On the run: Mayor John Mitchell at City Hall on Wednesday.
By John Van Klaveren
MAYOR John Mitchell has announced his nomination for Geelong’s first direct mayoral election.
Cr Mitchell said hed had received an “inordinate amount of support to run again”.
“People from sporting and business circles and the general community have asked me to stand and I wanted to let them know of my decision,” he said.
“I wanted to take the angst out of it and take the pressure off the initial announcement.”
Residents will have their first chance to choose City of Greater Geelong’s mayor at council elections on October 27. Under the previous system councillors chose the mayor behind closed doors.
The Independent revealed last week that the election would run under a preferential system rather than first-past-the-post.
Cr Mitchell said he had received encouragement from both sides of politics.
“I’m not a member of a political party, so I’ll be representing everyone, not just sections of the community.”
Cr Mitchell said he would run a grassroots campaign.
“It won’t be an elaborate campaign. I still have some corflutes left over from the last election.
“No doubt some people will throw a lot of money at it but I can’t afford that. I reckon $30,000 would be the upper-limit.”
Cr Mitchell said he made his announcement early to avoid it becoming a distraction to his existing work as mayor.
“It’ll be a long campaign but that comes later. My sole focus is about being mayor of the day and I can guarantee that an election campaign will not get in the way of that.”
Cr Mitchell said he was unconcerned State Government had yet to finalise the full process for the election and mayoral role.
He was happy to stand on his record and achievements as mayor over the past four years.
“We certainly bat above our weight in terms of grants received from state and federal governments in the last few years,” he said.
Geelong Chamber of Commerce executive officer Bernadette Uzelac said she was unsurprised Cr Mitchell would stand again.
“Now that John has shown his hand it might encourage any other potential candidates to announce their intentions,” Ms Uzelac said.
“We’re looking for new leadership to take Geelong into the future. Geelong will look for more than simply the status quo.
“The business community is looking for a strong leader who can help business grow in the region.”
Geelong Trades Hall’s Tim Gooden said the first direct election might let a “person of the people” like Cr Mitchell stand but the system was flawed.
“It’s a huge electorate, bigger than any state or federal seat, and changes the power base of the position of mayor. It can lead to corruption,” Mr Gooden said.
“Ordinary workers are out of the race because it will cost up to $250,000 to run a campaign.”
