Who is standing for NE ward of Moreland Council in 2016?

For Moreland Council North East ward, which Fawkner is a part of, 4 Councillors are to be elected, from 20 candidates standing. See VEC Moreland City Council 2016 Nominations. The following is the list of candidates as they will appear on the ballot paper. Climate Action Moreland have done a simple survey of candidates on climate and sustainability policies which are worth checking out. Two candidate forums have been organised so far for North East Ward.

The election is on Saturday 22 October. See the election results.

Candidate Forums

Fawkner Community House have invited North–East Ward Council candidates to a community forum with Fawkner residents about how candidates will represent the interests of people in Fawkner if they are elected at the council election this month.
When: Sunday 9 October 2pm to 5pm
Where: 95-97 Major Road Fawkner
Details: Fawkner Community House

Save Coburg and Pentridge Action Group are organising a candidates forum to hear from candidates and ask them questions.
When: Thursday, October 13 at 7 PM – 9:30 PM
Where: Coburg Uniting Church on the corner of Louisa St & Victoria St, Coburg
Registration: Facebook Event details
Storify Report: Urban Development in spotlight at NE Ward #MorelandVotes candidates forum

Pentridge Community Action Group reported: “Show of Hands from Candidates present at the Moreland Council NE Ward Forum re question posed by Prof Hamel-Green on opposing > 4 storey development in the Pentridge Precinct. Candidates with hands raised are George Georgiou, Sue Bolton, David Nunns, Antonio Bonifazio, and Imogen Jubb. A late response was made by Francesco Timpano”.

A third candidates forum organised at Merlynston.
When: Tuesday 18 October 7.30pm to 9pm
Details: Facebook event

NE Ward Candidates in Ballot order

Candidate	Affliation	Comment
MIAN, Afshan	(ALP aligned)	Facebook (Slogan: Promoting cultural diversity) Lives in Kew but Medical practice is Sydney Rd Coburg
IRFANLI, Ali	(IND)	Facebook (Only Fawkner based candidate, has handed out for Liberal Party in past)
FAILLA, Paul	(IND)	website (no campaign details online. Founder Brunswick Music Festival and promoter of the Arts in Moreland)
GEORGIOU, George	(IND)	Facebook (sustainable living, alternative transport plan and cleaning up Moreland)(Answered Pentridge Development questions by Prof Hamel)
KELLEHER, Darcey	(IND)	Facebook (seems conservative. Slogan: Less government waste, Better rubbish Disposal, Cleaner parks and streets) (Answered Pentridge Development questions by Prof Hamel)
HELOU, Anthony	(ALP aligned)	Facebook (Community group he belongs to was a major beneficiary while he was a councillor of sale of open space in 2003. See Montfort Park petition)
ABBOUD, Natalie	(Greens)	Facebook (Endorsed Lead Greens candidate)(Answered Pentridge Development questions by Prof Hamel)
CARLI HANNAN, Annalivia	(ALP aligned)	Facebook (Youthful Labor candidate “a voice for young people”)
HONG, Kevin	(No VEC contact)	(Stood for Wills in 2016 as Liberal candidate)
MICHELL, Danny	(ALP aligned)	Facebook
PULFORD, Adam	(Greens)	Facebook (Youthful candidate from the Greens)
PAVLIDIS, Helen	(ALP aligned)	Facebook
TIMPANO, Francesco	(IND)	Facebook (Serial Independent) (Moreland Leader: candidate in hot water)(Answered Pentridge Development questions by Prof Hamel)
GARTSIDE, Gordon		(Your guess is as good as mine)
*BOLTON, Sue	(Socialist Alliance)	Facebook (Runs monthly ward feedback meetings. Slogan: Community Need, not developer Greed)(Answered Pentridge Development questions by Prof Hamel)
ANGELOPOULOS, Katerina	(ALP aligned)	Already on the board of Merri Community Health
McGILVRAY, Alex	(Greens)	Facebook (Youthful candidate from the Greens)
NUNNS, David	(ALP aligned)	Facebook (Slogan: Because we can do better. Strong union perspective
BONIFAZIO, Antonio	(IND)	(Your guess as good as mine. Oak Park resident. Slogan: One community proudly diverse)
JUBB, Imogen	(IND)	Facebook (A climate reality leader. Slogan: Community, integrity, resilience.)(Answered Pentridge Development questions by Prof Hamel)

* – an asterisk before name signifies a current councillor standing for re-election. If a candidate has no information after their name it may indicate they did not provide email contact details to the VEC or have not indicated any public party alignment.

