By Cam Lucadou-Wells
An oversight has sensationally tipped Greater Dandenong councillor Peter Brown out of the running in October’s council election.
An 11th hour dash to the Supreme Court of Victoria failed to overturn the Victorian Electoral Commission’s ruling.
In a hastily-convened Zoom hearing, Supreme Court Justice Tony Cavanough ruled on the matter just minutes before the candidate nomination deadline at noon on Tuesday 22 September.
Meanwhile, Cr Brown was waiting with nomination form at the ready at the Victorian Electoral Commission office in Dandenong.
He had planned to nominate for Noble Park Ward in a head-to-head battle with sitting councillor Sophie Tan.
Justice Cavanough ruled that Cr Brown was not on the electoral roll and so ineligible to stand at the election.
Cr Brown lives in Chelsea but had sought to stand as an owner of property in Noble Park. His name had been submitted to the VEC on the Greater Dandenong Council CEO’s list of property owners eligible to vote.
Victorian Electoral Commissioner lawyer Liam Brown said Cr Brown had owned a different property in Greater Dandenong ahead of the 2016 election.
Cr Brown needed to re-apply for the electoral roll under Local Government Act 2020’s new rules.
Cr Brown’s barrister Joel Silver argued Cr Brown had been serving as a councillor since November 2019 since acquiring the Noble Park property in August 2018.
Mr Silver said that the omission was not Cr Brown’s fault. He was removed from the roll without procedural fairness, Mr Silver said.
A shocked Cr Brown initially blamed “bureaucratic inaction” for the outcome.
He later backed away from negligence action against the council for not warning him of his situation.
He discovered the omission when he applied as a candidate on 21 September. However, his fate was sealed when voter rolls closed on 28 August.
Cr Brown said he was unaware of the law change’s impact on him and up to 3200 other non-resident ratepayers on the CEO list.
“They would all be deleted,” Cr Brown surmised. “They wouldn’t know”
Greater Dandenong chief executive John Bennie said under the new Act, non-resident voters didn’t have an automatic enrolment right but must apply to be on the voters roll.
A person enrolled on the CEO list for the 2016 election retained an automatic entitlement for the 2020 election – only if their circumstances were unchanged, he said.
“For all future elections beyond 2020, there will be a requirement for all previous CEO list voters to make application to be enrolled at every election.
“This was well publicised by the VEC in the attached public notice.”
A VEC spokesperson said the VEC’s information to prospective candidates confirmed the “importance of confirming eligibility”.
“A decision not to act on the VEC’s advice is a personal choice.
“Providing special treatment because a person has not properly familiarised themselves with enrolment requirements would undermine the impartiality and integrity of the election.”
Cr Brown has served as a councillor for 14 years, including as mayor in 2006.
