CAMDEN – Delahunty, Silver, Sztrajt
ROSSTOWN – Esakoff, Davey, Anthanasopoulos
TUCKER – Hyams, Magee, Taylor
COMMENT
Firstly, a hearty congratulations to all newly elected councillors. Residents have ‘spoken’ and their votes indicate a strong desire for change in Glen Eira. There’s also been a non too gentle reminder to the returning incumbents – Esakoff’s primary vote went from 34% down to 23%; Hyams from 23% down to 16% and Magee’s also declined by 0.5%. Only Delahunty’s percentage vote increased from 24.51% to 25.48%.
Glen Eira Debates 
October 29, 2016 at 9:54 PM
Magee did well for himself. Having Okotel and Bonny as stooges worked a treat.
October 31, 2016 at 11:58 AM
He has always realised that being with Liberals directly or indirectly is the way to win. Heard rumours that he is preparing to be a Mayor for the second time. He has full support of Delahunty in moving any motions.
October 29, 2016 at 10:11 PM
ROSSTOWN:
Pleased to see the last of Pilling. That’s what happens when you don’t stay true to your stated values. Let’s hope Davey learns from the Pilling misadventure.
Glad Athanasopoulos got across the line.
Time for the perennial candidate (Dunstan) to give it away.
CAMDEN:
Sounness did not deserve to be re-elected. By the same token I thought his Green backing might have got him across the line. Great to see electors can see past the front.
Great to see Delahunty was able to withstand the strong Jewish influence in Camden ensuring it wasn’t a clean sweep.
TUCKER:
Extremely disappointed that Hyams was able to pull the wool over so many electors eyes. I guess when you are a professional propagandist this sort of thing happens.
Pleased Okotel performed so poorly and hope Magee learns from his poor performance during the last term and lifts.
I trust the new Council will spend more time on the knitting and less time on the big picture items. What about a program to clean culverts so we don’t have the bank-up of water in many streets we had last week. What about a street cleaning program that actually works well. How about a Service Centre that actually functions competently and an administration that listens and responds. How about a transport department that ensures there’s consistency with their decisions and actually listens and takes account of residents concerns. I could go on.
October 29, 2016 at 10:24 PM
That would be a good start
October 29, 2016 at 10:27 PM
Think this council will be on a knife edge as to whether it will be “progressive” or we get more of the same from the likes of Hyams, Esakoff and Magee. They will have to find a new bunny now that Pilling is gone.
October 29, 2016 at 10:35 PM
I feel for Rodney Andonopolus. Such a shame
October 29, 2016 at 10:47 PM
Agree completely. It’s now the second time that his primary vote was way up there but preferences killed him. I find it hard to believe that Taylor got in instead of him.
October 29, 2016 at 10:35 PM
Did anon above at #2 seriously just celebrate there not being a “clean sweep [of Jewish councillors]”? I very proudly cast my vote for Delahunty as a well-performing, progressive Councillor, not becasue she’s not Jewish. I don’t know what’s caused you to resent a multicultural community in basically the only locality they’re in substantial numbers – would you also complain about Vietnamese or Greek councillors elsewhere in the SE?
October 29, 2016 at 10:42 PM
Yes!
It is not healthy to have any group controlling Council proceedings.
I resent you attempting to characterise my remarks as anti Semetic. It is an unhelpful though disturbingly common retort.
October 29, 2016 at 11:05 PM
Even had Delahunty been replaced by a Jewish councillor, that would have hardly led to Jewish control of Council proceedings (whatever that means). I think your concerns are unsubstantiated. Is it your experience that there is some danger to the Glen Eira community from the election of additional Jewish councillors?
The Jewish community is hardly some monolithic being. There were Jewish candidates from various political tendancies running in Camden, and I would submit that one’s political affiliation is what matters here, not their ethnicity.
For that matter, our parliamentarians in Australia overwhelmingly profess their Christianity – perhaps we should address that first before turning our attention to a couple of Jewish local councillors…
October 30, 2016 at 1:38 PM
Mary is a well known ALP identity in Caulfield. ALP supporters would have voted for her regardless of their faith. The ALP normally polls about 28% of the total vote in a State election. Camden is slightly smaller than Caulfield .Mary got the ALP vote. 25.3%
October 29, 2016 at 11:01 PM
I’m happy that we’ve got a majority of new people in. I wish them all well and that they remember to keep to their election promises. If they do, then the factionalism of Hyams, Lipshutz and Esakoff, that has torn this council apart for ages will be over. That is the most disappointing part of this election. How on earth could these 2 plus Magee get back in. Voters are stupid and ignorant or plain apathetic.
October 29, 2016 at 11:04 PM
It just goes to show, Pilling couldn’t do it without the Greens support, it the end he was Mr Nobody other than being the prime Liberal Party stooge.
