By Violet Li
Community pharmacist and industry advocate Anthony Tassone is committed to bringing his experience in representation to the City of Casey if elected in October’s election.
The Victorian branch president of the Pharmacy Guild Australia will run for Tooradin Ward, where he runs his business TerryWhite Chemmart in Clyde and engages with communities.
“I’ve been a pharmacist for about 22 years and have always practised here in the City of Casey,” Mr Tassone said.
Mr Tassone originally started in Narre Warren and Narre Warren South.
As he furthered his career, he set his sights afar and took up roles to represent and advocate for the pharmacies to the State and Federal Government.
He has been the Victorian branch president of the Pharmacy Guild Australia and one of the national vice presidents since 2013.
One of his recent roles was leading the negotiations for the Eighth Community Pharmacy Agreement, a 5-year funding deal of $26 billion with the Federal Government.
He has also been a regular face in the major media, including ABC, 3AW, 7NEWS, 9News, to speak for the industry.
“I think it’s really important that elected representatives have the capability and confidence to be able to represent who they serve in the media because sometimes you need that to get outcomes for the people you’re trying to serve,” he said.
Though constantly active and busy in his professional industry, Mr Tassone never took his eyes off his local community, as a ratepayer in Casey.
“I’m really proud of the track record I have in giving a voice to my profession and colleagues, advocating for them to deliver better care for their patients and their community. I want to apply that experience and skills to the city of Casey and be a voice for the local people to benefit our community,” he said.
“In my working life, I feel like there are three types of people: those who say what should happen, those who wonder what happened, and those who make it happen. And I’ve always wanted to be someone who makes it happen.
“I feel really strongly that there’s an opportunity with a new council to be elected in 2024. There’s an opportunity for a fresh start here in Casey.”
Mr Tassone believed that the ratepayers had been let down by the last council that was sacked back in 2020.
The “fresh new start” he has been envisioning is an accountable board of counsellors who are there to serve the interest of the ratepayers, not self-interest.
“I’m here in my pharmacy speaking to people every day. They come in and the issues that come up over and over again are around the challenges of cost of living. We need to make sure that rates stay as low as possible and deliver the best value that we can for rate pays,” he said.
“Roads and infrastructure have not kept up with the needs of the community. We’re always catching up in the traffic and people are feeling that it’s taking longer to get to where they’ve got to get to.
“Mobile and Internet black spots are another issue. Due to the poor mobile data coverage in this area, people have so much trouble trying to download their e-scripts here in the pharmacy. That’s not acceptable.”
It was time to make some more noise and keep contractors accountable, on budget and on time, Mr Tassone said.
“These infrastructure upgrades on South Gippsland Highway and Ballarto Road look abandoned. Looks like nothing’s happening.
“What is going on? People need to know and keep up to date with the progress of these important infrastructure upgrades.
“Who’s keeping them accountable? Who’s getting the best value for the ratepayers in their investment in local infrastructure?”
Mr Tassone is running as an independent candidate.
“I won’t be running in association with any political party. I’m not accepting donations for my campaign. Any campaign will be funded by myself personally,” he said.
Long working in representative roles, Mr Tassone has the ideology that an organisation’s purpose is its members.
“No members, there was no purpose of the Pharmacy Guild. Without ratepayers, the City of Casey doesn’t have a purpose,” he said.
“Elected councillors and the employed council work for the ratepayer.
“It’s not the other way around. We serve them.”
