CANDIDATE THOMAS CAMPBELL: (no video)

10 QUESTIONS FROM THE TERRIER:

What three main skills could you bring to the Warrnambool City Council as a councillor?

Project Management – previously worked in the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development in a project overlaying government services for vulnerable youth.

In-depth critical/analytical skills – having worked in administrative positions for most of my career, I’m confident in understanding business methods and analysing budgets.

Commitment to the tenets of democratic processes.

Do you see any particular issues, projects or problems in Warrnambool that would like to work on as a councillor?

Project or problem: Addressing homelessness.

Issue/Problem: Council accountability to the community.

The three S’s. Sustainability, Safety & Stability.

Do you think the council could be more “open” with residents and if so, how?

Yes. By providing a greater opportunity for residents to speak on council agenda items.

A greater breakdown of council expenses (line-by-line).

Ongoing live-streaming of council meeting post-Covid.

More opportunities for the public to meet with Councillors in a formal meeting setting, in various places around the Council area.

The next 12 months is going to be challenging due to the impact of Covid-19 – do you have one or two key idea/s for how WCC could support residents and/or businesses?

Grants to develop online services

Review financial hardship policy

Suspending fees for permits (such as outdoor dining)

Renewing the card collection system they had post-Liebig-Street-redevelopment.

Do you have any ideas on where the council could cut costs, if necessary, to keep rates at the state cap?

Working in partnership with surrounding Councils to lower infrastructure costs (medium term strategy)

Stronger advocacy to State and Federal governments, who have consistently decreased availability of funding to local Councils. An ongoing commitment is required.

Projection of future asset management costs. Understanding that delaying funding on the management of assets can cause greater expenditure at a later date – this is a long term strategy.

Reviewing all Council expenditure line-by-line under a new Council – this is a short term strategy.

Preferences will decide who is elected to council. Are you planning to preference most highly new candidates, current councillors, or you will not be listing your preferences?

I will be putting together a list of preferences. It will be based on who I believe is best placed to plan and advocate for our region’s future.

The record of current Councillors must be taken into account. The beliefs, attitudes, behaviours and vision of new candidates must be taken into account. Whether they are current or new will not be the sole factor when deciding on preferences. (Note: You can see a low-res version of Thomas’s preferences at the end of these questions. The high-res version is coming!)

If you were elected, what ways – if any – would you keep residents and ratepayers informed as an individual councillor?

Ongoing communication with local news sources (The Terrier, The Standard, ABC radio, Council newsletter).

Engaging via social media.

Sharing a publicly available email and contact number for direct community engagement.

If you were elected, what would you have liked to have achieved at the end of your four-year term?

Measurable items:

A roadmap to end homelessness in our region (which is also progressing and transferable to surrounding councils);

A pathway to going beyond 100% renewable energy for our region;

Greater overall community engagement in Council related business.

Are you a member of any political party? 

I am a member of the Greens political party. I will continue to be so long as the values of the party remain consistent.

I have stood as a Greens candidate in previous State and Federal elections. I believe it’s important to say that if elected as a Councillor, you are making a four-year commitment to that role, you should not attempt to run for another election during those four years.

In the past two years, have you been a member of any local club, organisation or association?

I am currently a member of the City Memorial Bowls Club and need to renew my membership at the F Project.

Closing thoughts or ask and answer your own question here:

Council elections come only once every four years. It is impossible to predict what circumstances may arise over that time (no one could’ve predicted what 2020 has brought!). It is important to listen to how candidates lay out their vision for Warrnambool Council’s future, but most important is supporting someone who has strong values and principles – and will stand by them.

You can find Thomas’s candidate Facebook page here.

Comment – Carol Altmann

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #DC943C;”] T [/dropcap]here is a great line floating around about the South West Coast by-election this Saturday (Oct 31) – don’t keep voting the same way and expect things to be different!

Yet so many south-west Victorians do just that: keep voting the same party back in year after year and then complain that things don’t change.

You only need to look around our beautiful corner of the world to see the hazards of living in a super safe seat and when it comes to the condition of our roads they are, quite literally, hazardous.

The roads are dreadful and the train service is old and inadequate.

The local job market – especially for young people – is shrinking as traditional industries close down or dry up, with few adequate replacements.

Portland should have, by now, been sitting at the forefront of the state’s renewable energy industry, but has been hamstrung by the poor policies of the conservative parties at both a state and federal level.

Our key tertiary institutions, South West TAFE and Deakin University, are struggling to either get back on their feet (as in the case of TAFE which was gutted under the Napthine Government) or to keep upright, as in the case of Deakin-Warrnambool.

