User:Catiline52/Sue Bolton (politician)

Sue Bolton is an Australian politician and prominent socialist activist. She is a councillor for the City of Moreland and the President of the Victorian Socialists electoral alliance.

Biography
In 2016, Bolton organised an anti-racism rally in Coburg, Victoria in protest of "vilification of Muslim and African communities" which was attended by 400-500 people.

Local government (2012–Present)
In her first campaign for local government in 2008, Bolton attempted to run in the South ward of the City of Moreland, where she only received 4.95% of the vote and failed to get elected. At the next council elections, she ran in the North-East ward, where she was elected with 9.5% of the vote. In 2016, she was re-elected with a greater vote margin. As of 2019, Bolton is one of only three elected socialists in Australia, with the others being Sam Wainright of Fremantle City Council and Stephen Jolly of Yarra City Council.

In 2017, Bolton voted in favor of the controversial policy of dropping references to Australia day during its citizenship ceremonies as a part of the national Change the Date campaign. She justified this change by saying it was similar to "celebrating the Nazi Holocaust". Her comparison was described by the federal Turnbull government as "deeply offensive to all Australians". The decision to support the Change the Date campaign was also met with criticism, particularly by conservative journalist Andrew Bolt. Far-right groups United Patriots Front and Patriot Blue protested the decision by storming the council, labelling them "traitors".

State government (2018–Present)
During the 2018 Victorian state election, Sue Bolton ran with the Victorian Socialists electoral alliance as the second leading candidate for their campaign in the Northern Metropolitan Region. The ticket achieved 4.19% of the vote, the largest vote of the microparties. However, the ticket did not elect any members.