Preference in the Albury Council elections have been distributed. The predictions I made on election night are pretty much confirmed, the nine people are (in the order of their election:
Patricia GOULD
Alice GLACHAN
Paul WAREHAM
Robert ANGUS
Daryl BETTERIDGE
Philomena SAWYER
Henk VAN DE VAN
Neville HULL
Amanda DUNCAN-STRELEC
So what does it all mean?
Duncan Strelec and Wareham
There was hope that this election could publicly end the personal feuding that has dogged Albury City council over the last year. Voters could turf either candidate, or both, out of office, and we wouldn’t have to hear about it again. Unfortunately both Paul Wareham and Amanda Duncan-Strelec were re-elected.
Amanda had claimed she would lose office because people were victimising her. I predicted she would lose office because of her handling of the Paul Wareham issue. At the time I said that she was hurting her reputation whilst building the profile of a person who previously stood no chance at re-election.
It did hurt Amanda Duncan-Strelec, but not enough to turf her out of office.
Paul Wareham will no doubt see his high personal result as a vindication of his stance. His vote was significant, and he will be tempted to use it as a weapon against Amanda Duncan-Strelec.
Alice Glachan
I didn’t think Alice would get re-elected. It was Fraunfelder’s whopping 34% of the vote in 2004 that saw Alice Glachan elected. He was a vet, and people like vets. Alice Glachan was not a vet, but she did get the second highest result.
Mick Mcglone claimed she was a sure thing, because of the high Liberal vote. I thought he was in fairy land. I am tempted to suggest that her success was in part due to the Border Mail treating her with undue seriousness. She did get a significant run in the local press during the campaign, but not enough to entirely account for her performance.
So I’ll admit, Mick Mcglone was right and I was wrong about this one.
Henk Van de Ven
Who the hell is Henk Van de Ven? It didn’t matter in the end, the words “sitting councillor” were enough to get him re-elected. Might this be an example of the famed incumbency effect? With a plethora of candidates on offer, voters did seem to favour those candidates (Gould, Glachan, Wareham, Van de Van, and Duncan-Strelec) who were seeking a second term over those who were seeking a first.
Daryl Betteridge
The kiddies came out, and they voted for Daryl. Will this mean the new council has to find a new whipping boy for violence on Dean St?
Daryl owns Sweethearts Pizza and ran on a ticket backed by other late night traders. I suspect they are sick of council reflexively blaming “alcohol” and insufficient restrictions on opening hours for Albury’s problems.
Maybe Daryl will be able to bring some intelligence to the debate, maybe council will start talking about the root cause of alcohol abuse rather than simply attacking “alcohol” and blaming the victims.
Patricia Gould
In the end, perhaps it is Patricia Gould’s result that is the final word on the nonsense that has plagued Albury City council over the last year.
Name a councillor who was not publicly caught up in the Fromholtz Park issue? Patricia Gould. Name a councillor who didn’t trade insults back and forth across the council chamber? Patricia Gould. It goes on.
She scored a massive vote that saw her and her number two (Robert Angus) elected. There were masses of other candidates, but in an atmosphere of turmoil, the people of Albury turned to the one rock of Albury politics.
Patricia Gould will almost certainly be the next Mayor of Albury. She’s had a ringing public endorsement that the other councillors will be reluctant to defy. I would not be surprised if Patricia Gould was still Mayor going into the next election.
- Albury Council Election Results...
- Tipping the Council Results...
- Albury Council Campaign: Candidate Connection Reflections...
- 2008 Council Elections Guide...
- Profile: Paul Wareham...
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on Sep 22nd, 2008 at 12:15 am
Do you think the Rev Lance Armstrong’s ‘hate-mail’ letter drop about Van de Ven may have won him some sympathy votes, Kieran? It certainly gave Hank some publicity in the BM and on radio.
As for Amanda getting back, I think it might mean Albury’s public brawling among councillors is set to continue. I can’t see Pat controlling it.
on Sep 22nd, 2008 at 6:29 am
Good analysis, Kieran. I’m with Ray on little Patty.
I think Lance Armsstrong’s biggest boo boo was not actually standing for council, instead of character bashing. Oh, hang on, no, there’s already sufficient fire and brimstone there.
on Sep 22nd, 2008 at 9:56 am
Re the brawling, that both of them got re-elected is a damn shame.
Re Henk, I don’t think Lance Armstrong’s letter had much of an effect. What we saw in this election was the re-election of every sitting councillor who sought it (Except Nico, but running second on a ticket doesn’t really count as seeking re-election).
