By Parker McKenzie
After narrowly finishing second in the 2020 Yarra Ranges Council elections behind former-Councillor Cathrine Burnett-Wake, Andrew Fullagar is running again in the Streeton Ward by-election.
Mr Fullagar, who is well-known to people in Upwey through his involvement in the Upwey Community Group, Township Group and Men’s Shed, said he is running for the community instead of himself.
“I get frustrated on occasions being around the table in decision making, but you feel like you are sort of one step away from being involved,” he said.
“It comes back to trying to get more empowerment, that’d be a big issue of mine is giving more empowerment back to the community and decision making,”
Ms Burnett-Wake won by 3.08 per cent of the vote in the 2020 Council elections, after the distribution of preferences gave her 5279 votes to Andrew Fullagar’s 4964.
Mr Fullagar said some decisions are made with the best of intentions by council, but don’t always reflect what the community wants.
“One of my aims would be to respect the knowledge and expertise in the community more, asking the community what they would really like,” Mr Fullagar said.
“I have been working within the community for 20 years in various platforms and a number of projects, including the graffiti program that we pushed hard to back in around 2010.”
Mr Fullagar said he has been active in improving the vibrancy of Streeton Ward and Upwey in particular.
“I describe myself as a person who leads from behind and I love working with like-minded people and creating a better feel around the town,” he said.
“I’d like to advocate for people if they have a particular and reasonable belief about things, I will listen and act on that and I’ll advocate strongly for them.”
The by-election will take place in February, with ballots to be distributed through post to registered voters between Tuesday 1 February and Thursday 3 February, before voting closes on Friday 18 February 2022.
Saturday 19 February has been prescribed as Election Day by the VEC, with Monday 28 February 2022 the latest date all results will be declared.
12,415 Victorians were enrolled in Streeton Ward at the last council election in 2020, which includes Upwey, Sassafras and Olinda.
