Here is my recommended voting order.
I’ve put myself at number one – dur 🙂
I have chosen two women as my second and third preference. In the current term, only two of eleven Councillors are women and zero out of three local ward councillors. We need greater diversity and both of these candidates have an excellent policy base with varying life experiences, and would be a fantastic addition to the team. I’ve then gone with a young candidate as youth is a section that is not represented at all in the current council.
I’ve put Josh next. We sometimes disagree on how to approach an issue, but there’s no doubt he’s a hard working local Councillor who has been very accessible to the community and passionate. We’ve also done some good work together on local Oakleigh Ward issues, enivornmental issues and tackling the scourge of pokies.
Next come a couple of independents, some of whom I’ve worked with during my time on council, as genuine community members looking to make a difference. I’ve spoken with most of them and I’m impressed with their attitude and approach to council.
Finally, I’ve put the candidate with a stack of running mates and dummies at number nine, followed by all of his running mate and dummies to round out the card. Mainly because I strongly detest this approach and find it very disingenuous. I believe that candidates should put themselves forward to be elected on merit, not because they have dummies covering every demographic. The candidate statements submitted to the VEC for some of these people makes for interesting reading (link below), especially Esha and Rachel.
Of course, you are free to choose whichever way you want to go, these are only my recommendations. Whatever you choose to do, please ensure that you number all of the boxes so that your vote counts.
And please, strongly consider voting [1] JAMES, Stuart
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