Voting closes 6pm on Friday 26 October and the ballot will be counted on Saturday 27 October.
You can read about my campaign, why I am running on my campaign blog and the election [here]
I am running as an independent candidate as I with to represent Maling Residents directly. I am not a member of a political party.
The Liberal, Labor and Green parties all field candidates in local government elections. The Greens endorse candidates, while Labor and Liberal candidates run undeclared, often pretending that they are "independent".
Our democratic system is based on Councillors representing all the residents in their ward, not just the interests of a particular political party and its supporters.
I think we need to implement optional preferential voting. People should be able to control where their preference does or doesn't go. If they only support one candidate in a single member ward, then just "1" on the ballot paper should be valid vote. I think this would reduce all the undemocratic deals and manoeuvering that goes on behind the scenes when candidates decide who they are going to direct preferences to.
Of course voters actually choose where their preference goes, but candidate recommendations often influence many people, who often don't know much about who they are voting for (other than by a photo and a 150 word statement).
I am looking forward to serving the people of Maling Ward should I be elected. It will be a tight race however so every vote will count.
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