With Council now in Caretaker mode, those Councillors like me not standing this election have plenty of spare time on their hands. Whilst some retiring Councillors have chosen to open a TV Channel – Pearls of Wisdom has become a must watch for candidates and local psephologists alike – I have decided to put pen to paper for TWISK in the lead up to the big day.
As nominations closed on Tuesday, a former Mayor and Deputy Mayor went head-to-head in the modern-day Colosseum that is Facebook, with each putting forward the case that their Council experience (a whopping 24 years combined) makes each of them better placed than the other to bring a fresh approach to the next Council.
The corflute war is well and truly on with purple and green looking the winners in several areas, but who is the former Mayor displaying yellow in place of the colour they are usually associated with on their front fence?
We are about to enter Council debate season with every community group and respected local media outlet hoping for their opportunity to grill their local candidates. Two groups were organised early, holding candidate’s forums in their respective areas last week. At one we learnt from a candidate that Council spending can be reduced significantly merely by printing in black and white instead of colour, whilst at the other forum, one candidate had a last minute ‘family emergency’ preventing him from attending the forum. This was after his request to bring along a current Councillor as a safety blanket was refused. In what should have been a home game for said candidate given his age, he may regret giving his much younger opponents an opportunity to impress the oldies, which by all reports they did.
Later in the week we got our first look at the candidate statements, which revealed that the puppet master has added a couple of stable mates to his previously known race entries, bringing his total number of runners in the Port Phillip Stakes to 6. And if you’ve ever wondered if the word count is included in the word count in the VEC candidates statements we now know the answer is yes.
One question everyone is wondering is what happens if the candidate currently banned from attending Council meetings, contacting Councillors and Council officers’ wins come October 26th? Although victory seems improbable given his campaign appears to have had to opposite effect of what he was hoping for, one wonders if he will be able to take his place on Council if successful given the bans.
Written and Authorised by A. Bond. 6 Victoria St, St Kilda
