Alexandra Kaur Bhathal (born 1964 or 1965) is an Australian social worker, lecturer and politician. She is most known as a

perennial candidate A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for elected office and rarely, if ever, wins. Perennial candidates are most common where there is no limit on the number of times that a person can run for office and little cost ...

for the

Australian Greens The Australian Greens, commonly referred to simply as the Greens, are a Left-wing politics, left-wing green party, green Australian List of political parties in Australia, political party. As of 2025, the Greens are the third largest politica ...

in the

Division of Batman The Division of Batman was an Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian Electoral Division in the States and territories of Australia, state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. It took its name from John Batman, one of the ...

, having stood on six occasions; 2001, 2004, 2010, 2013, 2016, and at the 2018 Batman by-election. She ran for the Senate in the 2007 election. Bhathal was also the Greens candidate for the state

Electoral district of Northcote The electoral district of Northcote is an electoral district of the Victorian Legislative Assembly. It covers the suburbs of Alphington, Fairfield, Northcote, Thornbury, and part of Preston. It lies on the northern bank of the Yarra Rive ...

in 2006, Greens candidate for the Northern Metro region at the 2010 and 2014 state elections, and independent local council candidate for Darebin (West Ward) in 2024.

Personal life

Bhathal's father was a Punjabi Sikh from a village near Verka Town,

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. She is a lecturer at

La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora, Victoria, Bundoora. The university was established in 1 ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Australia.

Federal political career

Bhathal ran as the Greens candidate for Batman on six occasions; 2001, 2004, 2010, 2013, 2016, and the 2018 Batman by-election. At the

2001 Australian federal election The 2001 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 10 November 2001. All 150 seats in the House of Representatives and 40 seats in the 76-member Senate were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Party of Australia led by Prime Minis ...

, Bhathal received 11.58% of the first preference vote. Her primary vote grew at each subsequent election, reaching 36.23% at the 2016 federal election, higher than Labor candidate David Feeney's 35.27%. After preferences, Feeney defeated Bhathal 51-49%.

2018 Batman by-election

Bhathal was selected as the Greens candidate for the 2018 Batman by-election. Bhathal's campaign was damaged when a 101-page document containing claims of bullying by Bhathal was leaked. After the by-election, an internal Greens review dismissed the allegations against Bhathal, and apologised to her. A documentary was made about Bhathal's unsuccessful campaign in 2018, entitled ''The Candidate.'' The screening of the film in July 2019 was sabotaged, with the fire alarm being set off as soon as the film started. Bhathal was planned to be the candidate for the Division of Cooper at the

2019 Australian federal election The 2019 Australian federal election was held on Saturday, 18 May 2019, to elect members of the 46th Parliament of Australia. The election had been called following the dissolution of the 45th Parliament as elected at the 2016 double dissol ...

, but withdrew in August 2018, stating that her previous campaign had been "sabotaged" by individuals within the party. In February 2019, Bhathal resigned from the Australian Greens, stating she had been the victim of "relentless organisational bullying" over several years.

2024 local government elections

Bhathal was a candidate for election to West Ward at the Darebin City Council election to be held on 26 October 2024. She ran against previous Darebin Mayor Sussane Newton who had been alleged to have had a role in the sabotage of Bhathal's 2018 by-election campaign. Bhathal received 13.8% of the first-preference vote and was not elected.

Footnotes

References