Residents in North Coburg are crying foul at Moreland Council, as a well loved and used football oval is threatened to become a fenced synthetic field of plastic grass. All without any transparency or public consultation and engagement by Moreland Council with local residents.
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MorelandVotes 2020
Moreland Council election has come around again.
For North-east ward 4 Councillors are to be elected, from 19 candidates.
For North-west ward 4 Councillors are to be elected, from 17 candidates.
For South ward 3 Councillors are to be elected, from 15 candidates.
I don’t know about you but I want Councillors that are prepared to engage with residents on multiple issues.
We have been tracking candidate responses to community group surveys, pledges and forums on various issues. What we are interested in reporting is engagement, not the respective views of candidates to a particular survey.
This provides a measure for candidate engagement.
Do you really want to elect someone who only talks to their community circle and ignores other significant citizen engagement?
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Posted in climate, community, Moreland City Council
Tagged Candidates, election, Moreland Council, morelandvotes, Morelandvotes2020
In past elections candidate how to vote cards had to be registered with the VEC. But during health restrictions during the pandemic How to Vote cards can not be handed out. Also the election is a mail ballot. No central repository of candidates How to Vote Cards has been organised.
So Sustainable Fawkner has offered to host all North East candidate How to Vote cards as a community resource, enabling more informed voter choice.
This page will hopefully grow as How to Vote Cards become available. Please visit again.
See also Candidate Engagement matrix for Moreland Votes 2020 which asseses each candidate on engagement during the campaign through a matrix scoring each candidate.
If you want detailed and nuanced analysis of candidates, I recommend reading Cate speaks blog for North East Ward. She really has done some great research and talks you through all the candidates.
Posted in Moreland City Council, news
Tagged Candidates, election, Moreland Council, morelandvotes, Morelandvotes2020
The results are in. Moreland Council is turning more Green. The Greens will have 4 Councillors in the new Council, with Labor aligned Councillors numbering 3, Independents 3, and Socialist Alliance 1.
Congratulations to the successful candidates elected to Moreland Council from North East Ward: Natalie Abboud (Greens), Annalivia Carli Hannan (Labor aligned), Ali Irfanli (Independent from Fawkner), and Sue Bolton (Socialist Alliance). They reflect the diversity of our community and will represent us in the (hopefully) good governance of our local city council.
Sue Bolton established a strong record of regular ward meetings and community engagement and was the only Councillor in NE ward recontesting. She was elected in second place, attracting many second preference votes.
Ali Irfanli campaigned strongly as the only candidate from Fawkner and picked up a large proportion of his vote from the two Fawkner polling booths. He defeated former Councillor (2004-2012) Tony Helou for the last position.
Irfanli will now need to carefully balance the priorities of Fawkner with Coburg and the municipality generally. He will be one of the more conservative voices on Council, but that is not necessarily a bad attribute.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged election, Moreland City Council, morelandvotes, VoteClimate
The election was held Saturday 22 October. See the election results.
In my article on candidates standing for NE ward I provided a matrix for what community surveys each candidate had responded to. Other people have also written candidate profiles for Moreland’s three wards:
South Ward:
North West Ward
North East Ward
I decided to broaden my matrix on survey engagement to all candidates across the municipality. This is a relatively neutral way to assess engagement by candidates with community groups on issues, while leaving the content of their responses up to voters to investigate.
Surveys conducted by community groups included: Climate Action Moreland on climate change, sustainability and climate emergency; Moreland BUG on cycling; Bicycle Network; Pentridge Community Action Group on Pentridge Development (NE ward only); Music Victoria on support for local live music; and Alliance for Gambling Reform on Pokies reform.
I have put together this matrix so you can see at a glance who responded to each survey. Candidates are listed in the order they appear on the ballot paper. Current Councillors re-contesting having an asterisk in front of their name.
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Posted in Moreland City Council
Tagged election, Moreland City Council, Moreland Council, morelandvotes, VoteClimate
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.
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
Posted in climate, Moreland City Council, news
Tagged election, Moreland City Council, Moreland Council, morelandvotes, VoteClimate
Congratulations to the successful candidates elected to Moreland Council from North East Ward: Micheal Teti (ALP member), Lenka Thompson (Greens), Rob Thompson (Liberal Party Independent), and Sue Bolton (Socialist Alliance). They reflect the diversity of our community and will represent us in the (hopefully) good governance of our local city council.
Significantly, three of these candidates – Sue Bolton, Lenka Thompson and Rob Thompson – responded to a questionnaire on sustainability and environmental issues sent to candidates by Sustainable Fawkner. I phoned to chase up a response from Michael Teti and left a message. He returned my phone call, but did not submit any written response to the survey.
Several hundred people visited this article prior to the election and I have no doubt the information on the page helped people decide who to vote for to represent them on council. I can’t understand candidates not wanting to respond to such a survey by a local community group to outline their positions to electors.
ALP members Stella Kariofyllidis and Anthony Helou, who have represented north east ward on successive terms were unsuccessful.
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Update: Election results – Moreland Council gets a shakeup
Update: Candidate responses as of Monday 22 October.
Moreland Council Wards
Representative democracy is a sham without the views of candidates being made available for voters to be informed. If your like some of us, you like to know who you are voting for. With very little public exposure of candidates views, Sustainable Fawkner wanted to canvas the opinions and policies by candidates on sustainability and environmental issues which we are concerned about. Replies will be collated and published on this page as a public service to electors for North East Ward.
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Fawkner Community House Activities Fawkner Food Bowls Extend Upfield Bike Path to Upfield Moreland Food Gardens Network Climate Action Moreland Upfield Transport Alliance Moreland Energy Foundation Moreland BUG – Cycling
Sustainable Fawkner 