AT a cost of $400,000 to ratepayers for a by-election in Division 4, the city now has a new councillor.
Congratulations to David Martin on his third attempt to return to the chamber. Now he must prove he is worth it by working in the best interests of the city and its residents and not take part in petty politics.
Martin needs to show very clearly that he is truly independent in the way he performs his councillor duties.
So how did we get here? With former councillor Cullen’s resignation, a vacancy had to be filled. State legislation allows councillors the discretion of appointing the March runner-up or hold a by-election.
Madsen, Jonic, Tully, Antoniolli and Madden, voted in favour of a by-election in the hope that Martin would get elected.
They took a punt and got their wish, however Andrew Antoniolli’s claim on social media that democracy instead of a captain’s pick is always the preferred option of the electorate is a tad smug and disingenuous.
There would have been no captain’s pick if the runner-up was chosen. It’s in the legislation.
And another thing: If you are a regular viewer of council meetings, last week there was an air of civility and far less confrontation.
I couldn’t work out why until I discovered two senior advisors from the state government department responsible for local government were in the public gallery.
They were here to observe a meeting first-hand, and I suspect report back on the behaviour of the mayor and councillors.
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