I’m hoping for a more honest council that reflects more of the will of the residents and less of the will of the bureaucrats. Even small changes in procedures, law, and planning will reap big dividends in the near future.
Best wishes to all the new Councillors
October 29, 2016 at 11:08 PM
Interesting times ahead –
Green – Davey
Lib – Hyams, Esakoff, Silver
Labor – Delahunty, Taylor, Athanasopoulos
Magee – all flavours
Sztrajt – claims a-political.
October 30, 2016 at 8:29 AM
The phone will be ringing today.
October 30, 2016 at 8:36 AM
and Magee?
October 30, 2016 at 7:59 AM
“Jewish influence” rubbish. Absolute anti Semitism without any proof. Your a bitter and twisted person. Mary stood in a seat with a large Jewish population against 5 of 7 candidates who are Jewish. She received the highest first vote of all candidates in all wards. I could continue but your not worth my time.
October 30, 2016 at 10:05 AM
Please continue, I’m very interested to see who think what?
October 30, 2016 at 1:45 PM
Can anyone guess who this C-ap (MODERATORS: rest of sentence deleted) It can only be the three who are bringing their community down. The authorities in the leadership positions must do something including a statement that those Councillors do not represent their people.
October 30, 2016 at 11:13 AM
Sadly not an uncommon ad hominem response. If you knew my background your anti-Semite drivel would be shown for what it is.
Had Delahuntly not been successful it would mean all Camden Ward councillors would have been from the one group and that group would have been the majority on Council. As it is 4 of the 9 councillors come from that cohort.
Having one group over represented whether it is faith based; politically based; ethnically based or commercially based is counter-productive to good governance. The broader the cross section of people the better.
October 30, 2016 at 2:51 PM
Entirely agree with the above.
We have seen the conflict of interest arise too often. A notable example was the guns in the parks fiasco when councillors with clear conflicts refused to absent themselves from the discussion. If you can’t distinguish between your civic duty and and your work, faith, ethnicity etc you are not worthy of public office.
October 30, 2016 at 7:56 PM
Surely the problem with the guns in parks was the issue of secrecy and not who is who?
October 30, 2016 at 9:08 AM
The new councillors should have their feet on the ground by Christmas. They will come to understand that they are their to rubber stamp the administrations work. Some of the proposals put forward are pure lunacy. Like buying land to provide car parking at railway stations. People in the outer suburbs would love that allowing them to park and ride in zone one while the Glen Eira suckers pay for it. Providing security for residents is the role of Vic Pol not councillors. Fortunately neither of these ideas will ever be heard of again. It is time the council reviewed its role in Aged Care. Glen Eira is one of the few cities that owns and operates Aged care facilities. Most Government operated business always runs at a loss. No one produces a P/L report for these nursing homes. From year to year to year it may look ok but after a while upgrades are required and this is when the ratepayer gets stung. These facilities should be controlled by a separate board with the skills to keep them from running at a long term loss. They will claim that they are profitable just like GESAC. Love to run a fine tooth comb over their books taking into account the basketball fiasco. Councillors will tell you that GESAC is making a profit. The staff tell them this and they swallow it. Giving too much power to a group of well meaning amateurs would be dangerous.
October 30, 2016 at 2:17 PM
With five new Councillors, deals done as part of the election and an old guard, it will be very interesting to see who the next Mayor is. Any thoughts?
October 30, 2016 at 2:35 PM
Logically it should be Delahunty. She now knows the ropes and has been deputy before. If any of Hyams, Esakoff or Magee get another shot at it, then we are in for more of the same. The newly elected need to find their feet first.
October 30, 2016 at 3:51 PM
Now that we know who was elected we can analyse if there is a change of the Council. 5 new Councillors looks that there should be a shift in the tone and emphasis. However, the ‘devil’ is in the detail. Voting at Council is a numbers game. We had 4 Libs on the Council, but now we have 3. We had 2 Labs and we still have 2. Note that Crs Magee and Athanasopoulos are NOT Labor party members, but may be Labor sympathisers. I would not count on them to become a ‘block’ vote with Labor. We had 3 Jewish Councillors, but now we have 4. On some issues that will matter. We had 3 women and we still have 3 women. We had 3 Lib lawyers, and we still have 3 lawyers except Cr Taylor is Labor. We had nominally 2 Greens, but now only 1. Pilling voted with Libs to get his share of Mayorship. On per ward basis, 2 new faces in Camden and Rosstown with Tucker changing Lobo for Taylor. Nevertheless, overall, the changes are small in political terms.
The test of this Council changes will come quickly at the Council meeting that elects a Mayor. The common wisdom would suggest that the first Mayor should be elected from past Councillors: Delahunty, Esakoff, Hyams, Magee. If Cr Delahunty is voted in that will make for a big change (a Labor woman). If Esakoff, Hyams or Magee are voted as Mayor it would indicate no change at all.
