sotheby’s Australia.

Joseph Toscano has been a medical practitioner for 37 years, with a special interest in spinal cord paralysis. He is a broadcaster on community radio and a spokesperson for the Anarchist Media Institute.

Dr Ahmed is a senior research fellow at the University of Melbourne and chief editor of focus e-magazine. He is a board member of the international research group on wood protection, and AMES, and chairperson of the African Think Tank. He is well known in Melbourne through his commitment to numerous community and business issues and was the Victorian Australian of the Year 2009.