Responses to Surveys on issues of importance

Three surveys by community groups were conducted on the issues of climate change and sustainability, cycling, and Pentridge Development. I have put together a matrix so you can see at a glance who responded to each survey. These are three issues which have some importance and involve decision making at Council level. Responses give an indication of the seriousness of candidates and their policies.

Candidate	Affliation	Climate	Cycling	Pentridge Development	Music
MIAN, Afshan	(ALP aligned)		Y		Y
IRFANLI, Ali	(IND)	Y
FAILLA, Paul	(IND)	Y
GEORGIOU, George	(IND)	Y	Y	Y	Y
KELLEHER, Darcey	(IND)	Y	Y	Y	Y
HELOU, Anthony	(ALP aligned)		Y
ABBOUD, Natalie	(Greens)	YY	Y	Y	Y
CARLI HANNAN, Annalivia	(ALP aligned)	Y	Y
HONG, Kevin
MICHELL, Danny	(ALP aligned)				Y
PULFORD, Adam	(Greens)	Y	Y		Y
PAVLIDIS, Helen	(ALP aligned)
TIMPANO, Francesco	(IND)	Y	Y	Y	Y
GARTSIDE, Gordon
*BOLTON, Sue	(Socialist Alliance)	YY	Y	Y	Y
ANGELOPOULOS, Katerina	(ALP aligned)		Y
McGILVRAY, Alex	(Greens)	Y	Y
NUNNS, David	(ALP aligned)		Y
BONIFAZIO, Antonio	(IND)	Y			Y
JUBB, Imogen	(IND)	YY	Y	Y	Y

Climate Action Moreland have done a simple survey of candidates on climate and sustainability policies. (12 Responses: Irfanli, Failla, Georgiou, Kelleher, Abboud, Carli Hannan, Pulford, Timpano, Bolton, Angelopoulos, McGilvray, Bonifazio, Jubb)

A number of Moreland candidates have gone further and publicly supported a climate emergency declaration. These candidates score a second Y under climate. (3 Responses: Sue Bolton; Natalie Abboud; Imogen Jubb)

Moreland Bicycle User Group has a survey of NE Ward candidates on cycling issues. (13 responses from Adam Pulford Afshan Mian, Alex McGilvray, Annalivia Carli Hannan, Anthony Helou, Darcey Kelleher, David Nunns, George Georgiou, Francesco Timpano, Imogen Jubb, Katerina Angelopoulos, Natalie Abboud, Sue Bolton)

The Pentridge Community Action Group PCAG conducted a Pentridge Development survey for NE ward with question sent to all candidates by Professor Hamel. (6 responses: George Georgiou, Sue Bolton, Imogen Jubb, DArcey Kelleher, Francesco Timpano, and Natalie Abboud)

Music Victoria sent a survey to all Council candidates in Victoria. The responses from Moreland candidates can be viewed online. (10 responses: Afshan Mian, George Georgiou, Darcey Kelleher, Natalie Abboud, Danny Michell, Adam Pulford, Fransesco Timpano, Sue Bolton, Antonio Bonifazio, Imogen Jubb.)

Local resident Catherine has produced an amusing blog post profiling all the NE candidates, following up on her fantastic 2012 efforts.

Deciphering preferences

For the sake of transparency, I have gone through and collected the 18 registered How-to-vote tickets (see further below).

Hong and Gartside are the only candidates to have not registered a how-to-vote card with the VEC. I haven’t seen any campaign materials at all from either of these candidates. Are they really serious?

So what can we surmise from the 18 registered How-to-Vote preference tickets and the four councillor positions to be filled.

