By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Casey councillor candidate Rob Ward is hoping it will be a case of third-time-lucky in the October elections.
Ward has previously run unsuccessfully for a seat on council in 2012 and 2016.
His 2024 platform is integrity and to bring community representation back to Casey Council – which has been under administration since councillors were sacked in 2020.
“We’ve been unrepresented – the residents have lost their voice. It’s my desire to get involved to reclaim our voice.”
He’ll be standing in Tooradin Ward – which spans from the Clyde growth area to the Tooradin coastal village.
One of Ward’s main priorities would be to lobby for funding for the long-desired railway extension to Clyde.
“It’s so necessary. We can’t move around on the roads here – and we can’t just keep building bigger and bigger roads all the time.”
Standing as a conservative independent, Ward is no longer a member of the Liberal Party and wants to “challenge people from the Left and the Right”.
“We spend so much time fighting between Left and Right. It’s time to get on with the job of looking after the people.”
He hopes that the next council isn’t dominated by party politics or by “one or two” personalities.
“The whole point of having a re-elected council is to get a group of 12 elected people who can work together.
“I don’t want to see one or two people with strong personalities dominate the whole of the council. It has to be truly democratic.”
Ward was a friend of former Casey mayor Amanda Stapledon, who took her own life as IBAC released a draft report of its Operation Sandon investigation into councillors, MPs and property developers.
Stapledon was the subject of adverse findings, but IBAC has since stated she was not at risk of being prosecuted.
Ward says the level-crossing removal at Evans Road, Lyndhurst in 2020 had much to do with Stapledon’s lobbying efforts.
“Casey lost a champion, I lost a friend and (Stapledon’s son) Peter lost a mum,” he reflects.
As a result of the IBAC inquiry, some of Stapledon’s former councillor colleagues concede that they face an “uphill battle” if they seek re-election, Ward says.
“The mud sticks.
“To be fair, for the ones that I’ve spoken to, there was no mud to stick on them. They weren’t involved in any shenanigans.
“It would actually be good to get some experience on the council.”
He says that moves by the State Government to make more planning decisions was not necessarily a remedy to corruption.
“There’s money to be made in planning. And where there’s money to be made, there’s a risk of corruption.
“I don’t think that centralising control in Spring Street is a good idea at all.”
Ward notes that Casey’s panel of three administrators installed by the State Government has been an expensive excercise, costing about $2 million.
The council has also been shown to be ‘out of touch’ in its plans for a $40 million Cranbourne Community Hub, which he says is a “heck of a lot of money” and was in the wrong location with limited parking options.
He also criticised the council’s eminent eviction of not-for-profit social enterprise L’Arte Central cafe.
Ward, the former chair of Casey Neighbourhood Watch, is now on Casey Council’s community safety advisory group.
He says community safety is “everyone’s responsibility”, including families.
“The behaviour we walk past is the behaviour we condone.
“We have to bring back a sense of accountability for young people. And that starts with you and me.”
