BATTLE TO BE MAYOR
Asher and Murrihy put their hands up for the city’s top job
THE race to become Geelong’s next mayor is heating up, with at least two freshly minted councillors throwing their hats in the ring.
Hours after Saturday’s vote count revealed the city’s 11 newest council members, twotime mayoral candidate Stephanie Asher and returning councillor Peter Murrihy declared they would stand for the city’s top job.
Ms Asher, who ran for direct election as mayor under a different system in 2012 and 2013, was in the US on work at the weekend, but confirmed her likely candidacy to the Geelong Advertiser. they’re thinking,” Mr Harwood said.
Neither Geelong’s first Greens councillor Sarah Mansfield nor new Bellarine representative Jim Mason would rule out tilts at the top job yesterday.
“It hasn’t been on my agenda but we’ll see what happens there,” Mr Mason said.
“At this point I won’t rule anything out,” Ms Mansfield said yesterday. “I think we need to meet as a council group first and we need to work out what we’re doing as a team.”
Meanwhile, returning sacked councillor Eddy Kontelj, newcomer Trent Sullivan and Windermere Ward councillor-elect Anthony Aitken revealed they had no plans to run for mayor.
“It’s premature and discourteous of councillors to be discussing leadership roles until we have actually all met together for the first time, and I strongly believe that,” Mr Aitken said.
The City of Greater Geelong’s election results were announced on Saturday, with the Victorian Election Commission to officially declare the final outcome at 4pm today.