1. Sue Bolton, from Socialist Alliance, is the only Councillor re-contesting in this ward and she actively engages with ratepayers with her ward meetings and is running a strong campaign. She has answered all three community surveys and attended both candidate meetings. I suspect she is likely to poll more than a quota. She has her detractors, but also she has earned a lot of respect from citizens and fellow Councillors.

2. The Greens too have a reasonable profile and a single easy to follow voting ticket which makes voting for them easy. Natalie Abboud has answered all three community surveys and attended both candidate meetings. She is passionate about Moreland with her family running a local restaurant. I consider Natalie Abboud is likely to win a quota.

3. There are 7 ‘Labor-aligned’ candidates, but in effect running two informal tickets. The aggregate Labor vote and cross-preferencing between labor-aligned candidates should guarantee at least one quota. The problem is you might receive 7 labor-aligned How to Votes, or only one, depending upon each candidate being able to rustle up enough supporters to attend prepoll stations or the polling booths on election day.

Nunns, Carli Hannan, Pavlidis, Michell (in no particular order) appear to me to be the progressive Labor-aligned ticket.

Helou, Angelopoulos and Mian (in no particular order) appear to me to be the right wing Labor-aligned ticket drawing much of their support from ethnic community connections.

It is my understanding that Michael Teti’s ethnic connections helped get him elected in 2012. What a poor choice that was. Voting tribally can sometimes make for a poor choice which has wider repercussions on local governance.

4. The last position is likely to be hotly contested between Labor-aligned and more conservative Independents. The Independents have mostly chosen to cross preference each other first, which really is the only way they stand a chance of one of them being elected.

The likely Independent contenders I think are: Kelleher, Irfanli and Timpano, who all cross-preference each other.

Darcey Kelleher responded to all three community candidate surveys and attended both candidate forums. Although he continues to confusingly call the Upfield bikepath, the Upwey path. Someone needs to give him a cycle map and tour of bikepaths in Moreland to correct him on this. Upwey is near Belgrave, no where near Moreland.

Ali Irfanli has stood on a platform of representing Fawkner and is likely to score a higher proportion of local Fawkner votes, but only answered the climate survey and attended the Fawkner candidates meeting. It makes me question his seriousness in representing the whole ward and governing for the whole of Moreland and responding to and engaging with community groups.

Fransesco Timpano has answered all three surveys and attended both candidate forums. He is an architect and claims this skill would be advantageous in dealing with development plans. But as this Moreland Leader article points out, he can be a bit abrasive in engaging with people.

I think Paul Failla is unlikely to be in the running but his preferences flow to 2 Timpano, 3 Kelleher, then at 5 to Helou, which might be influential.

Antonio Bonafazio’s preferences flow straight to 2 Helou, 3 Failla 4 Angelopoulos, 5 Mian. He seems progressive, but this candidate is pretty much preference harvesting for the right wing Labor-aligned ticket.

George Georgiou is running on progressive policies but preferencing the other more conservative Independents before the Greens and then Labor, to try and maximise his chance of receiving preferences from the other Independents.

Imogen Jubb is the only Independent whose preferences flow straightforwardly to other progressive candidates with the Greens, Sue Bolton, Georgiou then progressive Labor. Jubb has worked with CSIRO and brings skills in sustainability and communications. I thought she spoke well on the challenges of urban development at the second candidate forum. I think it is unlikely she will be in the running for the 4th and final position.

Other questions arise in how big the informal vote will be. Last election in 2012, with 24 candidates, it was 21.54 percent.

I also have no detail in how many people will follow How-to-Vote preference cards for Council election. If you are reading this far, you are probably already inclined to vote your own way, intelligently.

How-to-vote Cards

As 4 councillors are being elected, your preferences may prove to be crucial in electing persons to fill the final councillor vacancies. I have so far found these preference how-to vote cards. The Greens are running on one preference how-to vote. The seven Labor aligned candidates preference each other before preferencing anyone else, but each issues their own How to vote.

