Geoff Lake has been a councillor at the City of Monash since 2000.  He represents Glen Waverley Ward.

Since his first election, he has worked hard to improve services and facilities across the City of Monash while keeping Monash rates as low as possible.

Geoff is a lawyer and prior to becoming Mayor again in 2013, he worked at a large national commercial law firm. He serves on a number of boards and committees including as a director of a water corporation and an industry superannuation fund where he is deputy chair and chair of the investment committee overseeing more than $8 billion of investments.  Geoff is also the chair of the Alliance for Gambling Reform.

During his time on Council, Geoff has played a prominent role at the local, state and national levels – including as a Board member of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB), President of the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) and President of the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV). As part of his role as ALGA President, Geoff was a full member of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) and represented Australian local government there alongside the Prime Minister and state and territory leaders.

Appearing regularly in the media, Geoff has delivered a live televised address to the National Press Club on local government reform and was a regular on ABC TV’s News Breakfast Program to review the daily newspapers.  He now appears fortnightly on Tom Elliott’s 3AW Drive program to present ‘Council Watch’.

In 2002 and at the age of 22, Geoff became the youngest person ever to be a mayor in Victoria when he was elected mayor of Monash Council.  As mayor, Geoff exposed councillors at the South East Regional Waste Management Group who were travelling for no purpose and at ratepayer expense to extravagant places all over the world.

Despite criticism and push back from the establishment, he took on these vested interests on behalf of all ratepayers and put a stop to these junkets and the wastage of public money.  He also abolished the mayoral robes and use of the ‘Your Worship’ title, got rid of the personalised number plates for the mayoral vehicle and slashed the Council’s spending on hospitality and lavish functions.

As well as being reelected as mayor in 2003/04, he has also served two subsequent terms as mayor in 2013/14 and in 2016 when he stepped in to complete the mayoral term vacated by the resignation of former councillor Stefanie Perri to contest the 2016 federal election.  At the time of taking over, the Council was riddled with infighting and dysfunction – with meetings extending as late as 3.00 am and meetings being frustrated with constant and inane points of order and interjections from the public gallery.  Geoff immediately set about improving performance and implemented tough new meeting procedures which resulted in meeting times reducing significantly and the effective elimination of points of order and unruly conduct.

Right through his time as a councillor, Geoff has sought to limit annual rate increases. Monash now has the lowest council rates in Victoria – an outcome he has worked hard to secure.

Geoff believes in lean, effective, accountable and responsible government and he has driven greater efficiency throughout Council’s operations.

While promoting financial restraint and accountability, Geoff has also been a key driver of major projects in the local area such as the development of Kingsway and the Glen Waverley Activity Centre, the Monash Aquatic and Recreation Centre, the Monash Gallery or Art, the Wheelers Hill Library and the  Clayton Community Centre. He has also championed initiatives to strengthen services for vulnerable and disadvantaged people in Monash and has been a prominent advocate for reducing the harm caused by poker machines in the Monash and Victorian communities.