COUNCILLOR ELECTION SCHEDULED FOR OCTOBER
Candidate information sessions at 7 pm in Council Chambers
On the 17th of August and the 12th & 14th of September.
Manningham Councillors Ending Four Year Term
Click to Enlarge Photo
Manningham Council elections will be held on the 22nd of October 2016. To be eligible a candidate must be listed on council voters role. Postal Election Candidate Handbook from the VEC website provides full details.
The Councillor allowance set at $25,685 plus $9,685 per year for expenses is very generous considering the number of hours in attendance are optional. Councillor expenses cover travel and accommodation if they wish to attend interstate and overseas conferences. An IPAD and Mobile Phone are also provided in addition to training, elocution lessons (if requested) plus child minding, telephones, etc. Council may also reimburse
Councillors for any necessary out of pocket expenses they incur while performing their duties as a Councillor. Eligible candidates can choose to stand in any of Manningham’s three wards, each with three vacancies, Koonung, Heidi or Mullum Mullum. Candidates are required to submit a candidate manifesto of up to 200 words. The following are two examples of 150 word limit candidate statements submitted at the 2012 elections.:
Ward Boundaries Click to enlarge
“I am a mum, businesswoman and an active member of the community and have lived in Manningham for ten years. I have experienced first-hand the power of a unified community voice through my involvement as spokesperson for the successful, Warrandyte anti-tower campaign. We need advocates who will encourage this community voice. I am fervently in favour of preserving the natural environment and heritage of our part of Manningham. I will promote long-term, sustainable strategies for Manningham as a whole, which take into account the particular needs of each diverse community within it. Standing as an independent candidate, I will utilise skills gained from 20 years corporate marketing experience, to develop effective community partnerships and seek creative solutions to community challenges. We need a council that is actively connected to our community, takes our concerns into account and reflects community needs in the decision-making process. Contact me on XXXXXX@bigpond.
“I’m an enthusiastic and outgoing person who cares about her community. My two children have gone to school in Donvale. My interest is at the grassroots level of our community. We need more accountability and transparency in the Councillors that are elected and in their activities. Integrity and kindness should be our way forward. I want to give you a stronger voice in the way our community is managed and improves. Many people feel discontented and uninvolved in Manningham. I strongly believe the youth are our future and they need a voice. The only way we can do this is if we communicate to enhance Manningham’s potential. I want to listen and be a strong voice for our residents of Mullum Mullum Ward. I would lend an ear to those interested in the future of Manningham”
Vic Electoral Commission Click to enlarge
7 Comments
Its good money when all you have to do is attend a Council meeting on the last Tuesday of every month and attend a Strategic Briefing Session once a week. You can also be a member of one or two committees that meet every month or so. Evening meals are provided free of charge. If there are complaints from he public you take their phone number of the person and have the responsible officer respond to them. The main thing is to read the planning reports so as when it comes to voting on a development you know what the issues are. Interstate conferences are interesting so too are the overseas trips that become available from time to time. My brother served as a Manningham councillor in the period 2002 to 2005 and he loved every minute of it. So if you are prepared to put in 10-15 hours a week and like travelling and meeting new people every week…..go for it!
Be wary of these election flyers that have been circulating over the last few months. One candidate has spent a small fortune in distributing election material throughout the ward and had even approached our owners corporation secretary seeking permission to put a huge banner on our apartment building, the secretary refused because we did not want to be aligned with any particular candidate or to any political party who might be financing the campaign. There is supposed to be a cap on the amount of donations but it is never policed. This is most unfair to candidates of a higher calibre who have limited resources and wish to remain totally independent. We need Councillors who are prepared to represent the community and not be obligated to vested interests. The current crop have been very disappointing
And don’t be sucked in to voting for candidate who promises lower council rates for pensioners when there is already a discount of $268 applicable. As a pensioner I would not knock back a further reduction but it has been so done to death that it has become more of “a turn off” when used in a candidate’s manifesto. I would like to see more candidates who have retired from the corporate world who could bring with them a financial acumen and an ability to communicate with people.
We had a very poor representation in our ward with one councillor resigning to pursue a political career and another who promised the world but would never return our calls.
Local government election reform committee had refused to recommend the Robson system where every candidate would have an equal share of ballot paper positions. As it stands now any candidate lucky enough to draw number one on the ballot paper is usually elected while others who are stuck in the middle will struggle. The current system ensures that the best candidates are NOT always elected. Below is an example of how the Robson Rotation System works using 5 candidates. Allocating positions for large group of contestants would require the use of a computer.
Candidate A Candidate B Candidate C Candidate D Candidate E
Candidate B Candidate D Candidate A Candidate E Candidate C
Candidate C Candidate A Candidate E Candidate B Candidate D
Candidate D Candidate E Candidate B Candidate C Candidate A
Candidate E Candidate C Candidate D Candidate A Candidate B
Surely a fairer system should have been recommended by the reform committee. The Robson Rotation system should be adopted for ballot papers in all Victorian Local Government elections. This is the practice in Tasmania and the ACT and would remove any chance of bias as all candidates rotate thru an equal number of all ballot positions on the voting paper. This is so obvious and simple I cannot believe it has been overlooked. In the current system a candidate getting the the number one position on the ballot paper has a 15% better chance of getting elected than any of those below.
I am hoping that we have a wider choice of candidates in the Heidi Ward this time around instead of the small number that stood at the previous council election. You can nominate in any of the Wards of Manningham providing you are on the voters roll.