Gloria Farah – How to Vote Card
Ms Farah doesn’t have any online presence that I could see, and she hasn’t been involved in any of the community forums or online surveys. Fortunately, she did letterbox me, so I have a nice shiny flyer to look at. Her platform is a little vague – her values are fairness, action, integrity and respect, and she will ‘deliver concrete outcomes’. She wants to support jobs, protect local business and look after the environment.
So what are these concrete outcomes? Well, she has five priorities, which are recovery of Sydney Road and local businesses after the pandemic, reducing rates, and investing in childcare centres, in sporting facilities, in parks, and in health and aged care.
None of this is terrible, but I’m getting a little bit of a ‘look after small businesses’ vibe here. I suspect Farah is as close as we are likely to get to Liberal Party values in Moreland. Of more concern is her How to Vote card, which preferences Naim, Timpano and Failla, two of whom are big red flags for me and the third of whom is a yellow one. At the bottom of her list she has Joseph, for whom I have a decided soft spot, as well as O’Callaghan, Helou, and Bolton.
I don’t think I’ll put her high on my ballot – while she seems basically OK in and of herself, her How To Vote card gives me serious concerns regarding her judgment. And I’m a bit concerned that, given her lack of online presence, she is largely going to serve to funnel votes towards Naim.
Meghan Street (Sue Bolton Community Independents – Website – Party Facebook Page – How to Vote Card
Street is part of Sue Bolton’s team, and second on her ticket. I’ve already discussed their policies and how to vote card in my commentary on Sue Bolton, so I won’t repeat myself here.
Street’s candidate statement on the Sue Bolton Community Independents website tells me that she is a science educated clinic manager, and believes the council needs to play a greater role in community health services. She is currently working with the Muslim Women’s Council of Victoria with their program to feed vulnerable people in the community.
Street is an activist, who was involved in the movement to save the Gandolfo Gardens, and believes that it is important to fight for workers’ rights, as well as ‘increased public transport, foot and bike travel improvements, the defence and improvement of green spaces as well as our local natural ecosystems’. She feels that it is important for the Council to listen to the community.
Meghan Street has a high engagement score, having participated in nearly all the forums and surveys being tracked by Sustainable Fawkner. She has signed the Rainbow Votes pledge, and her replies to the Walk On Moreland survey are detailed and considered. She is concerned about accessibility and poor footpath quality, making it difficult for people with mobility issues, and she wants better public transport, as do we all. Her responses to the Climate Action Survey are again heavy on better public transport and safer cycling and walking networks, and she favours an approach that encourages less car use, rather than punishing those who do need to use cars.
Overall, she’s a good candidate who has clearly put a lot of thought into the things that matter to me, and she will go high on my list.
Hamza Dhedhy (Independent) – Facebook Page – How to Vote Card
Dhedhy’s flyer tells me that he is a proud Fawkner local who has lived, studied and worked in the area since arriving in Australia 21 years ago. He has a Bachelor of Business in Human Resource Management. And:
I have experienced first-hand the challenges of cultural adjustment and immigrant issues at a very young age and have always felt the need to bring people of diverse backgrounds and ages together.
I like him already, but then, you know I have a soft spot for immigrant stories.
Dhedhy has been involved in community work for 12 years, and has set up a number of programs including establishing the Oxygen Youth Centre in North Coburg, the Fawkner Soccer Program (which includes a women’s team) and a Pool Life Guarding and First Aid Training Program. He was named a Moreland Young Citizen of the Year in 2014. Google tells me he is supported by Run For It, a program that ‘helps community leaders and people from historically marginalised communities enter the democracy and set a new agenda.’ He was also an AFL Multicultural Community Ambassador in 2014.
In other words, he’s pretty ferociously active in community engagement and representation. Good qualifications for a Councillor, I think.
Dhedhy’s flyer names seven priority areas:
- No unjustifiable increase in rates, fees and charges
- A COVID-19 response including a food bacnk, job creation and support for local businesses.
- Supporting youth, again with job creation, and, interestingly, ‘advocating for at least 10% of young people to be involved in council infrastructure projects’ (I presume he means that 10% of people involved should be youth, rather than 10% of all youth being conscripted into infrastructure, which would be a less pleasing idea)
- Putting a stop to overdevelopment and advocating for environmental sustainability
- Improving council services, particularly disability access
- Improving and increasing green spaces, roads, footpaths, bike paths, shopping strips, community houses, leisure centres… basically everything. This would give his 10% of youth lots to do, admittedly.
- Increasing Council transparency and accountability
This is a fairly centrist plan by Moreland standards, but with a high emphasis on youth, and particularly youth unemployment.
Dhedhy’s Facebook Page contains a campaign video covering most of these points, but emphasising that the impact of COVID will be with us for a while, and we need to think about supporting businesses and families, including mental health support.
He also raises concerns that the current council has been ignoring the North East Ward, something I haven’t noticed, but then again, I live at the wealthier end of the Ward, and tend to be a bit oblivious to a lot of Council stuff. I do think this is interesting, though, because among all the grumblings about a young, excessively ideological council, this is the only one that has focused on geography, and geography, around here, is definitely class…
In terms of other engagement, Dhedhy gets a tick from Fair Parking Moreland, but doesn’t seem to have been involved in any of the other forums or surveys, including the rainbow voting pledge. I’m a little surprised at this lack of engagement, because I would have described him as almost hyperactively engaged from his Facebook page and list of activities. He also shows an unusually low level of interest in things environmental for a younger candidate.
Dhedhy’s How To Vote Card favours Joseph, Pavlidis and Clarke – the centrist alliance again! – but then, excitingly, goes to Bolton, for a more Socialist flavour. The bottom of his ballot paper is Naim, followed by Failla, Farah, and Timpano. So, a centrist, but definitely inclined to lean left rather than right.
