Well, since last week, a number of new candidates have put their hand up for the October local elections.
Alan Tutt, Belco Party co-founder and candidate in 2020, local AFL legend and Hawker shop owner, has been endorsed to run for Ginninderra again for the Belco Party. Alan was largely responsible at the last election for keeping the West Belconnen garden waste recycling tip from being closed by the local government. He is currently campaigning to get 250 extra police to help reduce crime in Belconnen (and the ACT generally), and to also save the Hawker shops carpark. He is also keen to see the late Chic Henry’s legacy honoured by building the Chic Henry Canberra International Motorsport & Driver Training Facility in Canberra.
Last week, I attended two meetings to hear from candidates interested in standing for the Canberra Independents. The committee of the Canberra Independents has now gone away to consider each prospective candidate; they aim to announce two candidates in each electorate, with the other candidates being support candidates. All candidates I saw and heard at the two meetings would be suitable in my view to represent their electorates. Due to space constraints, I will write about the Yerrabi and Ginninderra candidates, and cover the Kurrajong and Murrumbidgee candidates next week, as well as recently endorsed Liberal number one Senate candidate Jacob Vadakkedathu.
In Yerrabi, a doyen of the local multicultural community, Mainul Haque, is standing. Mainul has been a teacher and manager of radio station 2XX. He is also a published author and was awarded an OAM for his services to the community.
David Pollard is going around again. David has been a most effective member of the Gungahlin Community Council. He has a software engineering background, and achieved a good vote in the 2020 elections.
Vikram Kulkarni is a senior ACT housing officer working in the Community Services Directorate and fosters consensus around decision making. He also presented very well.
Finally, Snehalata KC, originally from Nepal, was the fourth candidate. She works in aged care and is a passionate advocate for our elderly. A proud Australian citizen, she is grateful for the opportunities presented to her in Australia and especially Canberra, and wants to give back to the community. She was an impressive speaker.
Two candidates for Ginninderra presented; another, Sue Read, was sick. Sue is a local sports star who has represented Australia in hockey and is an elite athlete in track and field. Sue successfully ran the recent “save Canberra United” campaign.
Nick Spence, an experienced former political operative and now federal government employee responsible for running an agency of 40 people, presented well and answered questions directly with politeness and style.
Finally, local police Acting Inspector Mark Richardson, who has sprung to fame recently calling a spade a spade when talking about hoon drivers at Summernats, made an excellent speech on problems with law and order in Canberra and how we need more police, who in turn need more support from the government.
Thank you all for seeking to be candidates.