BOLTON, Sue: (Socialist Alliance) 1 Bolton, 2 Abboud, 3 Nunns, 4 McGilvray, 5 Pulford, 6 Carli Hannan, 7 Pavlidis, 8 Michell, 9 Jubb, 10 Timpano, 11 Angelopoulos, 12 Helou, 13 Mian, 14 Failla, 15 Bonifazio, 16 Gartside, 17 Kelleher, 18 Georgiou, 19 Hong, 20 Irfanli

GREENS Preferences: 1 Abboud, 2 McGilvray, 3 Pulford, 4 Bolton, 5 Jubb, 6 Bonifazio, 7 Georgiou, 8 Nunns, 9 Mian, 10 Carli Hannan, 11 Pavlidis, 12 Michell, 13 Kelleher, 14 Gartside, 15 Angelopoulos, 16 Helou, 17 Irfanli, 18 Timpano, 19 Hong, 20 Failla.

NUNNS, David: (Labor aligned) 1 Nunns, 2 Pavlidis, 3 Michell, 4 Carli Hannan, 5 Angelopoulos, 6 Helou, 7 Mian, 8 Bolton, 9 Abboud, 10 McGilvray, 11 Pulford, 12 Timpano, 13 Kelleher, 14 Jubb, 15 Bonifazio, 16 Failla, 17 Georgiou, 18 Gartside, 19 Hong, 20 Irfanli

CARLI HANNAN, Annalivia: (Labor aligned) 1 Carli Hannan, 2 Michell, 3 Pavlidis, 4 Nunns, 5 Angelopoulos, 6 Mian, 7 Helou, 8 Timpano, 9 Bolton, 10 Abboud, 11 McGilvray, 12 Bonifazio, 13 Jubb, 14 Irfanli, 15 Failla, 16 Georgiou, 17 Kelleher, 18 Hong, 19 Pulford, 20 Gartside

MICHELL, Danny: (Labor aligned) 1 Michell, 2 Carli Hannan, 3 Nunns, 4 Pavlidis, 5 Angelopoulos, 6 Helou, 7 Mian, 8 Jubb, 9 Georgiou, 10 Irfanli, 11 Failla, 12 Timpano, 13 Bolton, 14 Pulford, 15 Abboud, 16 McGilvray, 17 Hong, 18 Kelleher, 19 Gartside, 20 Bonifazio

MIAN, Afshan: (Labor aligned) 1 Mian, 2 Angelopoulos, 3 Helou, 4 Carli Hannan, 5 Nunns, 6 Pavlidis, 7 Michell, 8 Irfanli, 9 Timpano, 10 Kelleher, 11 Bolton, 12 Failla, 13 Pulford, 14 Abboud, 15 Gartside, 16 McGilvray, 17 Jubb, 18 Bonifazio, 19 Georgiou, 20 Hong

PAVLIDIS, Helen: (Labor aligned) 1 Pavlidis, 2 Nunns, 3 Carli Hannan, 4 Michell, 5 Angelopoulos 6 Mian, 7 Helou, 8 Kelleher, 9 Bolton, 10 Timpano, 11 Failla, 12 Jubb, 13 Georgiou, 14 McGilvray, 15 Pulford, 16 Abboud, 17 Nonifazio, 18 Gartside, 19 Hong, 20 Irfanli

HELOU, Anthony: (Labor aligned) 1 Helou, 2 Angelopoulos, 3 Mian, 4 Carli Hannan, 5 Michell, 6 Pavlidis, 7 Nunns, 8 Failla, 9 Bonifazio, 10 Irfanli, 11 Georgiou, 12 Kelleher, 13 Abboud, 14 Hong, 15 Pulford, 16 Timpano, 17 Gartside, 18 Bolton, 19 McGilvray, 20 Jubb

ANGELOPOULOS, Katerina: (Labor aligned) 1 Angelopoulos, 2 Helou, 3 Mian, 4 Michell, 5 Pavlidis, 6 Carli Hannan, 7 Nunns, 8 Failla, 9 Georgiou, 10 Bonifazio, 11 Kelleher, 12 Bolton, 13 Gartside, 14 Jubb, 15 Timpano, 16 Irfanli, 17 Hong, 18 McGilvray, 19 Pulford, 20 Abboud.