Warrnambool used to be a humming university town: it is no longer, as bit by bit tertiary courses are shut down, relocated, or moved online.

Mainstreet is struggling, shops sit empty and fibs are told – such as the fib about the number of jobs that would come from a largely automated powdered milk factory and cold store in Merrivale – to make it look like change is happening.

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #DC943C;”] T [/dropcap]he people living in the south-west are not suckers, yet every election that comes along, be it state or federal, I believe we act that way.

We forget all that has gone before and fall for the glossy, big-faced posters that are strung up on fences, even if, in the case of Michael Neoh, they only joined their party (the Nationals) minutes after it became clear they were not wanted by their first party (the Liberals).

Or we are bombarded by advertising from deep-pocketed parties like the Liberals, who have long treated this seat like a personal fiefdom.

And, sure enough, the same party wins each time, and nothing actually changes.

So the roads get lumpier and bumpier, the old train with its old carriages still runs late, and more young people slip into a zone where they leave school, jobs are harder to find and things like “ice” become a way out of reality.

This Saturday, things can be different.

We can make a change – a real change – by voting for an independent, and that independent is Warrnambool legal aid lawyer Roy Reekie.

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #DC943C;”] B [/dropcap]luestone is backing Roy for this election because we believe he has the experience, commitment and creative thinking needed to put the south-west back on the electoral map.

We want to live in an electorate that is no longer taken for granted, and attracts as much attention from Spring St as the other marginal seats around Victoria. As an independent, Roy can make a lot of noise and he can make it now – not stuck on the Opposition benches.

Roy has a range of creative and interesting ideas (you can read more on his by-election Facebook page and his open letter to voters) and, above all, he has shown a unbendable commitment to representing this corner of the world – even at his own expense.

Why else would anyone run five times against formidable odds?

The odds are still formidable – former Liberal Premier Denis Napthine pushed the seat out to an 11 per cent margin – but we are hoping that, this time, the south-west is ready to back a different runner in Roy Reekie and come home a real winner.

[box]A forum featuring all candidates will be held at the Lighthouse Theatre, W’bool, tomorrow (Monday Oct 26) at 7pm. The candidates are: Roy Reekie (independent), Thomas Campbell (The Greens), Roma Britnell (Liberal), Michael Neoh (Nationals), Michael McCluskey (independent), Swampy Marsh (independent), Pete Smith (independent), Jim Doukas (Country Party), Rodney Van De Hoef (independent), Jennifer Gamble (Animal Justice Party), Lillian Len (Australian Christians).[/box]

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By-election: Are we on a road to nowhere?

Dr Denis Napthine has been an MP since 1988, representing first the seat of Portland and then, under new electoral boundaries, the seat of South West Coast. He became Premier of Victoria in 2013. Having made it to the top  – and after more than 25 years in office – why does he wish to run again? He writes for us to explain all:

[dropcap style=”color: #a5cecd;”] F [/dropcap]irstly, I would like to congratulate Bluestone on its first birthday.

I believe that a vote for me and my government on 29 November is a vote for a better Victoria, one that is more prosperous, smarter and more secure.

I am proud to call south-west Victoria home.

I have a proven track record of delivering for South West Coast and its communities and, if re-elected by my constituents on 29 November, will continue to do so.

Over the past three-and-a-half years I have been delivering on my 2010 election promises.  These include a new school for Woolsthorpe, a pedestrian overpass over the Portland Ring Road, seven new passing lanes on the Princes Highway, a passing loop on the Melbourne to Warrnambool rail line, a new police residence at Heywood, Avgas facilities at the Portland airport, and returning local rangers to Tower Hill and Mount Eccles, among many others.

And soon a cancer centre will be a reality for the south-west.  I am pleased to have helped secure funding of $15 million for this life-saving centre – a project I have been particularly passionate about.

[dropcap style=”color: #a5cecd;”] I [/dropcap]n May’s State Budget I was able to deliver funding for a new school at Narrawong, a vital upgrade of the Woolsthorpe-Heywood road and other local roads, additional mental health beds for South West Healthcare at Warrnambool and a new community health facility at Port Fairy.

I have also announced a $4.9 million upgrade of Warrnambool airport; a $7.7 million boost for South West TAFE to allow the institute to offer affordable, accessible and high quality training programs anytime, anywhere on any device; a Master Plan for the Lady Bay area and new emergency vehicles for our hard working volunteers.

As part of the Coalition’s Fairer Water Bills Initiative, residential customers of Wannon Water will receive a $70 rebate on their water bills each financial year for the next four years.

