Another Southbanker runs for local council

By Jake Pike

Dandenong City Council project manager and Southbank resident Samantha Tran has nominated as a councillor in the City of Melbourne council elections.

Ms Tran, a Southbank local with a passion for mental health and local community has nominated as an independent candidate in the City of Melbourne postal elections on October 24. She is the second local to do so after Southbank Sustainability Group leader Artemis Pattichi announced her candidacy last month.

Ms Tran will run third on a councillor ticket behind two other women in Southbank News “Skypad Living” columnist and Docklands resident Janette Corcoran and West Melbourne resident Mary Masters under the name Residents First – an apolitical group that represents “Melbournians on the ground level”.

Originally from Perth, Ms Tran has lived in Melbourne since 2012, where she studied a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in criminology and psychology.

Ms Tran moved away from criminology and psychology to pursue a career in project management and has worked for the City of Dandenong council for almost two-and-a-half years.

While working for a local government and seeing the effect her work had on the local community, she decided that she wanted to bring a positive impact to residents of the Melbourne CBD.

Ms Tran’s plan includes making informed and strategic decisions based on grassroots feedback from locals in addition to council experts and to use “common sense”.

“I’m not accusing anyone of not having common sense, I just think it’s really important to listen to people and make informed decisions based on what you hear and the ability to discuss with them,” she said.

If elected, she plans to advocate for small businesses and mental health awareness in the community as well as improving access to green spaces and bike paths in the area.

“One of the reasons I think that I would make a great candidate is because I don’t have any business affiliations. I’m not running on a fixed agenda, I’m really about the residents, I want to listen to what they have to say,” she said.

At 25, she is one of the younger candidates in the running, but she thinks she would add “broader representation” to the City of Melbourne.

“I think the council has done a lot of things right, I just think there needs to be some broader representation on the council,” she said.

“My age, my heritage and obviously female representation - which they have done really well might I say - but there’s always room for improvement.” •

For more information: facebook.com/samanthatrancom