By CAMERON LUCADOU-WELLS
INCUMBENT councillor Yvonne Herring and Residents Against Toxic Waste In the South East group’s Thelma Wakelam and Geraldine Gonsalvez are among a last-minute stream of candidates announced for this month’s Greater Dandenong Council election.
Ms Gonsalvez, a former Greater Dandenong councillor, got an early campaign boost by drawing the prime top-of-the-ballot position in Red Gum Ward last Tuesday. Second and third positions were taken by incumbents Jim Memeti and Angela Long in the computer-generated random draw.
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Ms Long’s husband Barry is standing in Silverleaf Ward. In a late move, Cr Herring announced her candidacy in a new ward, swapping Lightwood for Silverleaf.
The Silverleaf electorate chooses two councillors but is crammed with nine candidates, including three incumbents — John Kelly, Maria Sampey and Cr Herring.
Lightwood in contrast elects three councillors from a field of seven candidates. “I wasn’t going to run at all and then I was asked to run in this ward,” Cr Herring said.
“Looking back, I probably should have run in Lightwood Ward.” In Paperbark Ward, incumbent Peter Brown drew top position in a bumper 14-candidate field. In second place was Noble Park Community Centre manager Nina Springle.
Greater Dandenong Young Achiever of the Year winner Victor Victor is another candidate in the Noble Park and Keysborough-based ward. In Lightwood, incumbents Youhorn Chea and Loi Truong drew low places on the ballot paper.
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