I am also extremely proud of the work my government is doing for all Victorians.

East West Link is a vital project for all Victorians.  I know that the many south-west Victorians who drive to Melbourne will benefit from this infrastructure project.  How many people have been stuck in traffic waiting to get over the West Gate Bridge?  Melbourne desperately needs a second river crossing and anybody who lives west of Melbourne and regularly drives to Melbourne knows that.

In terms of public transport, there are now 10,000 more public transport services per week than when we came to office; from January 1, there will be free tram travel in the CBD and Zone 1 and 2 travel for the price of a Zone 1 fare; we will build the Melbourne Rail Link and a Melbourne airport rail link as well as the $2 billion Cranbourne-Pakenham line upgrade.

Our Government is also completing the $4.1 billion regional rail link which will benefit v/line passengers from Western Victoria as well as metropolitan commuters from the western and north western Suburbs.

[dropcap style=”color: #a5cecd;”] A[/dropcap]s a result of the Coalition Government’s sound economic management, Victoria is the only Australian state or territory with the coveted AAA credit rating and with budget surpluses forecast across the next four years.

This careful stewardship of the state’s finances ensures there is more money available to fund the services families need now, and the important infrastructure our children and grandchildren will need in the future.

My Coalition Government is proud to be spending a record $15 billion this year on our vital health services and a record $9.2 billion on school education.

We have also increased police numbers by 1700 and put 940 PSOs on our railway stations. Our tough approach to law and order is delivering a safer community.

I am particularly proud of our proven commitment to vulnerable Victorians.  Since coming to government, the Coalition has increased spending on vulnerable children and families by $900 million.  This includes $100 million per annum on family violence, a 40 per cent increase since coming to government.

I am also passionate about delivering better services for people with a disability.  That is why the Coalition is committed to the full rollout of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) which is now located in Geelong.

Be it here in the south-west, or more broadly across Victoria, my government is delivering the projects and programs that we need now and our children will need in the future.

That is why I urge you to support me and my government as we seek a second term on 29 November.

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What is holding Portland back?

[dropcap style=”color: #a02f2f;”] W [/dropcap]hy did I decide to run in this election?

Our politicians take responsibility for representing our community values, infrastructure needs, future investments and the economy.

One of the most important aspects of our governments, local, state or federal, is whether or not they are profitable. From this, we have a Liberal party who pursue nothing but profit, showing no community values, selling off all investments and public assets, purely to afford grand election commitments in marginal seats.

Our “alternative” government, the Labor party, repeatedly show their willingness to waste public money. The Myki system and the Wonthaggi desalination plant, both initiated by the previous Labor government, were both economic disasters. Myki blew out by $1 billion and the desalination plant, costing billions to build, will cost Victorians $1.8 million a day for the next 26 years, even if it never supplies water.

My greatest concern, beyond this mismanagement, is that neither of the major parties seem interested in supporting the entire state, but instead fight elections in marginal seats.

Living in a Liberal safe seat here in the South-West Coast has its drawbacks. We all know it takes a contestable seat to have the two major parties actually invest a fair share of public taxes into the community. Here in the South-West our trains are a joke, our TAFE has been marked as high risk by the Victorian-Auditor general and the East-West link threatens all infrastructure funding for years to come.

[dropcap style=”color: #a02f2f;”] S [/dropcap]winging back and forth between Liberal policies of “sell it all” and Labor policies of “waste it all”, we find ourselves heading towards the 2014 election.

We’re still endlessly searching for fossil fuels to exploit, trashing our TAFE system for a quick buck, watching our public roads crumble and investing in the next white elephant infrastructure project that will deliver nothing but congestion and pollution, the East-West link.

I’ve mentioned the East-West link twice now, this is because when the Liberal party was elected in 2010, they correctly stated that Melbourne couldn’t build its way out of its congestion problems and had no plans to build the East-West link. It seems that statements made before an election mean nothing to political parties.

I also seem to remember a pledge that Victorian teachers would be the best paid in the country, though in fairness, that was a whole Premier ago.

I won’t deny it’s easy to throw dirt at political parties. It’s easy to point out the mistakes, the flaws and unfortunately, the corruption of political parties and politicians (Geoff Shaw, Aaron Lane and leaked tape recordings come to mind).

But still, I want to support my community. When I moved to Warrnambool I initially worked two casual positions, one at the Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory, the second at Murray Goulburn, before taking up a Bachelor of Education at Deakin University.

