Candidates’ election brief

By Shaun Inguanzo
VICTORIA’S peak municipal body last week said it was “very rare” for an entire council to be reelected.
The Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) last week spoke to about 15 people who turned out to Knox City Council’s Candidate Information Session at the Knox Civic Centre.
The twohour session was an attempt to prepare interested residents intending to run for council this November on the role and responsibilities of a councillor.
MAV president and Monash councillor Geoff Lake gave a thorough speech on how to campaign.
Knox’s Victorian Electoral Commission returning officer Leonie Taylor said every candidate had to pay a $250 nomination fee.
But Cr Lake said the $250 alone would not be enough, instead a strong campaign would be required to ensure a candidate was well known by election time.
Cr Lake added that despite a high reelection rate for rural councils, metropolitan councils were often determined by how well people campaigned.
Cr Lake said it would be “very rare” for an entire metropolitan council to be reelected.
“Most people in local government would generally consider incumbency to be an advantage,” he said.
“The reasons are fairly obvious such as experience, profile and having successfully won election in the past.
“That being said, there are also times when incumbency is not seen as an advantage.
“For example, if the council is unpopular in the community then voters will be less likely to vote for existing councillors.
“There were a handful of councils last year that went to the polls and the community voted out more than a majority of their councillors seeking reelection.”
Cr Lake said he believed a wellorganised campaign, including door knocking and letterbox drops, was more of a determining factor in elections than incumbency.