Candidate defends convicted ex-councillor

Andrew Mathieson
A Geelong council by-election candidate has offered support for the sacked councillor she hopes to replace.
Teacher Michelle Jokic said she believed David Saunderson “did a lot of good work” despite losing his seat on council over a conflict of interest conviction.
Mrs Jokic plans to fight for Cowie ward in Geelong’s northern suburbs against contenders including ardent Saunderson Eddy Kontelj, a brother of sitting Geelong councillor and Liberal party member Stretch.
Mrs Jokic will seek to garner support from the same voters who elected Saunderson, a Labor member and former staffer, twice in 2004 and 2008.
Saunderson was convicted, fined and banned from sitting on any Victorian council for seven years in his second conviction for breaching the Local Government Act.
“I saw he did a lot of good work within the community and we should never forget that because he really did change the area,” Mrs Jokic said.
“I know he did a lot of work for a lot of community groups that he gave his time to.
“I know people have been reading about his stories in the paper and it causes sensationalism but we can’t forget the good work he did.”
The Bell Post Hill mother-of-three said she wanted to “build” on Saunderson’s work and relationships.
Cowie ward, which covers Bell Park, Bell Post Hill, Norlane and North Geelong, is one of several traditionally Labor-supported wards in the northern suburbs.
Recent councillors have had ties to the ALP’s local branches, but Mrs Dokic said she had no party affiliation except “a very healthy” respect for unions.
“My father always voted Labor and he raised six children on one wage,” she said.
“And I know the history from the ‘60s because we wouldn’t have equal and fair pay if it wasn’t for the unions.”
Mrs Jokic had a light-hearted dig at Eddy Kontelj’s status of holding a Guinness World Record for the longest static cycling marathon, claiming she had been a competitor in Lorne Pier to Pub’s record for the “largest blue-water ocean race in the Southern Hemisphere” for the past 21 years.
But she was full of praise for her main rival, who ran second to Saunderson at last year’s council election.
“I think he is a dedicated, hard-working, committed person and what a great adversary to go and campaign against,” Mrs Jokic said.