By Ethan Benedicto and Violet Li
New councillors have officially been declared for the City of Casey at Bunjil Place on Friday 8 November, however both Akoonah and River Gum Wards have been called for a recount which will be finalised in the coming days.
Before announcements began shortly after 2pm, Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) representatives announced that both Akoonah and River Gum were subject to a recount due to the “tightness” of the results.
The announcements for Akoonah and River Gum are to be held at 4pm on Monday 11 November, also at Bunjil Place.
Prior to this announcement, final calculations from Group B’s numbers on Thursday. November had Scott Dowling elected as the councillor for Akoonah Ward, and Lynette Pereira for River Gum Ward; Dowling was not present during the event.
Ms Pereira said she was baffled when she found out the recounting at the declaration event.
“I won almost 2,000 votes. And no one called me [on the recounting],” she said.
“I took time off work to come to this [declaration event], so it’s quite embarrassing to sit here and be told it’s going to have another recount.
“But I don’t even know why.”
According to the current result, Ms Pereira won both the primary votes and preferential votes. She had 56.6 per cent of the votes after five rounds of preference distributions.
As for the other candidates, each of the remaining councillors took to the stage to thank everyone who had voted for them, but also the efforts of the VEC in what was a demanding last few days of seemingly endless numbers.
This article will focus on the northern wards, which consist of Akoonah, Grevillea, Kalora, Waratah and Dillwynia, with Cranbourne News holding more details on the southern ends of Casey.
Kim Ross, who addressed the crowd during Casuarina Ward’s councillor announcement said that she was thankful, but also extended that thanks to fellow candidate Jane Foreman who congratulated her for the win.
”I’m more passionate now than I was at the start, and it felt pretty fantastic being out on the stage but I also realised that this is just the first part, the first stage,” Ross said.
“It’s such an important stage to get to, it was just lovely to be able to have the first official speech done with.”
Like many, Ross had been “madly googling” on who the candidates were going to be prior to the announcement, and for her, she is “starting fresh” with the other councillors, “trusting that everyone has stood up for the right reasons”.
“Trusting that we will find common ground with each other to work for the citizens of Casey.
“We will have our differences and disagreements, but if we can all hold each other accountable to why we’re here and respect each other’s opinions, it should be a fairly positive thing for democracy in Casey.”
When Kalora’s elected councillor was called onto stage, Ambros addressed and thanked the local community for choosing her as their representative, and that “it’s fantastic that we have representation, it’s a long time coming”.
“It’s unfortunate that some people didn’t make it through but their presence will be seen in the community and that is what we need, we need to work together to bring back our council.
”I was hopeful at the beginning of this journey and it’s great to see in the end that I’m here, I couldn’t have done it without my family, my friends, my community and the residents, they brought me where I am today.”
While further steps still need to be taken such as councillor induction, Ambros said that there are some “good, key services that need to be tended to”, as well as further emphasis to address the safety concerns in Endeavour Hills in relevance to recent events.
As an independent, Ambros stressed the importance of core local services “that run our community”, and that it needs the representation of “someone that runs our community”.
“That understands what matters, not just for the ward but collectively for the whole council.
“Even while yes, people feel that [party politics] presence, it’s how the community and the council will get things done that really matter to the people,” she said.
Ross was of the same mind, referring to herself as a true independent, she aims to keep “party politics” out of local government.
Acknowledging the impact and presence of party politics remains important however, saying that it is impossible to avoid it considering that any legislation imparted onto local councils by the current elected State and or Federal government will have political inclinations within it.
“The major way to deal with these issues is to acknowledge them and to be really upfront with them,” she said.
“Provided we can keep that transparency and accountability happening and clear, that is the best way; this is coming from a State Government and we understand that you’re a Labor person and this is your Labor perspective on the table.
“Let’s acknowledge that, put that aside, and go, what do the residents need? We’re here to represent them who range from every political spectrum, we need to focus on what the people need.”
Although he was away on vacation with family, Koomen had sent through a letter which was read out during Wartah’s announcement.
In the letter he said that he was “honoured to be elected” as the new councillor for Waratah, and he too expressed his gratitude for the “overwhelming support” from the residents and community.
“It’s truly humbling to be the first person in the area of Waratah in over 30 years to be elected to represent our community.
“I look forward to hitting the ground running next week and working with all the successful candidates to make Casey an even better place for residents,” he said.
Way up in the north, Grevillea’s Dave Perry was forthright with his reasoning to run for council, addressing the crowd and expressing not just his but the ward’s discontent with the lack of proper local representation in council.
“We could go into a lot of detail about that, but I’ll do my best to represent the north part of Casey,” he said.
Thanking those who had voted for him, Perry said that he had been shaky ever since the results had come through, and that he was “surprised” at his win.
“Last week I didn’t think it would happen, I kind of moved on, whatever happened would have happened.
”What I’m looking to do is find out what we can do for aged care which is very important to me, I’d like to have it reinstated in council if we can, and the other thing is I’d like to build a pump track somewhere in the north for the kids.
“Of course, the next thing is protecting the Green Wedge up in Narre Warren North and Harkaway,” he said.
Over in the east, Anthony Walter was officially announced as Dillwynia Ward’s councillor; however he was not present during the ceremony and comments will be gathered in the following days.
As for Akoonah, more details, as well as the elected councillor’s comments, will follow after Monday.
