Councillor Melissa Cadwell was elected via countback following Cr Sarah Mansfield’s departure to join the upper house of Victorian Parliament. After nearly four weeks in the job she spoke to Matt Hewson about her first experiences as councillor and her journey to get there.
Taking on a new role, particularly in a new organisation, is almost always equal parts exciting and daunting.
For City of Greater Geelong’s (CoGG) newest councillor Melissa Cadwell, Brownbill Ward, her first four weeks with council have been no different.
“I’ve had a few months to prepare for it and think about what it might mean but you never really know what it’s going to be like,” Cr Cadwell said.
“It’s like starting a new job, starting a new anything. You never can really prepare as much as you would like, you ultimately just have to jump in and hope for the best and roll your sleeves up and kind of get to work.
“I’m still getting used to people calling me councillor, but it’s been a really positive experience actually so far and it’s nice to be able to legitimately say that.”
Cr Cadwell was born and raised in St Albans Park, part of the Brownbill Ward she now represents, and bought a house in the same street she grew up in some five years ago.
When she was very young her father died from complications following an industrial accident, leaving her mother to bring up two children by herself.
“Mum brought us up working a series of pretty poorly paid, menial jobs, so it was a real struggle for her,” Cr Cadwell said.
“I’m incredibly proud and very fortunate that I had a mother that prioritised her family.
“So that’s a really strong and important relationship and it’s really given me a strong sense of standing up for the little guy, I suppose; the everyday person for whom, through no fault of their own, life has been difficult.”
After finishing her schooling at Geelong High School completed a hospitality apprenticeship at the Gordon and entered the workforce.
Nearly a decade later, she returned to study as a mature age student, completing a bachelor of arts at Monash with majors in politics, sociology and anthropology.
Since then she has worked in a range of roles, including paediatric research, hospitality, charity and construction, before her current role in industrial relations for Professionals Australia.
“I’ve pretty much always worked in roles that I’d describe as cause-driven, or values-driven,” Cr Cadwell said.
“I’ve done a lot of different things but they have all been overwhelmingly service-oriented and community-oriented types of industries and I think that has kind of drawn them together.
“And I think they’ve actually been a fantastic training ground for what I’m doing now because as a representative of people, having that diversity of life experience is so important.
“You can have a little bit of an understanding of people’s own issues and concerns if you’ve lived a little bit of that life and you can empathise a bit with it. I think that helps when you’re representing people.”
Her experiences, both growing up and in the workforce, led her to local government and politics.
“I never thought I’d end up working in politics, but I think I’ve probably always been political in the sense of my values and my thinking,” she said.
“I’ve always had a very strong sense of fairness and justice and a concern for the issues that faced disadvantaged or marginalised people, migrants, refugees.
“I think that very much comes from growing up in a single-parent, working-class family in a lower socio-economic area.
“It’s all very well to complain from the sidelines about local government, but ultimately you want to try to play a part in fixing it. I felt I had to put my hand up and try to do something about it.”
Cr Cadwell ran unsuccessfully for a position on council in both 2017 and 2020, but said those failed campaigns had been important learning experiences.
“It’s always nice to win at something you’ve contributed a lot of time and effort and money to, but sometimes the greatest learnings come from the things you don’t win,” she said.
“I knew I had a good political message that was cutting through to people enough for them to want to vote for me.
“I wanted to see fairness and equity in the apportionment of council funds, and I felt the local areas I lived in were being a bit neglected.
“There really wasn’t anyone, I didn’t think, out here in the southern suburbs advocating for those issues. So I decided it was up to me.”
While she was unsuccessful in the 2020 campaign, Cr Cadwell accumulated enough votes and preferences to be first in line when Cr Sarah Mansfield was elected to the Victorian Legislative Council.
During her first public council meeting on January 31 this year, Cr Cadwell’s induction to the council was met unanimously with warm welcome, anticipation and enthusiasm from other councillors.
“Everyone has been incredibly welcoming, very friendly; you never really know what it’s going to be like until you actually get in the room,” Cr Cadwell said.
“All I can say is that the people who said all those lovely things, they’ve been genuinely like that behind closed doors.
“I’m not seeing any of the party political stuff that people talk about on council. I really believe most councillors are in it for the right reasons and they’ll make decisions about their vote based on their own values and integrity and the merits of whatever they’re voting on.”
Cr Cadwell’s maiden speech was an emotional moment as she paid tribute to her mother, who was in attendance along with retired MP Lisa Neville and Geelong MP Christine Couzens.
“I’m an emotional person, I make no secret of that, especially talking about my mother; she’s been a real role model for me,” she said.
“And not to get into party politics, but I’m an ALP member because I’ve seen the incredible importance of the things Labor governments have delivered; Medicare, compulsory superannuation, HECS.
“Mum’s been at the centre of all those things. So it was quite emotional to have her there, and also other really strong Labor women like Lisa Neville and Christine Couzens, who are role models for women and Labor people everywhere.”
For Cr Cadwell, representing the people of Geelong is the most important part of her role.
“My overarching goal is to make sure that I advocate for the best interests of Geelong residents, whether they’re in my ward or not,” she said.
“We’re elected to look after the people who live in our ward, but also to actually represent all the residents of Geelong. So I think that’s really important. I really take that responsibility very seriously.
When asked about her aspirations in other levels of politics, Cr Cadwell referred back to the words of Paul Keating she quoted in her maiden speech.
“His quote really does ring true; the reward in public life is public progress, and you’ve got to think about whether you’ve made the place better,” she said.
“That’s what I’m really focused on now. I know a lot of people think councillors only get elected in order to become state or federal parliamentarians – and I’m not ruling that out – but I really just want to do a good job as a councillor.”
