Councillor gives up day job in Labor MP’s office

Andrew Mathieson
SAVING ratepayers $50,000 in by-election costs has left an embattled Geelong councillor out of pocket at least as much.
Cr Cameron Granger was forced to decide on Tuesday between a full-time electoral officer’s salary and a part-time councillor’s allowance.
He quit working for Lara MP John Eren after State Government’s new conflicting duties bill came into law, stopping councillors holding positions within any Australian parliament.
Parliamentary staffers earn between $49,101 and $70,477 a year, while Geelong councillors’ pays have risen this year to $26,378.
Cr Granger said the changes to the law left him in financial limbo.
“I’m giving up my full-time job and I have to maintain a mortgage,” he said.
“It’s almost a gamble on that front.”
Cr Granger was fined $1000 for failing to leave council chambers earlier this year during a vote on the plans of a developer who had helped fund his unsuccessful 2004 election campaign.
Ratepayers were forced to pay more than $5000 each to Crs Granger and David Saunderson, who worked in the office of federal Corio MP Richard Marles until earlier this year, during their leave of absence until their court hearings.
Cr Granger did not expect the Labor party to find him an alternative plum job within the party structure.
“There has been no other offer of employment and I haven’t asked for the Labor party to find me anything,” he said.
But the Lara councillor said he would “never say never” to furthering his political career in parliament.