JUBB, Imogen: (IND) 1 Jubb, 2 Abboud, 3 Bolton, 4 Georgiou, 5 McGilvray, 6 Nunns, 7 Michell, 8 Pulford, 9 Carli Hannan, 10 Pavlidis, 11 Angelopoulos, 12 Irfanli, 13 Bonifazio, 14 Mian, 15 Kelleher, 16 Helou, 17 Failla, 18 Timpano, 19 Gartside, 20 Hong.

GEORGIOU, George: (IND) 1 Georgiou, 2 Irfanli, 3 Jubb, 4 Kelleher, 5 Timpano, 6 Bonifazio, 7 Gartside, 8 Failla, 9 Abboud, 10 McGilvray, 11 Pulford, 12 Michell, 13 Angelopoulos, 14 Bolton, 15 Pavlidis, 16 Carli Hannan, 17 Nunns, 18 Helou, 19 Mian, 20 Hong.

BONIFAZIO, Antonio: (IND) 1 Bonifazio, 2 Helou, 3 Failla 4 Angelopoulos, 5 Mian, 6 Irfanli, 7 Jubb, 8 Nunns, 9 McGilvray, 10 Bolton, 11 Gartside, 12 Timpano, 13 Pavlidis, 14 Pulford, 15 Michell, 16 Hong, 17 Carli Hannan, 18 Abboud, 19 Kelleher, 20 Georgiou

FAILLA, Paul: (IND) 1 Failla, 2 Timpano, 3 Kelleher, 4 Bonifazio, 5 Helou, 6 Angelopoulos, 7 Pavlidis, 8 Hong, 9 Gartside, 10 Irfanli, 11 Jubb, 12 Michell, 13 Mian, 14 Georgiou, 15 Carli Hannan, 16 Nunns, 17 McGilvray, 18 Pulford, 19 Bolton, 20 Abboud

IRFANLI, Ali: (IND) 1 Irfanli, 2 Georgiou, 3 Kelleher, 4 Timpano, 5 Gartside, 6 Jubb, 7 Bonifazio, 8 Hong, 9 Mian, 10 Failla, 11 Helou, 12 Abboud, 13 Carli Hannan, 14 Michell, 15 Pulford, 16 Pavlidis, 17 Angelopoulos, 18 McGilvray, 19 Nunns, 20 Bolton

KELLEHER, Darcey: (IND) 1 Kelleher, 2 Timpano, 3 Failla, 4 Irfanli, 5 Georgiou, 6 Jubb, 7 Nunns, 8 Pavlidis, 9 Gartside, 10 Mian, 11 Bolton, 12 Hong, 13 Pulford, 14 Bonifazio, 15 McGilvray, 16 Angelopoulos, 17 Michell, 18 Helou, 19 Abboud, 20 Carli Hannan

TIMPANO, Fransesco: (IND) 1 Timpano, 2 Failla, 3 Gartside, 4 Kelleher, 5 Georgiou, 6 Irfanli, 7 Bolton, 8 Carli Hannan, 9 Michell, 10 Nunns, 11 Helou, 12 Pulford, 13 Hong, 14 McGilvray, 15 Angelopoulos, 16 Abboud, 17 Pavlidis, 18 Bonifazio, 19 Jubb, 20 Mian

Note: ALP aligned candidates are required to list on their How-to-vote card their fellow ALP members before anyone else. The Greens have formally endorsed 3 candidates for this ward with one How-to-vote ticket. Gartside and Hong have not registered any How-to-vote tickets.

Commentary

I have been attending Council meetings on a regular basis for the last 18 months, and on a more occasional basis before then, as a member of the public. I do this to stay informed on local government policy as a concerned citizen of Moreland, particularly in the areas of environment, sustainability, and climate change.

