By Violet Li
Asher Coleman, co-founder of South East Climate Action Network, is running for the River Gum Ward in the coming Casey Council election as an independent.
Mr Coleman said he initially didn’t see himself running because of his coming wedding, but earlier this year, after he saw the report on the comeback of several sacked councillors, he decided to take the move.
Mr Coleman said: “I was shocked. I went, oh, no, we’re not going back.”
Echoing his decision to run, Mr Coleman said he would stand for integrity.
“It won’t be news to anyone that our old councillors did not serve us well. There was a culture within the council that did not put residents first,” he said.
“They said things and then did other things. They tended to turn a blind eye.
“I want residents to know that my priority is them. Not property developers. Not enriching myself. Not some ulterior agenda. My priority is listening to residents and then acting on their concerns.”
Mr Coleman said Casey had missed out on good opportunities to reset over the last four and a half years.
“The administrators’ mandate says that they should be acting for residents, but their actions haven’t always met that standard in my opinion,” he said.
“A councillor that’s doing their job well is much more accountable than an administrator. That’s the nature of it.
“And when we’re coming in with a whole new council, there is an opportunity to reset the culture of this place. But it’s an opportunity that’s only going to come once.”
As a fighter for the green life, Mr Coleman said he would focus on promoting a healthy environment and his top priority is to stop the proposed waste transfer station next to the Hallam Road landfill.
“I am firmly against the waste transfer station,” he said.
“Residents were promised parkland, not an industrial site.
“When the tip was originally built here, the area was a lot less developed, and guidelines were a lot different. But now, the transfer station should not be where it is.
“We’re going to be taking waste from 10 municipalities. That should not be happening in such a built-up area. It’s not that much further out to go out somewhere where residents aren’t living 100 metres away.”
The Cranbourne North resident said as a local, he knew what it was like to live next to a landfill.
“I live roughly 500 metres from the tip. Especially in winter, at the moment, the scent can be really overpowering at times. And I’m not even the worst affected person in the area,” he said.
“There were complaints about the odour of the tip a decade ago.
“It’s been a long time for us to be dealing with ongoing issues that just have not been resolved.”
Mr Coleman believed the council hadn’t had any effective advocacy in terms of the tip and the waste transfer station.
“The administrators have kind of rolled over. I am very happy to say I will fight against this every step of the way,” he said.
“I can’t promise that we won’t get it because I’m one person. Even if I managed to get all the councillors standing united, there’s only so much that we can do. But certainly, some things are within the council’s control. And some things are really going to affect residents.
“For example, there’s this overlay that council is considering that’ll reduce the value of people’s homes in the area by, like, 10 to 20 per cent. That’s not a small amount.”
Mr Coleman said his other environmental agenda included increasing canopy coverage, improving Casey’s Emergency Management Plan and Climate Action Plan, and better incorporating Environmental Sustainable Design (ESD) into the planning scheme.
“I’m going to have to convince the other councillors to care about the same issues. I’ve got a track record of this,” he said.
“With the South East Climate Action Network, we pushed for change throughout the southeast. We got councils as diverse as our Greater Dandenong, which is highly Labor, to the City of Stonnington, which was Liberal-dominated.
“We’ve got them all to change their environmental policies for the better. I’ve got a track record of working with Labor, Liberal, Independent, Green, everyone, to get sensible and grounded environmental policy passed.”
Mr Coleman will also focus on increasing community services, including senior programs and youth programs.
He works for Southern Migrant and Refugee Centre where he runs community service programs.
