By Ethan Benedicto
As the cut-off date for candidate nominations is less than a week away, the official VEC Casey Council list is open for viewing, as former councillor Gary Rowe has entered his submission for Correa Ward.
Rowe, who is an ex-Cranbourne Liberal MP stands firm on a platform of more housing and wise spending, stressing that “everyone is suffering from housing not being built”.
Reflecting on the new council, as well as the influx of newer potential candidates with no previous experience, he added that he could serve as an “old” guide for the councillors.
“If you read what they [council candidates] say, they haven’t quite got that it’s a team event – where people are listening to each other, working together for the whole municipality,” he said.
In 2020, Rowe was part of the sacked Casey Council that was investigated by anti-corruption body IBAC; however, he was not subject to adverse findings, unlike several of his former colleagues.
Building on his stance of the council working well as a team, Rowe expressed that the council is “human, councillors are human, staff are human”.
“They’re lucky to have the CEO [Glenn Patterson] that they have for this period of time,” he said.
Casey’s 12 wards have their spread of candidates for each area, which can be found listed below in the wards’ alphabetical order. The list contains additional names of candidates who have publicly announced their intention to run but have not yet appeared on the VEC’s website at the time of going to print.
Akoonah Ward
Scott William Dowling
Patrick R Ferdinands
Mush Rahaman
Samuel Dennison
Casuarina Ward
Morteza Ali
Kim Ross
Jane Foreman
Correa Ward
Kanu Aggarwal
Tracey Ryan
Gary Rowe
Cranbourne Gardens
Tom Kapitany
Dillwynia Ward
Champika Hewa Maddumage
Jaz Masuta
Gurpreet Gill
Grevillea Ward
John Ternel
Stephen Capon
Stephen Matulec
Kalora Ward
Zabi Mazoori
Kowan Ward
Kasuni Mendis
Christine Skrobo
Jawad Erfani
Quarters Ward
Jagdeep Singh Sukhija
Ian Wood
David Rolfe
River Gum Ward
Lynette Pereira
Tooradin Ward
Anthony Tassone
Kuldeep Kaur
Waratah Ward
Brian Oates
The current deadline for nominations to stand in the council elections is set to close at 12 noon on Tuesday 17 September; the list will be constantly updated online if there are any new registrations.
