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Arron’s in

Arron’s in

By Sean Car

The City of Melbourne local government elections got interesting on September 6 after Deputy Lord Mayor Arron Wood finally announced that he would be running for the city’s top job ahead of the October 24 postal elections.

The announcement ends months of speculation surrounding Cr Wood’s election bid having publicly gone toe-to-toe with Lord Mayor Sally Capp on a number of contentious issues including a safe injecting room near Queen Victoria Market (QVM).

Speaking to Southbank News on September 7, he described this year’s election as the “most important” in the City of Melbourne’s history with respect to the “crossroads” the city was at in the face of the looming economic rebuild post-COVID-19.

He noted that during his eight years as a councillor, Melbourne had earned the title of the “World’s Most Liveable City” for seven of those years, but in recent times, had begun to lose its way.

While he said he was committed to a contest of ideas devoid of “dirty politics”, he said he wasn’t afraid to call out the Lord Mayor for “draining the resources of council” with her big visions for the city.

“I feel as though the trajectory has been on the way down,” he said. “We’ve lost our way in terms of what council is fundamentally there to do.”

“That’s the nub of it for me; the grand visions and grand claims have started to drain the resources of council and take away from the day-to-day operations.”

“She’s [Sally Capp] been a good cheerleader for the city but she hasn’t been a good advocate for the city and its ratepayers. Her tagline is ‘people not politics’, but on issues like the safe Injecting room near QVM, residents and traders all made their voices heard but because she’s so close to the state government, she said ‘let’s leave it [the site] on the table’ and voted against my motion to take it off the table.”

“I think I can absolutely mount a significant challenge and I’ll roll out some policies over the coming weeks that will resonate with ratepayers. I’ve got a good story and a strong track record to show voters.”

Cr Wood was yet to reveal the names on his ticket by the time Southbank News published its September edition, but he said he was “really proud” of the team of current and former business owners he had assembled. He was expected to make the announcment within days.

In early September former Team Doyle member Cr Susan Riley formally announced to council that she would be retiring ahead of the next election. Cr Beverly Pinder, who was understood to be veering in the same direction, was yet to confirm either way but it's understood she'll run for Deputy Lord Mayor alongside Wood. Former Melboourne councillor Peter Clarke is also believed to be in the mix.

And while Cr Wood knows he enters the race as the underdog, he said he wasn’t perturbed by the weight of history in having to become the first person ever to unseat a sitting Lord Mayor at an election.

“That history is tempered in the fact that the Lord Mayor came in during a byelection,” he said.

“It hasn’t received a lot of commentary but when we [Team Doyle] ran in 2016 we won in a landslide so in terms of that mandate to implement policy I think in a way that’s one thing that tempers that power of incumbency.”

“I’ve been elected as part of the team that won in a landslide, I’ve been acting Lord Mayor and I’ve been a sitting councillor for the past eight years.”

It’s understood Cr Wood’s ticket has the support of a number of conservative heavyweights, including former Liberal Premier Jeff Kennett.

For a comprehensive overview of the rest of the field vying for election, read "An election like no other" in this edition. •

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