Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Australia's future broadband was an issue that was a big part of the 2010 federal election. In the 2007 election, Work Choices loomed large. In the 2010 Victorian election, health and education were hot topics. In each of these elections, the state of the economy was central. Yet who in Geelong could answer the question as to what were the big issues in the 2008 municipal elections? What were the issues that dominated the news coverage and had every candidate talking? The answer is that there were none, because this is just not how our local government elections have worked. Yet central to the democratic process is not just choosing our elected representatives but also having a debate around issues and having ideas tested at the ballot box. This is not to say that past council elections have been undemocratic. In each ward, there have been key issues which have been debated. But, with no overall Geelong election, what we have really had in past municipal elections is 12 separate ward elections with separate issues and separate debates. Having a Geelong-wide debate about the multitude of Geelong-wide issues and having Geelong-wide agendas tested is what I believe is the real opportunity that comes with the first direct mayoral election later this year. For the first time in a meaningful way, we will have one election for one position across the entirety of the city of Greater Geelong.

A couple of weeks ago I had a meeting about how to energise the Geelong cultural precinct project. My advice was that this is an issue that must be aired in the upcoming mayoral election. It is an issue at the heart of the Geelong debate. Each of the mayoral candidates should be required to express a public view on the issue. There should be public meetings about it. It should be an election issue. I call on every interest group and concerned citizen who has a burning issue to make it a part of this year's Geelong election. While the cultural precinct is important for me, what the city does about jobs and the cost of living and not just what it does about planning and garbage collection—in other words, how we turn our local government into a true regional government—is the really big issue for the Geelong election. The Committee for Geelong and G21 have been important catalysts for debate, but it is this election that must be the most important moment in which to generate a Geelong agenda. Mandates for action around this agenda must be earned. When we look back at the 2012 Geelong election, it must not only be about who ran; more importantly, we must be able to answer the question as to what they ran about. Ensuring that the 2012 Geelong election is not just about 'who' but also that it becomes, for the first time, about 'what' is an opportunity that the Geelong community itself must take.

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