Rowe re-elected councillor on countback

Former Casey Councillor Gary Rowe has been returned to his position following a vote count-back on Monday 3 April.

By Victoria Stone-Meadows

Former Casey councillor Gary Rowe has been reinstated to the role after a countback of votes following the shock resignation of councillor Steve Beardon last month.
The countback of votes from the 2016 general election of Victorian councillors that re-elected Mr Rowe was conducted on Monday 3 April in the Casey council chambers.
Gary Rowe was the last candidate to be ousted behind Cr Beardon in October 2016 when the latter obtained just 92 more votes than Mr Rowe on the 30th vote count.
Cr Beardon tendered his resignation to Casey council CEO Mike Tyler on 8 March 2017 after an investigation was launched into an alleged argument between him and another councillor following a council meeting.
Mr Rowe said he was taken by surprise when he received the call from Casey mayor Sam Aziz just after 10.30am on Monday 3 April that he had been re-elected councillor.
“I’m not sure how I’m feeling to be honest,” he said.
“I stood for election in October, and had I been elected back then it would have been business as usual, but six months without local politics I’ve had a bit more time to think about it.”
“I said in the beginning, when Cr Beardon resigned, that I wasn’t sure but I’m certainly not considering rejecting it.”
Mr Rowe is expected to be sworn in as councillor before the council meeting commences on Tuesday 4 April, but Mr Rowe is unsure he will be able to make it.
“I definitely want to be there tomorrow night to be sworn in, but that will depend,” he said
“With less than 24 hours’ notice it makes it difficult; this is not something I planned for on Friday.”
Mr Rowe said he was looking forward to picking up where he left off when he lost his seat to Mr Beardon last year.
“There is a lot of unfinished business that has been dropped,” he said.
“For example, the speed limit in High Street Cranbourne is a project I had been working on for quite some time, and was trying to get some State Government funding for it.”
“It made me very angry to see VicRoads putting skirts on pedestrian crossings when they could have been spending that money lowering the speed limit and making Cranbourne safer.”
Mr Rowe said these kinds of infrastructure projects would be a big focus for his return to council.
“The problem with our community is a lack of infrastructure, and it’s something that needs to be addressed,” he said.
“As a whole, governments need to address and deliver funding of infrastructure when putting 40,000 new properties in Casey.”
Mr Rowe said he wanted to focus on improving the accessibility and public amenities in the municipality.
“The roads already don’t cope,” he said.
“We have to deliver major road projects and public transport like the extension of the train rail to Clyde and Cranbourne East.”
While Mr Rowe will return to his previous position as councillor following the abrupt end to Mr Beardon’s political career, he said this won’t change how he operated as a councillor.
Cr Aziz said the rest of the members of Casey Council were looking forward to working with Mr Rowe again.
“Gary Rowe was instrumental in setting Casey on its new and exciting direction during his last term, and I’m thrilled to be able to work with him again,” he said.
“With Gary as a member, the last council oversaw a modernisation of the way council serves its community, which continues today,” he said.
“It’s pleasing that now eight of those 11 councillors will be able to continue that work to deliver the best possible services and value for our customers.”
Mr Rowe said he was aware his return to Casey council was unorthodox, but he said he held no ill will to a man who ousted him in the 2016 election.
“I wish Mr Beardon all the best, and I understand he had to make a difficult decision,” he said.
“These are personal life decisions people have to make, and in public life it doesn’t happen that often; I hope he achieves everything he wants to.”