robert-doyle
Former Melbourne lord mayor Robert Doyle (Image: AAP)

Melbourne mayoral candidate frontrunner Sally Capp refused today to tell a mayoral candidates panel how much her campaign was spending in total, despite repeated questioning by Crikey.

Capp is currently executive director of the Victorian branch of the Property Council of Australia.

She was appearing at the Melbourne University students’ forum for the mayoral election, occurring due to the dramatic resignation of the former mayor Robert Doyle.

Crikey put the question to three candidates: Capp, Greens candidate Rohan Leppert, and independent Sally Warhaft.

The latter, who is running principally on a pledge to oppose the existing plans for the redevelopment of Queen Victoria Market, said she had spent a total of $15 000, which included in-kind support.

Leppert quoted his spending down to the last dollar. It was, we think, $48 970.

Capp who has run at least one full mail out to Melbourne’s 144 000 eligible voters, and has a variety of advertising out, including a vast billboard above Young and Jackson’s pub above the city’s Flinders-Swanston street interchange, stated that she would comply with the legal requirements for campaign funding reporting, and refused to state a figure.

Candidates are required to report their spending and donations only 40 days after the mayoral election has occurred.

Following Crikey’s questioning, The Age’s Noel Towell, a member of the questioning panel for the forum, noted that it was “a concern” that what was clearly the highest-spending campaign would or could not give a figure for their spending.

The election, conducted by postal ballot, concludes this weekend. Businesses receive two votes, residents one. It is widely famed as one of the most cutting-edge electoral systems of the late nineteenth-century.