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Campaign heats up!

The Australian Local Government Women’s Association has taken steps to contact and speak with several Victorian Councils to make Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) Interim President Cr Coral Ross their MAV delegate.The MAV rules do not specify that a Council’s MAV delegate must be a councillor at their own Council.

“We are taking this unusual step following the extraordinary decision by Boroondara Council,” said ALGWA Vic President Helen Coleman.This will enable Cr Ross to stand for election following her Council’s bizarre decision not to appoint a MAV delegate, effectively robbing her of the opportunity to stand as President of Victoria’s peak body of Local Government in the March elections.

“This is a highly unusual move, but so is that of a Council refusing to appoint a Delegate when they are a financial member and wish to reform the organisation,” added Ms Coleman

In response to the Boroondara mayoral comments, it is worth pointing out that their Minutes of August 2016 have an Officer Report showing the cost savings identified in connection with the Boroondara’s MAV Membership are in excess of $458,000 per annum or over 7 times the annual subscription cost per year.

Cr Coral Ross, an independent, is currently serving as interim Municipal Association President until elections in March, and is highly respected in the local government sector. She represents Victoria on Australia’s national peak local government body, the Australian Local Government Association. She was elected to the MAV Board in 2011, and was the Deputy President (Metro) until elected Interim President by the Board in November.

First elected to Council in 2002, Cr Ross has served as Boroondara mayor three times and was recently re-elected to Council with over 63% of the primary vote. She was named as one of the Westpac/Fairfax 100 Women of Influence in 2014, was chosen for the Local Government Minister’s Mayoral Advisory Panel in 2015 and was the ALGWA Victorian President from 2011 to 2016. Cr Ross is currently the National President of ALGWA. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Company Directors.

In his latest President’s Newsletter the President of the Australian Local Government Association Mayor David O’Loughlin has expressed his disappointment at Boroondara’s actions and has said

“I express my extreme disappointment with the loss of Cr Coral Ross from the ALGA Board due to her council’s failure to support her nomination to the MAV Board,” said Mayor O’Loughlin

“Coral’s role as the President of the Australian Local Government Women’s Association, in addition to her MAV duties, was very much appreciated by the ALGA Board and I thank her for all she was able to achieve with us,” he added.

Jane Nathan, former Mayor Hawthorn City Council, Treasurer of the MAV and Administrator at Brimbank City Council stated “The community of Boroondara respect Coral for her integrity and commitment to her constituents without any hidden agendas.This retrograde action by some Councillors elected to represent their community leaves me dumbfounded, and will be seriously questioned as more community groups are made aware of a decision that was taken behind closed doors. What is their agenda? There would be no other Council paying money to belong to the MAV that would remove not only their delegate but the President, it’s like taking a double barred shotgun and blasting your Council off the agenda. “

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