Congratulations to Mary Delahunty on being elected unopposed as the new Glen Eira mayor this evening. Jim Magee was elected deputy mayor for a period of two years.
Delahunty’s acceptance speech set a new tone for this council, and again we congratulate her on this.
The highlights of her acceptance speech were:
- that the 5 new councillors were being given a unique opportunity to work for the community. The job comes with opportunity but also challenges.
- dedicated to leading a ‘cohesive council and achieving the goals of our community’
- wanted council to be ‘strategic’ and ‘showing the rest of the state what local government can be’ in terms of being a good employer, and having services that ‘are meaningful to the community’m ‘environmentally’ responsible and a council that ‘deals with fiscal responsibilities’ but with a ‘social benefit’. Plus, ‘we can be an absolute force when it comes to community advocacy’.
- Had ‘faith’ that the ‘diversity around this table will lead to good community outcomes’ and that councillors will ‘respect each other’, the process, ‘this chamber’ and ‘the people who put us here’.
- There’s the need to make sure that all people ‘feel welcomed and have a voice on council’.
- There will be opportunities and challenges such as the level crossing removal and making sure that ‘in a constructive way we are putting the best interests of the community forward’. Noted the 2016 Community Satisifaction Survey where there were a ‘few areas’ where ‘people were happy’ but other areas where they weren’t. Of ‘great concern to our community is the intensity of development’ and ‘we have to be more forceful’ and ‘proactive’. Council has to now concentrate on the necessary strategic work and on consulting and protecting heritage and trees. ‘We have to bring the voices of the people into the process’.
- ‘Good financial management’ whilst important is not an ‘end goal’. They are ‘enablers’ for ‘progress’
- The racecourse is still an issue and thanked Magee for his work on this. But ‘we will finally put this right’.
- The ‘community has voted for some change and I’m sure we can deliver that’. ‘We need to be the community representatives but with a strategic mandate’ and ‘we need to make as many opportunities as possible to hear from the residents’ and to ‘adopt a learning posture at all times’. The Local Law doesn’t allow this but does allow the mayor to have ‘discretion’ in deciding what can be asked. ‘I intend to exercise this discretion for 15 minutes’ from the next public meeting (applause).
- On councillor allowances she will be ‘directing’ that a ‘portion’ of the mayoral allowance be used to fund family violence strategies. Said that as the level of government closest to ‘the people’ that Council needs to ‘play a leading role’ in the safety of the community.
Ended up by thanking family and friends.
Glen Eira Debates 
November 8, 2016 at 9:36 PM
It was how you have reported, and there may be some positive changes in the winds. Her announcement to use a portion’ of the mayoral allowance to be used to fund family violence strategies was above all else really pleasing.
November 8, 2016 at 10:01 PM
Credit to Delahunty for signalling that she will be using mayoral discretion on public questions and I assume this means allowing questions from the gallery without notice. That’s a very positive step. A big but is what happens when she is no longer mayor? It’s not enough to rely on the mayor’s discretion. It has to be part of the local law and that means amending the whole thing. I don’t want to be reading in a year’s time when she is no longer mayor that we’ve reverted back to the bad old ways. So many aspects of the meeting procedures have to be changed that they need to look at the entire section of the law and get it done as soon as possible.
November 8, 2016 at 10:55 PM
One step at the time Mr D.
November 9, 2016 at 2:40 PM
Fair point. Tone is right from all of the newbies too according to reports from last night.
November 8, 2016 at 10:24 PM
Congrats to Mayor Delahunty. A pleasing development.
Let’s hope Hyams will be sidelined and the newbies will work to repair the enormous damage done to the credibility and professionalism of Council by Hyams, Lipshutz and fellow travellers like Pilling.
A good start would be to pay attention to the knitting and don’t merely act as a conduit for the administration but actually fight for the legitimate concerns of residents.
November 8, 2016 at 10:46 PM
Too early to tell for sure, but agree some good signs that change is in the air. Delahunty has at least been consistent throughout her four years in voting for notice of motion, tree register, and social issues. At least she should be able to run meetings properly not like Pilling.
November 8, 2016 at 10:53 PM
here’s to hoping
November 9, 2016 at 7:48 AM
Great decision, well done to all Councillors.
November 9, 2016 at 8:04 AM
Wonder why Mary mentioned level crossing removal as a challenge, other than to remind us the previous council completely flubbed Skyrail. No records of meetings with LXRA; no EES; planning approval without a plan; substantial overshadowing and other violations of ResCode; an Incorporated Document with no constraints on what LXRA and the Minister can do—no conditions and no accountability for any decision; no compensation scheme for those unfairly impacted; still no plan published yet construction is taking place; construction activity without permit outside of project area eg partial road closures. Council has been mute throughout this saga other than to tell people who ask public questions to piss off.
November 9, 2016 at 9:27 AM
Five mature trees gone from E.E. Gunn reserve last week all on council land. Enquires to council, tells us the Level Crossing Authority is doing all the work building a bicycle path connection And the works has nothing to do with council, even though it’s being built on council land.
I was told no plan is available or apparently has never been made. No public consultation has taken place, although I was told they did knock on the doors of the properties that have a back gate onto the reserve (that’s is what passes a public consultation in Glen Eira)
Council has duck-shoved this tree removal and yet more concreting of our our open space, when the path could have curved through the trees, or used the exsisting tarmaced surface just a few metres away.
All this well timed for the election week and councillor change over.
Tree decline is becoming a big problem in Glen Eira and the new councillors will need to halt the this deliberate or clandestine decline. Concreting our open space is seen as the thing to do, this is, and will become even a bigger problem if it continues at the past and present rates. We need to value our parks and reserves not clear and concrete them
November 9, 2016 at 3:59 PM
LXRA is a property developer. Extraordinary that in cohoots with the Planning Minister they can do what they like with our land, in this case EE Gunn reserve. The Incorporated Document [GC30] explicitly allows them to remove all trees if they so feel like. It is arguable they can build what they like too, such as a 50-storey tower on what was once a park, since that can be considered an “ancillary development or use”. Very typical of the dictatorial approach taken by Labor under Daniel Andrews and the utter lack of oversight provided by our incompetent Parliament. Officially the Secretary of DELWP is responsible for the destruction of the trees.
November 9, 2016 at 8:34 AM
I wonder if this means this will be the year tha something finally happens on the racecourse with these 2 fighting for change the most. The govt says the legislation will not be introduced till mid year. Plenty of breathing space for mrc
November 9, 2016 at 10:31 AM
Curious as to the reasoning behind Magee’s two year appointment.
November 9, 2016 at 5:47 PM
Horse-trading to get Delahunty over the line?
November 9, 2016 at 6:28 PM
The post is wrong. Both elected for one year.