Through my jobs, education, joining and creating various clubs and speaking to the public, I truly believe that the Greens can achieve great things for Victorians. Our Upper house candidate Lloyd Davies, a qualified engineer and previous councillor for Queenscliffe, is a caring, optimistic, compassionate and intelligent person. He not only exemplifies community values, but was also my inspiration for running in this election.

[dropcap style=”color: #a02f2f;”] B [/dropcap]ut what impact can the Greens have in Parliament? What does it mean to vote Green?

Over the past four years, the three Greens members in the Victorian parliament have been fighting to ban unconventional gas and fracking, to give firefighters fair access to Workcover and to support ambulance paramedics for pay parity.

We’ve been bringing forth policies to encourage investment in renewable energy, standing up to a government that’s trying to push through an $18 billion toll road and fighting for our public TAFE system to be fully restored from the major parties failures.

The past four years have been characterised by bad policy and a lazy government. Thousands have lost their jobs while the state government just stood by, no fight, no plan, leaving thousands with an uncertain future. A vote for the Greens will start re-investing in Victoria to solve these problems and create new jobs.

That’s why I joined the Greens and that’s why I’m standing for this election.

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[box] Roy Reekie has chosen a Q&A style for his piece. The questions were selected by an interested observer, not Bluestone Magazine. [/box]

[dropcap style=”color: #dc943c;”] R [/dropcap]oy, the margin of the Liberal Party in South West Coast is nearly 12%. No-one else seems to have been interested in running for the Labor Party in this election. Why are you running?

When I first ran in 1999, it was about getting a few key issues on the agenda – logging of native forests in the Otways and the impact of pokies. We had a win in getting logging stopped in the Otways, but pokies are still the scourge they were.

When I ran again in 2002, it was about building some momentum to make the South West marginal. We got awfully close (well under 1%) but couldn’t quite get there.

I knew that was about as close as we might ever get, but felt honour-bound to run again in 2006. That was about making Dr Napthine accountable for the things he had promised in 2002 and trying to squeeze as much as we could out of our seat’s marginal status. We got a huge amount for South West Healthcare and multi-millions for Portland Hospital and schools in Warrnambool, Portland and Port Fairy. We got Port Fairy its public swimming pool and got funding for Stage 2 of South West TAFE’s infrastructure project. We got Warrnambool’s new courthouse built.

I left the region at the end of 2006 to live and work overseas, returning to Australia in 2009 to work in Melbourne, so I missed the 2010 State election down here.

Now that I’m back home, I feel that I have something to offer to get our region back into marginal territory.

This is largely about encouraging – enabling – people to think carefully about how they vote and why they vote a certain way and what it might take for them to change the way they vote, to make their vote count and to make it work towards our region becoming relevant to both parties by being marginal. People down here tend to vote blindly the way their parents did. I want them to think about it.

I want both major parties to be forced to think about how they represent and support our region. I want them to fight for our votes. I look at Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo and what they get each budget and think ‘why not the South West?’ We need a strong voice for the South West that is listened to because both parties have to pay attention. I can help achieve that.

[dropcap style=”color: #dc943c;”] Y [/dropcap]ou said you were overseas. Where were you?

I spent about five years in total in Scotland. I was working on addressing anti-social behaviour – neighbour disputes, vandalism, community issues, youth crime, family violence – of which there is a lot in Glasgow. I learnt a helluva lot doing that work, and living in that environment – about myself and about what makes communities tick. I came back with a new set of skills and a renewed enthusiasm for community and an admiration for the power of community-based action. I’m keen to apply those skills here now.

[dropcap style=”color: #dc943c;”] W[/dropcap]hat’s your vision for the South West then?

Having travelled in the UK and Europe – and lived recently in Melbourne, I can honestly say that the South West is a special place with unlimited potential. I can sense that it has changed, matured. It really has amazing potential – mainly in food production, but also in renewable energy generation and tourism.

As a young person, I left Warrnambool to go to uni and to start my career. I returned to raise my children here and now they’ve all left for work and career advancement. Having been away and returned again, I’ve noticed that a lot of people my age are returning, like migrating whales.

My vision for the South West is that we have an economy, supported by social infrastructure (for health, education and transport), that makes it possible for our young people to either stay here for their education and careers or to return quicker. We need to keep our best and brightest connected to the South West and support them and welcome them when they return, and we need to provide those who prefer to stay with opportunities to advance their careers. This will help us to achieve our region’s potential. I want to be part of that.

[dropcap style=”color: #dc943c;”] W [/dropcap]hat are your chances of winning?

Let’s be realistic – not good. But let’s also have a red hot go at getting the seat as close as possible, and some fun in the process.

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