Not sure who to vote for in Glen Waverley Ward? We put the tough questions to all candidates to help you make up your mind - read on for their answers. All candidates have been sent the same questionnaire, which we will post as we receive them - check back here regularly for updates. Candidates have been given until October 6 to submit their responses.
GLEN WAVERLEY WARD
Glen Waverley
2008 election results:
Elected: Geoff Lake 10076, Greg Male 1525 (not recontesting)
Enrolment: 20, 921 (81.53 per cent voted)
Formal votes: 16,660
Informal: 397
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Name: Lorraine Morrissey
Suburb of residence: Mount Waverley
Occupation: Company Secretary
Ward nominated for: Glen Waverley
How long have you lived in Monash? Forty-five years.
Have you run for council/ been a councillor before, or any other level of government? If so, please list details (where, when, length of time, etc). No.
Are you/have you been a member of a political party? If yes, which party? If no, with which political party do you most identify? Liberal.
Are you or have you ever been a member of an political interest or lobby group? No.
If you are elected, will you commit to remaining a councillor for the whole term? Yes.
What is your campaign budget? Who is funding your campaign? Who paid for your nomination fee? I have not prepared a budget. I’m working through a “to-do” list. I am funding my own campaign and paid my own nomination fee.
Where will you be campaigning? Wherever the opportunity arises in Glen Waverley Ward.
Who will you direct your preferences to? Glen Waverley Ward has two Councillors. My preferences are directed to those who I would prefer to work with should I be elected.
Describe your involvement in the local community.
Rotary projects.
Neighbourhood Watch.
What do you think being a councillor involves?
- Liaising with Council officers re residents’ concerns.
- Regularly attending meetings and making decisions in the best interests of Monash residents, GlenWaverley Ward in particular.
- Being available to attend functions (AGMs, presentations, special events, etc.).
- Presenting speeches.
- Working hard for best outcomes.
What do you think are the most important issues for your ward? Proper development and ensuring the character of the Ward is maintained.
What do you think are the most important issues facing Monash? Ensuring that our multi-cultural community is recognised and supported. Adequate support for our ageing population.
Monash has had a series of multi-storey developments both passed and rejected recently. What’s your position on this? I am very concerned with over-development of our land. Some of the recent multi-storey developments were voted against by Council but were allowed by another party after being refused by Monash. There is always strong debate when such developments are presented.
What’s your position on the council’s vegetation protection overlay? I agree with it – it’s important to keep Monash green and leafy.
What issue in Monash do you think is out of your hands if you get elected? I hope there are not any issues that I cannot handle.
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Name: Damian Lobo
Suburb of residence: Glen Waverley
Occupation: Accountant CPA
How long have you lived in Monash? 11+ years
Have you run for council/ been a councillor before, or any other level of government? No, I have not run for council or been a councillor before or for that matter have been in other level of government. Regardless, my value add is that I have the knowledge and skills to contribute and benefit the community.
Are you/have you been a member of a political party? If yes, which party? If no, with which political party do you most identify? I am a member of Liberal Party of Australia. In this election, I am running as an independent because I believe councillors should be there to serve all residents irrespective of their political belief. It is common public knowledge that majority of the present councillors belong to one political party and they tend to group together in the decision making process, which does not always result in decisions and outcomes that do not truly and always benefit the community first.
Are you or have you ever been a member of a political interest or lobby group? I have so far not been in any lobby group. However, I have excellent negotiation, relationships management and communication skills to influence groups and get the desired outcome.
If you are elected, will you commit to remaining a councillor for the whole term? Yes, that is the intention at this stage. However, there might be unforeseen circumstances in the future that I might be confronted with.
What is your campaign budget? Who is funding your campaign? Who paid for your nomination fee? My campaign budget is modest but the amount of money spent should not be the determining factor in elections. Besides I am advocating ‘Responsible Financial Management’ as a key competency for contributing to affordable rates and show casing good council management leadership among its peers, therefore I am leading by example now. I am funding my own campaign and I have paid my own nomination fee.
Where will you be campaigning?
• I have a blog, please refer to http://vote4damianlobo.wordpress.com/
• Door Knocking Glen Waverley residents
• Posters on the windows of some small businesses in Glen Waverley
• Flyers in mailboxes of Glen Waverley residents.
• Presentation at Mount Street Neighbourhood House, 6 Mount Street, Glen Waverley at 6 pm on Friday 12 October
• Statement on Bicycle Network Victoria website:www.bicyclenetwork.com.au
Who will you direct your preferences to? Please refer to the guide in ballot papers. The focus at this stage is to convince voters and gain their confidence on the basis of my academic background and responsible financing management.
Describe your involvement in the local community. I have taken part in St Leonard’s Catholic Church activities from time to time. I am also an accredited mentor to L2P learner drivers.
