Former Mayor Dick Gross is making a bid to return to Council as an independent.
He has resigned from the ALP after being overlooked by the Party despite winning the local preselection vote amongst party members.
An angry Dick told TWiSK that he had received no explanation from the ALP as to why it rejected his nomination, other than the fact that it was vetoed by a union.
He suspects factional politics played a large part
‘There has been no sense of fairness or common decency here. The decision is
plain wrong,’ he said.
‘I am obviously upset at the secretive nature of the process.’
He said that in the wake of the CMFEU fiasco, the decision sits even more uncomfortably.
‘This only intensifies the questioning of the clandestine powers of influential unions on ALP decision making,’ he said.
Appalling optics
Dick lodged an unsuccessful dispute with the ALP where he pointed to the lack of natural justice and fair process. He also wrote:
‘A proud Jewish man, Gross has devised strategies to address the unprecedented levels of antisemitism at a grass roots level. The optics of axing a senior Jewish representative in St Kilda East (which is 26 per cent Jewish) are appalling.’
Dick will stand as an independent in Alma Ward.
