Council elections everywhere are on the nose. Media reports across the state have featured:

  • Alleged physical confrontations
  • Police charges
  • Refusal to disclose financial contributions from developers
  • Countless complaints to the VEC and Municipal Inspectorate
  • Appalling lack of public information regarding the various candidates
  • Stooges everywhere
  • And much, much more

Glen Eira Council elections have not been immune to many of the above criticisms. The Leader has been totally derelict in its duty to report the news. We can only wonder why. It’s indeed a sad state of affairs when we’ve received scores of emails from residents asking for information on the various candidates – whether we know what political party they might belong to and what their preferences are.

Reports from residents tell us that the front steps of the town hall has been the scene for altercations between councillors and candidates; between residents and councillor husbands; formal complaints about accosting residents in the car park and other sundry matters. Certainly not a good look.

Yesterday however took the cake. A queue of up to 100 people was streaming out the polling booth early evening. Many were frustrated at the delay and at the inadequate staffing of the booth. At one point those waiting in the queue were told to go to the East Caulfield location! Not good enough! When literally hundreds of thousands of dollars are handed over to the VEC to conduct elections then one has every right to expect that the service is totally professional and efficient.

We also cannot fathom why the VEC places ‘Candidate Statements’ on its website – but only for those councils which have postal voting and NOT attendance voting. Nor can we fathom why the VEC refuses to publish each candidate’s voting card. It’s no wonder that council elections are treated as a joke by many and that candidates who do not have a huge bank balance, and are not supported by political parties and/or groups, are at a major disadvantage.

Politics has indeed become a dirty business. Glen Eira is no exception.