What do you think being a councillor involves? Be proactive and accountable for council’s governance matters, especially ensuring best value oriented decision making in matters related to policies and by-laws development, financial and service management such as budgeting and consequent rate pricing, prioritizing community program funding and ensuring quality service delivery. I also believe that every councillor must examine their conscience first before voting on an issue on the agenda and ask themselves ‘Is this in the best interest of the community?’ before any other criteria.
What do you think are the most important issues for your ward? Several services have not been delivered to the satisfaction of the local community. The priority issue-resolutions for the ward relate to improving street pavements; providing rubbish bins on bus stops; planning standards that ensure Glen Waverley remains green and clean, is supported by open space amenities especially parks, bicycle tracks; and above all ensuring the ward is most affordable and best liveable suburb. Planning schemes need improvements to help restore the green streetscape character of Glen Waverley and limiting high-rise buildings to certain and appropriate areas only.
What do you think are the most important issues facing Monash? Rates, Rates, Rates. Australian families are battling tough economic times with redundancies and high unemployment making it difficult to pay rising costs. Rates have increased by ~ 122% in 11 years. Current practice of determining rates on CIV is not equitable and needs reviewing. Keeping rates low and affordable for families and small businesses to operate will contribute to the economy – this is not happening. Move away from misleading the public that they are having the low rates just because Monash hast the lowest rates among its peers (who many keep increasing rates beyond CPI).
Monash has had a series of multi-storey developments both passed and rejected recently. What’s your position on this? High rise buildings must be restricted to certain areas only perhaps in the industrial areas or town centre. Proper study of the likely impact has to be considered and publicly reported for each situation.
What’s your position on the council’s vegetation protection overlay? Vegetation protection is adequately managed by current bylaws and residents have to go through the proper process. However each case has to be considered on its merits particularly if it involves risk to the lives of residents.
What issue in Monash do you think is out of your hands if you get elected? External influences/imposition of taxes either by State Government such as landfill levies and Federal Government Carbon Tax.
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Name: Sithy Marikar
Suburb of residence: Notting Hill
Occupation: Volunteer Community Service Worker & Ex Electorate Officer (P/T)
Ward nominated for: Glen Waverley
How long have you lived in Monash? 21 Years (Since 1991)
Have you run for council/ been a councillor before, or any other level of government? If so, please list details (where, when, length of time, etc). No
Are you/have you been a member of a political party? If yes, which party? If no, with which political party do you most identify? Yes - The Australian Labor Party
Are you or have you ever been a member of a political interest or lobby group? Yes - I was involved with lobbying against the privatisation of the State Electricity Commission (SEC) of Victoria. I have also been involved with educating various community groups on the impacts of carbon pricing.
If you are elected, will you commit to remaining a councillor for the whole term? Yes - I am committed for the long run.
What is your campaign budget? Who is funding your campaign? Who paid for your nomination fee? Fully self-funded including the nomination fee. My campaign budget is just under $2,000.00.
Where will you be campaigning? Bus stops, train stations, shopping centres and community radio.
Who will you direct your preferences to?
My preferences are as follows:
2. Daniel Pan
3. Rizwan Ahmed
4. Geoff Lake
5. Damien Lobo
Describe your involvement in the local community. I am an active member of the Monash Interfaith gathering, Monash Multicultural Advisory Committee and the Monash Women Building Bridges project. In addition, I am also a voluntary community service worker.
What do you think being a councillor involves? Dedication, commitment and patience in addition to learning and listening to the needs of our community and finding the most effective way of improving services offered by the council.
What do you think are the most important issues for your ward?
1. Community Safety – need for increased police presence to lower crime and theft
2. Commuter and other parking – insufficient car parking spaces at Glen Waverley station and the shopping and dining precinct
3. Lack of affordable childcare options for working parents
What do you think are the most important issues facing Monash?
1. Insufficient level of social services currently available for aged & disabled residents
2. The growth of dense and high rise developments which has resulted in a loss of neighbourhood character
3. Deteriorating infrastructure – foot paths and roads
Monash has had a series of multi-storey developments both passed and rejected recently. What’s your position on this? What I like about Glen Waverley is its parks & green spaces. I would lobby for tougher planning rules in order to place a higher priority on resident interest before that of a property developer.
What’s your position on the council’s vegetation protection overlay? I believe that council should not restrict what residents can or cannot do on their own premises. However, we also need to ensure that we maintain the character of our area; therefore I will work to develop a more equitable policy for the council.
What issue in Monash do you think is out of your hands if you get elected? I would hope that all issues that are presented to me as a councillor of Monash can be dealt with effectively and efficiently either by myself or collectively with my fellow councillors.
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