News / Council Elections
Davidson elected first Mayor of new council
Newcomer Politis to serve as Deputy Mayor
Mark Phillips
NEW Merri-bek Mayor Helen Davidson has pledged to make combatting violence against women a priority during her 12 months in office.
Speaking after her election on Wednesday night, Davidson – whose day job is as a family lawyer – made special mention of Brunswick teenager Isla Bell, whose remains were discovered in a Dandenong tip this week. Just hours before the Mayoral election, two men appeared in court charged over Isla’s disappearance and alleged murder.
“I think we have a lot of work to do in this space, and I hope that we can connect with services and law enforcement to better protect women in Merri-bek and across Victoria,” Davidson said in her acceptance speech at the council chambers in Coburg.
Davidson, an independent councillor who represents Djirri-Djirri ward in the city ’s north-west, was elected 6-5 over outgoing Greens Mayor Adam Pulford on Wednesday night. It will be her second term as Mayor in 12 years on the council.
In a similarly tight contest, Labor’s Helen Politis was elected Deputy Mayor over independent Natalie Abboud by a single vote.
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Davidson’s election broke a run of three of successive Greens Mayors.
It came after several days of horse trading and shifting alliances, and was secured when Abboud threw in her lot with her. But Abboud’s bid to become Deputy Mayor was denied when Davidson joined others voting against her.
A lifelong Glenroy resident, Davidson previously served as Mayor in 2016.
After donning the Mayoral chains, Davidson said a major priority during her term as Mayor will be to develop the council’s next four-year action plan. Among her first official duties will be to open a new $37 million leisure centre in Fawkner next month and the $29 million cultural and community hub in Brunswick early next year.
Addressing her fellow councillors before the vote, Davidson had argued her experience, independence and proven ability to bring people together best qualified her for the role.
“What I value most in my time on council is being able to work collaboratively across political spectrums and across different personalities,” she said, adding that not being affiliated to a political party would be an asset for the council during next year’s federal election.
“So I think having this broad approach allows me to work well with a variety of people with mutual respect and constructive dialogue and teamwork. And we’re not always going to agree, but I think fostering respect during our debates and outside of the council chamber is something that I can do, and I have demonstrated during my time on council.”
Pulford, who was re-elected to a second council term in the Brunswick East ward of Warrk-Warrk, had argued that choosing him as Mayor would provide continuity from the previous council.
Davidson was elected with the support of the three Labor councillors, Abboud and independent Oscar Yildiz.
In the vote for Deputy Mayor, Abboud – who was narrowly elected in the Pentridge ward – said she believed there should be independents in both of the two key positions for the first year of the new council. Abboud is now an independent, but was a member of the Greens when she served as Mayor in 2018.
But Politis – who defeated another former Greens Mayor Angelica Panopoulos in the Harmony Park ward – highlighted her long history of community activism, going back to her teenage years growing up in Brunswick, along with her business experience, as strong assets.
She won through the backing of her two fellow Labor councillors, Davidson, Yildiz and Bolton to give her an absolute majority of six votes.
The first meeting of the new council will be held on December 11.
ANALYSIS: Mayoral election gives insight into council dynamics
WHILE it comes with a six figure salary and other perks, in the modern era the role of Mayor is largely ceremonial: chairing meetings, cutting ribbons, awarding citizenships and the like.
But it also carries considerable prestige, and the Mayor is the face of the city for 12 months.
Often, the choice of Mayor is decided by furious lobbying behind closed doors with a farcical unanimous vote in public. While there was a veneer of civility on Wednesday night, both decisions were decided by just one vote.
For that reason, the outcome of the Mayoral election provides some useful insights into the potential dynamics of the new council.
First, as expected, two voting blocs have been established in the new council: the Greens on one side; and Labor with a couple of independents on the other. Or another way of looking at it may be a south bloc (Greens) and a north bloc (Labor plus independents). Despite predictions from some observers to the contrary, former Greens councillor Natalie Abboud won’t be automatically voting with her erstwhile colleagues, while independent Oscar Yildiz’s well-known public antipathy to the Greens is likely to see him side with Labor on crucial votes.
Secondly, the Greens won’t find everything goes their way over the next four years, despite having the largest bloc on the council. The party was shooting for an absolute majority on the council but fell short and will rely on alliances to progress its agenda.
And third, seasoned Socialist Alliance councillor Sue Bolton and newly-elected independent Abboud will wield considerable power as at least one of their votes will be needed to get many policies passed. Abboud’s support was decisive in getting Helen Davidson elected as Mayor; and Bolton’s vote against her was just as decisive in preventing Abboud taking the deputy’s position. The signal that came from Wednesday night’s meeting was that neither of the two main blocs in the council can take either of their votes for granted.
Of course, on the majority of procedural or administrative decisions, councillors are likely to vote as one to wave them through. But that still leaves plenty of other policy debates where the council will be split.
These are early days for the new council and it will be interesting to see how these dynamics play out over the next few years, and what impact they have on the direction of Merri-bek.
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