My overall impression of this term of Council (2012-2016) is that they mostly worked well together in furthering and reflecting the needs and aspirations of Moreland’s citizens, even though they come from across the political and ideological spectrum. I appreciate the work of all the outgoing councillors, even the ones I have disagreed with how they voted on individual issues. It has been a progressive council with a diversity of views from Sue Bolton’s left socialism and often speaking for those without a voice in our community, to Rob Thompson’s moderate Liberal Party conservatism and financial acumen, and the Greens, ALP and Independents in the middle.

The last Moreland Council election in 2012 was a real shakeup, and Sustainable Fawkner played a small part in that process with our survey. This last term Labor aligned councillors were in a minority, and female representation was in the majority, both of which I think created an interesting dynamic for Council and in the election of the Mayor each year.

This term also saw Cr Michael Teti from NE ward set an atrocious attendance record with serious allegations of links to the Mafia (The Age) surfacing during 2015. He attended the bare minimum of meetings to avoid misconduct and dismissal, while continuing to receive a councillor allowance, but not pulling his weight in the collaborative governance that is undertaken. An apology for non-attendance was tended at the very last meeting, but by a majority vote of Council the apology was not accepted.

Occasionally an issue in Council will cause extensive debate, with motions and amendments and counter motions. This is part of local democracy and highlights the vibrancy we have on Council. Often particular items at council meetings attract a horde of interested members of the public to ask questions in the public question time alloted. Often question time is extended to hear all the questions from the public. This too reflects our local democracy in what Moreland’s first Mayor Mike Hill said was the People’s Republic of Moreland. Many Councils do not provide a public question time at Council meetings.

In leading up to this Council election there were some big announcements: the redevelopment of the Oak Park Aquatic Centre; bringing forward the toilet capital works program to install 3 new public toilets in Fawkner by 2020 after complaints, to name but two. (First toilet due in CB Smith Reserve in 2017, 2nd at Charles Mutton Reserve in 2018, and third at Moomba Park in 2020)

You should also be aware that the State Government has capped rates. This is good in one sense for ratepayers, but it does constrain the budget and the Council’s capital works and maintenance programs. Not everything can be done at once, but needs to be prioritised and placed in a queue. Sometimes priorities can be juggled when people complain, but that means something else is likely to go to the back of the queue.

With property valuations rising as a result of a heated property market, rates are also continuing to rise. This hurts in particular low income house owners, many on the pension, who are asset rich but income poor, who simply cannot afford the rates rises driven by inner suburban housing market demand.

People talk about the essentials of road and footpath maintenance, rubbish removal, maintaining parks and open space. While these are important, Council delivers so many more important services including respite and aged care services, libraries, leisure centres, urban planning and development approvals, economic development assistance and support for the arts in Moreland. We are a richer community for the delivery of these services and more.

Council planning decisions often overturned by Minister or VCAT

Urban planning and development is one contentious role, and too often council policy or decisions are overturned either in VCAT or at the State Government level by the Planning Minister. The Labor planning minister may be a little more sympathetic, but it seems Moreland Council more often than not gets treated similarly no matter who is in power in Spring St.

As fees for assessing urban development applications are set by the state government and haven’t increased for sixteen years – yes, you heard me right, no fee increase for development applications for 16 years – ratepayers have been subsidising developers in Moreland and other Councils to the tune of millions of dollars every year, while both Liberal and Labor state government turned a blind eye and did nothing.

But at last, after much lobbying by Moreland Council, the Municipal Association of Victoria and other Councils, the Planning Minister Richard Wynne has approved major fee increases for development applications this coming week.

But Moreland Council decisions on height development are still being over-ruled by Planning Minister Richard Wynne.

Leadership on local climate programs and sustainability

Moreland Council in this term has played a leadership role in climate and sustainability. In its own operations it has been carbon neutral since 2012 by the purchase of carbon offset credits. While some criticise carbon offsetting, when done through properly managed and accredited programs, it can help carbon neutral development elsewhere.

Council is working on adaptation strategies for managing climate change and the urban heat island effect in summer.

I attended the United Nations Climate Conference – COP21 – in Paris in December 2015 and it was wonderful to hear the news that Moreland Council had joined a consortium of institutions to buy renewables and kickstart a renewables project.

