Nicholas Reece

Nicholas Reece (born 1974) is an Australian politician and policy activist who has served as the 105th Lord Mayor of the City of Melbourne since 2024. He also serves on the Steering Committee of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group. He was previously a senior executive at the University of Melbourne and a Principal Fellow at the Melbourne School of Government. He was the chair of the board of directors at the Movember Foundation, and also served on the board of The Big Issue Australia.

Early life and education Reece was born in the United Kingdom in 1974 and moved to Australia with his family when he was young. He is a supporter of the Carlton Football Club, resides in Carlton, is married to Felicity and has three daughters. His wife is Greek-Australian. Reece holds a Bachelor of Economics and Law degree from Monash University. He also graduated from ANZSOG (The Australia and New Zealand School of Government) with an Executive Master of Public Administration in 2006.

Career Reece began his career as a lawyer with Maurice Blackburn and later worked as a financial journalist with the Australian Financial Review.

He served in a range of senior ministerial adviser (Australia) positions, including as Director of Strategy and Senior Adviser to Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Earlier roles included senior advisory positions to Victorian Premiers Steve Bracks and John Brumby, as well as policy work for Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd. He also served as State Secretary and Campaign Director of the Victorian Branch of the Australian Labor Party.

Outside government, Reece has held leadership positions in higher education. He worked as a senior executive at the University of Melbourne and a Principal Fellow at the Melbourne School of Government, where his work focused on public policy, leadership, and urban governance.

Reece has also maintained a public profile as a political commentator and columnist, including work with Sky News Australia and The Age newspaper.

City of Melbourne In 2016, Reece was elected as a councillor to the Melbourne City Council as a member of Team Doyle. Reece joined Team Sally Capp for the 2020 election, and he was elected as Deputy Lord Mayor.

On 2 July 2024, following the resignation of Sally Capp, Reece was sworn in as 105th Lord Mayor of the City of Melbourne. In the 2024 Melbourne City Council election later that year, Reece retained his position as Lord Mayor, winning 23.36% of primary votes cast and winning 61.49% of the two-candidate-preferred vote. He raised almost $1 million dollars during the campaign, the highest amount in Victorian local government history.

As Lord Mayor, Reece has highlighted priorities including city safety, cleanliness, public realm improvements, infrastructure, and economic recovery. He has also held portfolio responsibilities covering city planning, infrastructure, finance, governance, and risk.

Climate and urban policy Reece argues that local governments should take a stronger role in managing the environmental impacts of fast‑growing data centres and AI infrastructure. At the COP30 Local Leaders Forum in Rio de Janeiro in 2025, Reece partnered with Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego and mayors from ten cities around the world to launch an international initiative aimed at reducing the environmental impacts of data centres and AI infrastructure. The initiative seeks to promote greater transparency, sustainability standards, and city-led approaches to managing digital infrastructure growth. During London Climate Week 2026, the initiative expanded, now labelled, the Global Urban Data Centres Pact, signed by 41 mayors from six continents, representing more than 90 million people.

Garden City policy As Lord Mayor, Reece set a target to build 28 new parks for the City. In the Council’s 2025–26 Buget, a record $44.3 million investment was allocated to progress 16 of these parks. One of the feature parks will be the transformation of the existing Queen Victoria Market customer car park into a 1.8-hectare public open space, making it one of the largest new civic spaces delivered in central Melbourne in decades. The new square will include an urban park and will also restore adjacent heritage buildings.

M2050 Summit The M2050 Summit was a major civic engagement event hosted by the City of Melboourne on 9 May 2025 as part of the development of the City's M2050 Vision. The summit, which was modelled on the Australia 2020 Summit, brought together more than 1,000 participants including residents, workers, students, community organisations, and industry representatives, to contribute ideas on Melbourne's long-term future across themes such as liveability, wellbeing, sustainability, innovation, identity, and community connection. The Summit was an election commitment Reece made during the 2024 Melbourne City Council election. The outcomes were published in the M2050 Summit Report. The event was described as the largest deliberative democracy initiative in Melbourne local government history.

Social enterprise Reece has been closely involved in social innovation and community causes throughout his career.

In 2004, he was among the original 'mo-bros' in what has since become the Movember Foundation.

Democratic innovation Reece was a member of the steering committee responsible for bringing Vote Compass to Australia. Vote Compass is an online voting advice application developed by political scientists to help voters compare their views with the policy positions of political parties and candidates. During the 2013 Australian federal election, the platform recorded more than 1.3 million respondents, making it the largest electoral survey conducted in Australia at the time. Later that year, Vote Compass received a Crikey Award for Innovation of the Year. The application has been used at every federal election since, including during the 2025 Australian federal election.

While working at the University of Melbourne, Reece helped develop the McKinnon Prize in Political Leadership, a initiative established in partnership with the McKinnon Foundation to recognise outstanding political leadership in Australia. Contemporary accounts of the prize's creation credit Reece with proposing the idea of a political leadership award, and he served on the steering committee responsible for its establishment. He later served as a member of the Prize's Shortlisting Committee.