We held pre-selections in February 2025 to choose our CPSU Victoria election candidates for the union’s executive positions. Meet our executive candidates:
Jiselle Hanna – secretary candidate
I’m standing for secretary with A Voice for Members because our union needs real democracy, accountability, and action that puts members first. As a long-time activist and workplace delegate, I’ve fought for better wages, conditions, and job security. I know the frustration of union leadership that won’t listen to the members who fund them.
I’m a trained lawyer and I’ve been a trade unionist for 25 years. I’ve survived four Clause 11 processes and supported comrades through Clause 12s. I know firsthand that we need a union ready to fight and win, not back down. We need transparent decision-making, regular member meetings, and genuine rank-and-file participation. We must take on job cuts, understaffing, and unsafe conditions with real industrial strength, not backroom deals.
As a founding member of A Voice for Members, I’m committed to a strong, fighting union that backs workplace organising, empowers delegates, and defends workers’ rights at every level. If elected as secretary, I’ll ensure every member’s voice is heard, every workplace has real delegate support, and every fight for fair pay and conditions gets real backing.
Mitch Vandewerdt-Holman – assistant secretary candidate
I’m Mitch and I’m running for the position of assistant secretary. I strongly believe in the power of unionism. When we work together, we can achieve what no one person can accomplish alone. That principle — collective strength — seems to have been forgotten by the current CPSU leadership.
Over the past 20 years, membership has stagnated. Workplace structures have been allowed to break down —they’re non-existent in some areas, divided and siloed in others. Our union leadership shows only the barest understanding of the real conditions we face at work, and appears completely uninterested, if not wilfully indifferent to us as members.
It’s time for that to change.
I’m standing as part of A Voice for Members, because I want to help build a union that is bigger, bolder, and braver. One that’s grounded in active workplace organising, transparent decision-making, and member leadership at every level. A union that knows who it’s accountable to — and acts like it.
Kimberley Johnston – president candidate
I’m running for president with A Voice for Members because we need a revitalised union that is bold, democratic and ready to win for Victorian public servants.
I’ve been a CPSU member since I joined the VPS in 2019, where I was the first workplace delegate in my agency. I am also a member of my workplace’s newly formed workplace organising committee.
I’ve worked for the last 10 years in industrial relations – previously as a union lawyer and now in compliance and enforcement.
If elected, we will rebuild strong delegate and HSR structures, so every member has access to support when they need help or don’t feel safe. Organisers will visit workplaces. Members will get timely industrial advice and representation. We’ll make sure members have a real say in bargaining, with opportunities to participate in our union.
Public services are under attack. Our union can’t service its way out of this. We need new energy and ideas to grow our influence, empower members, and deliver strong, accountable leadership that stands with the rank-and-file.
Katrina Kiernan-Walker – vice-president candidate
My name is Katrina. I work in digital comms at the Victorian Electoral Commission.
I’m standing for vice-president because I’m deeply passionate about building a strong, lasting union movement in the VPS. I’m a CPSU delegate and HSR, and with my fellow delegates, we’ve built our member density to nearly 50% of our VPS staff. This has helped us win critical improvements like paid overtime for VPS 5-7 during elections and split shifts to avoid dangerously long working hours.
These wins were possible because we had the numbers. But we need to build this strength across the whole VPS. Right now, the CPSU isn’t strong enough to fight for our basic wants and needs. With job cuts looming and attacks on public sector workers intensifying, we need active, aggressive campaigns to build our numbers and win real change.
I’m standing as part of A Voice for Members because we need a union that’s accountable, bold and ready to act.
Jordan Pheasant-Kelly – vice-president candidate
Department of Health
I’m running for vice-president because I believe in a union run by its members, for its members.
In 2023–24, I was the lead delegate for the Department of Health during the job cuts and restructure. This gave me a front-row seat to the challenges delegates and members face when union support falls short.
The lack of real backing from the CPSU made one thing clear: we need change, and we need it now.
I bring 7 years of experience in the VPS, working on human-centred policy design—making sure our public service never loses sight of the real people it affects. This is what I want to bring to the CPSU: a union that lives and breathes support for its members.
I’ve also been a committed volunteer since 2011, giving me nearly 15 years of experience leading and organising people bound together by a shared vision and values.
That’s why I’m proud to be running with A Voice for Members—a team of committed delegates and activists fighting to rebuild a union that listens, includes, and takes action.
Branch Council candidates
You can also read about our candidates for Victorian Branch Council.