At the start of 2015 Moreland Council made a groundbreaking decision to divest from fossil fuels. While largely symbolic, it does have implications for Council’s banking and investments, and it lead to many more local governments around Australia initiating a divestment process.

Local Government in Moreland a collaborative style

I’d like to see people elected that are already interested and active in Council affairs and in the community. The last four or five Council meetings Greens candidates have been attending in the public gallery watching the proceedings, including Nat Abboud and Alex McGilvray for NE ward as well as Greens candidates like Dale Martin and Mark Riley standing for election in other wards. The Greens take representation at the local level seriously. Attending council meetings gives these people some idea what is involved in being a Councillor. But Council meetings are really just the tip of the iceberg. Most of our councillors work very hard and long hours, juggling work, family and council business.

The Greens are the only party running endorsed candidates. The ALP are not running endorsed candidates, but there are ‘labor-aligned’ tickets in each ward. There are also a plethora of independent candidates, and perhaps a few who are members of the Liberal Party, like retiring Councillor Rob Thompson.

The thing is at local government level in Moreland it is a collaborative style of government, rather than the oppositional style used at state and federal levels. Strength is found in the diversity of ideologies, personalities and backgrounds, although it can be very challenging at times. What makes it all worthwhile is the benefits it brings to the whole community when ideologies and partisan politics can be overcome to deliver positive outcomes for the community.

In the September meeting I saw Ali Irfanli, from Fawkner, present the petition on community safety in Coburg. Unfortunately Ali didn’t stay around after question time for me to chat to, or to observe the process of the meeting.

Other candidates may have been present over the last few council meetings, but I didn’t recognise them. Some may have chosen to watch the live video feed of Council.

Last Council Meeting before election

At tonight’s Council meeting, the very last one of this term and operating under caretaker provisions, there was a question asked by labor-aligned David Nunns, a candidate in NE ward. He asked about why Council continues with contracted waste removal in the south of the municipality while Council staff operate waste removal in the northern suburbs. Why should ratepayers support a for profit service when it can be done just as efficiently, if not more so, in house? Indeed. The next Council may need to deal with this issue.

Cr Sue Bolton commented that she had heard there were more complaints on the waste removal service being delivered by the contractors below Bell Street.

It was a short meeting, by Council standards, with valedictory speeches by Councillors towards the end. There were words of praise to Cr Lenka Thompson, Cr Rob Thompson and Cr Lita Gillies who are all not standing for re-election for various reasons.

Mayor Samantha Ratnam finished the valedictory speeches. I highlighted a few of her points which included the Zero Carbon evolution plan, sustainability work, affordable housing, family violence prevention, forest canopy policy and mitigating heatwaves and the urban heat island, human rights policy development, start work on discussing the future of Sydney Rd for the possible development of separated cycle lanes and pedestrian friendly shopping strip. (but there were several more)

My personal view is that the one person in NE Ward who really does deserve our support is Sue Bolton. Forget about her Socialist Alliance politics and ideology for a moment. Her political allegiance truly is a red herring (excuse the pun). She works really hard as a person in listening and engaging with constituents at monthly ward meetings, and in pushing other Councillors on matters of policy and social justice. She was an early motivator on Council for Moreland Council calling for greater heatwave emergency planning for Victoria in February 2014.

I want someone who will listen and respond, and be prepared to go into bat for my community, when it’s called for. Bolton often raises issues that in many cases would simply get overlooked. While quite a few of her motions and amendments are defeated, many are also passed and adopted. Other councillors have come to respect her contributions she makes to Council.

Now it’s up to us to put a new Council into place after the election on Saturday October 22. Vote wisely and choose your preferences carefully. Out of the 20 candidates we will elect 4 Councillors, by preferential voting. And please try not to elect another Councillor like Michael Teti.

Disclosure: I have put up posters for NE ward Independent candidate Imogen Jubb in Fawkner and intend to hand out for her election on polling day. She is a Coburg resident, a Climate Reality Leader, with young kids, dedicated to sustainability. Read her response to the survey by Climate Action Moreland.