Another pretty solid candidate.
Ismene Thiveos (Labor) – Website – Party Facebook Page – Candidate Facebook Page – How To Vote Card
Thiveos is the second candidate on Labor’s ticket. I’ve already discussed Labor for Moreland’s policies and their how to vote card in my commentary on Annalivia Carli-Hannan, so I won’t repeat myself here.
Thiveos has a background in public health, and is passionate about strengthening community wellbeing.
“I am passionate about strengthening our community’s wellbeing. I want to make sure everyone feels connected through well-funded social and cultural programs, community facilities and accessible parks. Our elderly deserve quality aged care services, and families shouldn’t have any uncertainty about childcare places.”
She wants to ensure that the Council is responsive and innovative in finding ways to support the business, hospitality and arts sector as restrictions ease
Thiveos has a campaign video highlighting her background in family violence and public health, and her desire to create a respectful and connected Moreland community. (Also, I’m pretty sure I recognised one of the people in it, which was exciting for me, especially as it is close to midnight now and I am nearing the end of my rope.)
There was also a cute and funny little video about campaign signage. I have to say, between Thiveos and Hogan, Moreland Labor has a *strong* social media game this year when it comes to campaign videos.
A scan further down Thiveos’s Facebook page shows articles about the importance of social housing and an acknowledgment that single women over 50 are now the fastest growing group experiencing homelessness, and an interview in Greek about aged culturally appropriate care services (hmm… given how badly things went down at St Basil’s, that’s an important and rather difficult conversation to start having now.)
Thiveos has signed the rainbow pledge, and got the tick of approval from Fair Parking Moreland. She also attended the Climate forum, and spoke in favour of better bike paths. She feels that there are a lot of good schemes in place for things like solar and recycling that are being poorly publicised, and that better communication is the answer to this, and she wants more community gardens. This feels in keeping with the general Labor platform on climate, which is a little slow and cautious for my liking, but does at least want to move in the correct direction.
Google found me an interesting article about Thiveos’s work as an advisor to the Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence and Indigenous Affairs, Natalie Hutchins, where she worked to implement the recommendations of the royal commission. She talks about the importance of prevention and programs to achieve that, and about the very masculine political culture we have in Australia and the need to change fundamental gender norms both there and in the wider community.
An article in Neos Kosmos also talks about her desire to have well-funded social and cultural programs, community sports, and accessible parks and spaces
Overall, a strong candidate. We really do have a lot of good people to choose from this, year, it’s a very pleasant change!
Rebekah Hogan (Labor) – Website – Party Facebook Page – Candidate Facebook Page – How To Vote Card
Hogan is the third candidate on Labor’s ticket, so again, I won’t repeat what I’ve already written, but here, just in case you aren’t interested in clicking the link to my other post, have the Moreland Labor Community Plan again. Some nice light reading to put you to sleep tonight! (God, I hope it will still be tonight when I finish writing this – yes, I’m doing this page out of order. Again.)
Her Facebook page tells me that she was the president of the OXYGEN Youth Advisory Committee, which advises the Council on issues affecting young people in Moreland, and that her mum is a carer for her father, who has a disability – so I’d imagine she has a pretty good understanding of how disability support services work (and, often, do not work), as well as how the council works (and, sometimes, does not work…?_)
She takes her advocacy for the youth of Moreland very seriously, and is concerned about unemployment among young workers. She was part of the Youth Advisory Committee for Wills, and helped create a kit for young workers on their rights at work.
Oh, and she has a TikTok campaign video, which could not be more different to the campaign videos I’ve seen from other candidates – rap music (er… I am bad at popular music, maybe also dubstep?), with a little bit of dancing and pop up notes saying:
I care about the same issues as you.
- Gender equality
- Environment
- Mental health
Women and Young People deserve a voice in Government
Vote for someone who will represent real people and real issues
I had noticed, incidentally, that our Labor team for North East Ward was very young and very female, and I do like that they are leaning into that.
Anyway, those are excellent priorities, and I am here for them. And I am trying not to sound too much like a middle-aged auntie cooing over how clever the younger generation is, but honestly, if this election is a sample, we really do have some fantastic young people coming up.
Hogan has passed the Fair Parking Test, and responded to the Walk On Moreland survey (responses rather bland, I suspect there is a bit of a party line here, sadly), but not the Climate Action Survey or the Bicycle Users Group. And she hasn’t signed the rainbow pledge, which is a bit disappointing – given that gender equality is one of her key platforms, that is a very unfortunate omission.
Edited to add: She’s signed it now!
My random Googling of Hogan turned up this rather poignant article she wrote for the student magazine, Rabelais, a couple of years ago, about growing up between two cultures, and feeling neither Australian enough or Chinese enough. And now I just want to vote for her because she writes so well about something that is, I think, a common experience for many Australians with a parent born overseas (though… especially not fun for people who look at all Asian right now, I would guess).
Overall? Hogan is probably my favourite Labor candidate so far, but that still puts her around the middle of my ticket, I think.
BEST OF THE BATCH
Ooh, this is a hard one, because I really do like most of this lot. I have a particular soft spot for Hogan, and Dhedhy seems like someone with a lot of energy that has been well applied, but the fact that they haven’t signed onto the Rainbow Votes pledge does give me pause. Thiveos gets points for community wellbeing and for that ridiculous Benny Hill video, which I played three times, to the dismay of my husband. But I think Street is the candidate who best represents my views this time round.
Edited to add: Hogan has now signed the Rainbow Votes pledge, putting her in equal first place for Best of the Batch!
