CITY of Greater Dandenong council includes three new faces following October’s local government elections.
The Star asked first-time councillors Sean O’Reilly (Lightwood Ward), Matthew Kirwan (Red Gum Ward) and Meng Heang Tak (Paperbark Ward) a few fun questions to introduce them to the community.
Sean O’Reilly is an information technology professional who lives in Springvale and works in Mulgrave.
He started his campaign by delivering a survey to all residents in his ward. The result of this survey guided his campaign and saw him adopt the slogan ‘A Clean Start’.
“Residents told me they want the cleanliness of where we live and work improved, and to be sure that all areas of the council are receiving a fair share,” he said.
What is something not many people know about you?
I like reading Shakespeare.
What was the first concert you attended?
David Lee Roth.
If you could witness any event, past, present or future, what would it be?
The creation of the universe.
What was your favourite book as a child?
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
What would your last meal on earth be?
Barbecued sausages in bread.
If you could live through one particular era, what would it be and why?
Now is as good a time as any.
If you could be someone else for a week, who would you be?
Julius Caesar.
Top five dinner party guests? Dead or alive.
My grandparents on both sides, and Al Pacino.
What is your most memorable sporting moment?
Shane Warne bowling out Mike Gatting in 1993.
What was your most embarrassing moment?
Splitting my pants in primary school.
Matthew Kirwan has lived in Keysborough all his life, attending Maralinga Primary School and Chandler Secondary College.
He now works as an IT project manager with the Department of Human Services but was originally an industrial chemist, having studied science at Monash University before studying IT at RMIT.
Cr Kirwan will continue the involvement he’s had with a number of community groups throughout his life. He’s currently a Lions Club of Dandenong member, the Neighbourhood Watch Greater Dandenong Watch secretary, and a Greater Dandenong Environment Group member.
What is something not many people know about you?
I was president of the Rotaract Club of Noble Park in 2001/02.
What was the first concert you attended?
A Vanessa Amorosi concert at the Hallam Hotel.
If you could witness any event, past, present or future, what would it be?
Federation of Australia in 1901.
What was your favourite book as a child?
The Hobbit.
What would your last meal on earth be?
Not sure about last meal but the last thing I would like to eat would be cheese!
If you could live through one particular era, what would it be and why?
Immediately after World War II in Australia. It was not an easy time but an optimistic time when Australians were more committed to being an egalitarian society than they are now.
If you could be someone else for a week, who would you be?
Can’t think of anyone – quite happy with being myself.
Top five dinner party guests? Dead or alive.
Ben Chifley, John Curtin, Mahatma Gandhi, Eugene Victor Debs and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
What is your most memorable sporting moment?
Victorian Secondary Schools Bowls Championship at Mitcham Bowls Club in 1989. I was representing Chandler High School, now part of Keysborough Secondary College.
What was your most embarrassing moment?
Forgetting the name of who I was to meet for a job interview.
Meng Heang Tak, 32, came to Australia in 1996 with his parents and siblings for a better life.
He thanks his uncle and aunty “who had tried very hard to bring us to Australia under humanitarian program back then”.
He attended Heatherhill Secondary College and went on to complete a double degree in Law and Arts (international relations).
During his study he worked as a casual interpreter and later as a radio broadcaster, and occasionally in the farm as a picker during summer.
He lives with his wife in Noble Park and works locally as a legal practitioner by day and as a radio broadcaster by night (two nights a week).
What was the first concert you attended?
Back in the 1990s in Cambodia, a propaganda concert organised by the local authority.
If you could witness any event, past, present or future, what would it be?
This is very hard to imagine but I would want to see real man walk on the moon.
What was your favourite book as a child?
I don’t quite remember, but the first book that I remember was Cinderella (it was my very first book that I actually owned) and my second book was Animal Farm by George Orwell.
What would your last meal on earth be?
Any meal would be fine so long it would be with my wife, Manette.
If you could live through one particular era, what would it be and why?
I think we live in a very interesting era. I would not dream of living in any other era.
If you could be someone else for a week, who would you be?
Not sure actually, but maybe my grandfather.
What is your most memorable sporting moment?
Watching the Australian team at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.
What was your most embarrassing moment?
Pretending I was in the same class with my wife, which later she found out that I was not her classmate.
