Four contenders likely as Geelong’s mayoral race continues

WITH six days left until Geelong’s next mayor is chosen, the city’s top job appears to have four contenders.

Insiders have said returned councillors Peter Murrihy and Bruce Harwood were likely picks, along with fresh faces Pat Murnane and Stephanie Asher. FORMER Geelong councillor Lindsay Ellis has welcomed the new-look council and slammed the city’s departing administrators.

Of the five sacked Geelong councillors recontesting this year’s election, Mr Ellis was the only one not to be returned to City Hall.

Mr Ellis said he had faith that the 11 councillors elected to serve for the next three years would do a good job, and slammed the trio of administrators who took charge of the council after its 2016 sacking by the State Government.

“I’m pretty disappointed with the administrators, because in my view they didn’t do a thing,” Mr Ellis said.

“For instance, with the libraries, the saleyards and so forth, they’ve left it to this council to fix so this council needs to fix them.

“At the end of the day they

Mr Murrihy, Mr Murnane and Ms Asher have publicly signalled their ambitions to wear the mayoral robes, while Mr Harwood had not ruled out throwing his hat into the ring.

With less than a week until the council picks its new mayor and deputy mayor at an internal vote on Tuesday, the council group was expected to meet last night. were probably a million dollars down the gurgler.”

While Mr Ellis said he was happy with the 11 election winners, he believed too many of them were Liberal-aligned.

“I think the mix is very slanted one way, if you really have a think about it,” he said.

“(Liberal South Barwon MP) Andrew Katos in your paper this week said it was fair and balanced, but I disagree with Katos. I think its actually slanted towards his party.

“If there are any contentious issues politically that come to the chamber, I

It is not known if Ms Asher or Greens councillor Sarah Mansfield were in attendance, after both had been away from the city during the past week.

Sources claim Ms Asher, who is returning from Los Angeles, could play kingmaker if support for her run fades. Ms Asher missed the first four days after the group was declared election winners, putting her at should imagine they’ll be voting down the Liberal party line.”

Mr Ellis also gave his hot pick for the council’s top job, with the mayor and deputy mayor positions set to be decided by an internal vote on Tuesday, November 14.

“Wouldn’t it be a game changer if the mayor of the City of Greater Geelong was a female and came from the Bellarine Peninsula?” he asked.

Stephanie Asher is the only female councillor-elect in the Bellarine Ward. a disadvantage in courting support for the city’s top job.

Returned councillor Ron Nelson yesterday said he had spoken to Mr Murnane and Mr Harwood, but said he expected the group to discuss the matter last night.

Earlier this week, councillor Eddy Kontelj said Mr Murnane had the right credentials for the position. “Pat Murnane is also a person I believe might be interested in it, and I think Pat’s got some really good credentials and comes with business experience, very good community connections and I think he’s very well respected in our community,” Mr Kontelj said.

Mr Murnane, who had a leadership role with the Bendigo Bank for 25 years, said he was keen to see council make a unified decision and appoint a strong leadership team. “I’m interested, but I really want to make sure it’s a strong team, and we just want the right combination,” he said this week.

“It’s a bit premature, and that’s why I’m not going out and making big statements, I want to sit down and talk to the other 10 people.”