As for Lance running for council, I don’t think so. Read his book, I am pretty sure it will take a bit more than a rude local councillor to ever tempt Lance back to electoral politics.
on Sep 22nd, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Well all I will say re who was re elected is that Paul Wareham is an honest councillor with integrity who works for those with no voice or influence. HE OR HIS FAMILY HAVE NEVER BENEFITTED FINANCIALLY FROM DECISIONS PASSED BY ALBURY CITY COUCIL. HE HAS NO HIDDEN FINANCIAL AGENDA.
CAN ANYONE SAY THAT ABOUT ALL OF THE OTHER COUNCILLORS??? WAKE UP ALBURY AND SMELL THE STINK!!!!
on Sep 22nd, 2008 at 1:44 pm
just what albury needs… more stupid fan boys.
on Sep 22nd, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Can I say that about all the other councillors? Almost certainly yes. There is almost nothing a councillor can do in this day and age to personally profit from their actions.
And if there was, New South Wales has this delightful innovation called the Independent Commissions Against Corruption. If anyone, including you, had even a skerrick of evidence, they could call ICAC.
With all the back and forth between councillors on our council, if anyone suspected anything at all, ICAC would probably recieve a half dozen referrals.
So don’t be absurd.
The problems in Albury City Council were not centred around corruption, they were centred around the childish and amateur behaviour of councillors.
And Amanda was far from alone in trading snipes across the floor in council meetings.
on Sep 22nd, 2008 at 3:30 pm
I reckon it means Wodonga will continue to outgrow Albury and benefit from the the rubbish they go on with.
Well I guess that depends on the make up of the next Wodonga council but, whatever that is, I can’t see they’ll deviate much from their main programs of CBD revitalisation and residential growth.
I think the ‘ugly sister’ might turn the tables on Albury yet.
on Sep 22nd, 2008 at 5:58 pm
Oh Kieran, how green are you? You are quite naive politically.
Evidence can be hard to find if the person involved has half a brain. Let’s take a real example from the USA. I am in charge of allocating large military contracts in my role in the defence department. I allocate a contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars to a large aerospace company. I resign my post a couple of months later and go on to the board of that companyy with a wage of a couple of million dollars per annum to attend just the AGM. Now there was no proof of any connection between the appointment and the granting of the contract but anyone who has lived on this earth for 18 years could work it out!!!
You are either really gullible if you think all local councillors have no personal interests in running for office or you are pretending to be gullible. Anyway smell the coffee. Did you not read about the Italian from Griffith benefitting from a personal intervention gainst the advice of the police from the Liberal Minister to keep him from being deported just weeks after his brother made a big donation to the Liberal Party. Again no evidence, hardly surprising, but very strange. Now the ex minister is ambassador to what country— yes ITALY and the Italian is up for the largest drugs haul ever. Kieran if you are going to run a blog you need to get out into the real world more!!!!!
on Sep 22nd, 2008 at 6:15 pm
Yeah, that Pat Gould would be on the take (or make) for sure. I’d say she’s angling for a free pass to the yet-to-be- built “Albury Executive Nursing Home”.
You wait, that’ll be her main project in what surely has to be her last term in office. At last, the big pay off for Pat!
Johnny, who needs a life? I think you watch too much TV.
on Sep 22nd, 2008 at 9:36 pm
Who mentioned Patricia Gould? Only you. Obviously you know nothing about what went on in the Council in the past couple of years. Maybe you should attend a few meetings at Kiewa Street to inform yourself of what decisions were made and who benefitted. Honestly if you write a blog at least keep yourself informed of what is going on in the political field locally if you want to be taken seriously !!! Good Night. Hopefully as you get older the scales might fall from your eyes. I will look for an intelligent blog on politics in Albury. So should you!!!
on Sep 22nd, 2008 at 9:39 pm
Sorry but just noticed the bit on the site about a left wing perspective. What a laugh. Left wing compared to what? The views of Attila the Hun or Mussolini!!!!
on Sep 23rd, 2008 at 12:26 am
Umm, what “went on in the Council in the past couple of years,” John? You’re just talking in general accusations. Be specific man, name the corruption, if not the corrupt.
on Oct 4th, 2008 at 12:00 am
You have to remember Alice Glachan is a Glachan, and they are one of those “Albury royalty” families, along with the Goulds and others.
There are probably a lot of people who fondly remember her father Ian, who served as member for Albury for a really long time. A well recognised family name never goes astray.
Or pizza. It helps too. :p