October 30, 2016 at 4:17 PM
Great summary
October 30, 2016 at 8:00 PM
I agree, well put
October 30, 2016 at 11:23 PM
I do believe there are four women – Delahunty, Esakoff, Davey and Taylor. Prior to the election there were only the first two, with Ho replacing Okotel. Unless I am missing something obvious…
October 30, 2016 at 4:23 PM
If Delahunty becomes mayor she will have to be mindful of her comments. The mayor is the spokesperson for the council not themselves. Whatever she says is on behalf of all the council. She may find that a challenge. Councillors will not put up with a rogue mayor. They would respond and the whole show would go pear shape. No one wants that. Mary is smart enough to know this.
October 30, 2016 at 5:03 PM
Councillors have put up with rogue mayors for the past 6 years. You can’t argue that Esakoff, Pilling, Magee and Hyams were fair in their judgements nor how they misused the provisions of the legislation and meeting procedures.
October 30, 2016 at 6:04 PM
The last rogue mayor was Gouge. Since then we have not seen one like him.
October 30, 2016 at 5:04 PM
They’ve put up with Mayor’s whose impartiality is questionable before. Two of the old hands mentioned as possibles were anything but impartial.
Agree the first test of the new Council will be who is elected Mayor.
I have no doubt Delahunty will be ever mindful of her responsibility in the role unlike some of her predecessors.
October 30, 2016 at 5:07 PM
Another shattering announcement from Lipshutz’s twitter account –
Glen Eira Council composition: 4 ALP 1 Green 4 Independents
October 30, 2016 at 5:15 PM
The puppet master still up to his old tricks.
Just go away Michael. You’ve done enough damage.
October 30, 2016 at 6:02 PM
Lipshutz has a view of the world. Just because it does not align with your view you think he should shut up and go away. Of course your view is superior.
October 30, 2016 at 6:05 PM
Since both Silver and Hyams admit to being Liberal Party members, they can hardly be called ‘independents’. If the same criteria is to be applied across the board, Delahunty who is a declared Labor Party member, as is Taylor, then they should also be seen as ‘independents’.
October 30, 2016 at 8:59 PM
Taylor has been going around telling people that she works for a not for profit organisation. It is a trade union. Would she hide that fact. Is she embarrassed by her employer. So much for truthfulness.
October 30, 2016 at 9:57 PM
FYI trade unions are not-for-profit organisations.
October 31, 2016 at 6:41 AM
Yes unions are not for profit. So are the Salvos and Red Cross. If she worked for either of those she would have said so. Why didn’t she say that she worked for a union. Nothing to be ashamed of. She has shown what sort of a person she is. Full of tisch.
October 31, 2016 at 9:43 AM
thank you Jamie, good to see your as hateful as ever
October 31, 2016 at 10:52 AM
OK, here’s what Jamie Hyams says about himself – “senior policy analyst at a not for profit organisation” (direct quote from his election brochure).
So I guess your comments about being “full of tisch” apply to Jamie as well.
October 30, 2016 at 7:00 PM
As Glen Eira pointed out what Lipshutz wrote was a wilful falsehood.
He is no longer a Councillor (thank goodness) although it looks like he seeks to remain the puppet master from outside.
October 30, 2016 at 8:02 PM
You would be right with everyone else, but Lipshutz
October 31, 2016 at 1:44 PM
The latest Leader story – http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/inner-south/port-phillip-and-glen-eira-councils-to-welcome-swag-of-fresh-faces/news-story/0b0b14d4dfa93d95b24938c6f729e8a5
October 31, 2016 at 4:35 PM
I thought at one stage Magee was going to chuck it in.
What a load of nonsense is his remark about him getting a secondary college in East Bentleigh. It is solely a State matter which is determined by established criteria.
October 31, 2016 at 9:53 PM
People must be sheer bloody stupid to vote this goon in after the evil he has done to the residents.
November 1, 2016 at 9:45 AM
Lets not forget this man could be a contender for the Mayor. With the likes of Magee and is re-elected Halloween Liberal party twins on council the hopes of resident moving towards any reform could be doomed.
Hyams need to find another Pilling quickly and my bet the new Pilling will be Magee. When that 90 grand get dangled, election promises and good governance will go out the window.
November 1, 2016 at 10:30 AM
Hyams wanted to get Lobo out and Magee assisted him so seems like they’ve done another vindictive deal. Sztrajt preferenced Delahunty last so she may not get his vote for Mayor. Having less than 10% of the Tucker Ward vote and a shocking history, it would be a very poor outcome if Magee was the Mayor.
With five new Councillors, the community has spoken and Magee should sit on the back-blocks. The new Councillors should all support a new direction otherwise they become part of the historical Glen Eira mess.