The biggest day in 4 years for Victorian local government

Dear councillors, candidates, journalists, officers and others interested in Victorian local government,

Today will be the biggest news day in 4 years for Victorian local government and aren't the mainstream media just hopeless when it comes to covering our state-wide council elections?

We had the first 12 of the 76 results finalised yesterday in Banyule, Corangamite, Hepburn, Hindmarsh, Moorabool, Moreland, Northern Grampians, Port Phillip, Queenscliffe, Surf Coast, West Wimmera and Yarra.

Coverage in The Age or the Herald Sun today? Zero. Coverage on their websites? Zero.

Even the News Corp-owned Leader Newspapers doesn't appear to be bothering with online coverage across its 30 titles. The result in Moreland was announced at about 9pm last night and we're still waiting for a post and a link to the results page on the Moreland Leader facebook page. It would take about 2 minutes.

We'd love to be corrected on this and hope to be able to inform you of some decent coverage during the day, if the mainstream media can be shamed into action at short notice.

We've updated our 10,500 word call of the card to take in the 12 results so far and will be tweeting through much of today as more than 40 results unfold. Some, however, like Casey, have been deferred until Monday morning.

Annoyingly, the VEC only seems to be advising candidates about the time of the button pushing exercises in each council.

For instance, our household is running in Manningham and Melbourne, so we've been advised to be at the electoral offices at 2pm and 5pm respectively to see how we went. But what time is your result being announced?

Please advise by way of reply email, text to 0412 106 241 or on twitter through @maynereport so can we keep everyone up to date through new timing information included in the call of the card. We're also still interested in scrutineer-sourced predictions before the official results are known, if you have them. And thanks for everything so far on that score.

Promoting good people, diversity, fair dealing and best practice in local government

Our coverage over the past few weeks has been designed to bring timely information, encourage good candidates to succeed and discourage the high-conflict, lazy, self-interested, rorting, grandstanding or overly negative candidates that sometimes get elected in our sector.

Of course there's subjectivity in all of this but we're trying to endorse quality candidates and point out dodgy behaviour and incumbents across the political spectrum - from the left and the right. Hopefully the call of the card reflects that.

Our sector needs more quality councillors who bring calm judgment to the table, don't overly play to the gallery, read their papers, turn up, leave their egos at the door, are open to change, can admit past mistakes, accept majority decisions when they are made and focus on good results.

As Harry Truman used to say: "It's amazing what you can achieve if you don't worry about who gets the credit."

Diversity delivers for all

We all know the data about how diversity brings better outcomes so we're also pushing that barrow - and not just on gender. It was a shame no Liberal or conservative prevailed in Yarra, for instance.

Well lead institutions often have diversity in politics, age, race, religion, profession, geography, experience and gender - plus the all important basics of capability, honesty and diligence on the board and in senior management. That's been the story of City of Melbourne these past 4 years with 2 Labor, 2 Greens and 2 Liberal councillors, plus diversity across all measures. Relatively speaking, it's been a Camelot council, which is why all 11 of us have re-contested and the community will return a similar council cabinet led by Lord Mayor Robert Doyle later today.

There are 3 lists on our website which we'll be updating for the next 3 days.

The first is the full call of the card which will probably finish at about 15,000 words. If you send through a 200 word summary of the results that I can publish, please do, as the editing and publishing of this coverage is a solo endeavour and the rest of our household are starting to think I'm getting obsessed and putting too many hours into it. It's Derby Day and the sun is out, for goodness sake!

If you spot any errors as fatigue sets in, let us know and we'll try and fix it straight away.

Who knows, the call of the card might even finish at 20,000 words, topping this 18,766 word treatise on the governance problems with Jeff Kennett from the 1999 Victorian election.

The two other lists we will be updating are the comeback candidates (it seems not many are getting up) and the elected councillors going forward who are members of political parties.

Here is what we've got so far on the latter and it does include a few predictions:

Candidates elected to Victorian councils in 2016 who are members of political parties

Labor
Roz Blades: Greater Dandenong
Danae Bosler: Yarra
Annalivia Carli: Moreland
Sarah Carter: Maribyrnong
Youhorn Chea: Dandenong
Mi-Lin Chen Yi Mei: Yarra
Libby Coker: Surf Coast
Louise Crawford: Port Phillip
Mary Delahunty: Glen Eira
Adam Gill: Knox
Dick Gross: Port Phillip
Rose Hodge: Surf Coast
Tony Holland: Knox
Jake Keogh: Knox
Stuart James: Monash
Paul Klisaris: Monash
Geoff Lake: Monash
Brian Little: Monash
Tony Lockwood: Knox
Nicole Marshall: Moonee Valley
Jim Mementi: Dandenong
Sean O'Reilly: Dandenong
Nicholas Reece: Melbourne
Steve Staikos: Kingston
Meng Heang Tak: Dandenong
Lambros Tapinos: Moreland
Loi Truong: Dandenong
Jackie Watts: Melbourne
Oscar Yildiz: Moreland

Liberal
Geoff Ablett: Casey
Andrew Bond: Port Phillip
Peter Clarke: Nillumbik
Rob Davies: Monash
Robert Doyle: Melbourne
Martin Duke: Surf Coast
Margaret Esakoff: Glen Eira
Chloe Fu: Monash
Philip Healy: Boroondara
Karen Hermann: Glen Eira
Tony Holland: Knox
Jamie Hyams: Glen Eira
Geoff Gough: Manningham
Jim Grivas: Manningham
Phillip Liu: Melbourne
Brian McKiterick: Surf Coast
Andrew Munroe: Whitehorse
Marcus Pearl: Port Phillip
Darren Pearce: Knox
Wayne Phillips: Banyule
Felicity Seinfeld: Boroondara
Joel Silver: Glen Eira
Cynthia Watson: Boroondara
Theo Zographos: Monash

Greens
Natalie Abboud: Moreland
Steph Amir: Darebin
Tim Baxter: Port Phillip
Peter Castalda: Banyule
Belinda Coates: Ballarat
Misha Coleman: Yarra
James Cooper: Stonnington
Katherine Copsey: Port Phillip
Nicole Gunn: Stonnington
Stephen Hart: Colac-Otway
Matthew Kirwan: Greater Dandenong
Rohan Leppert: Melbourne
Dale Martin: Greens
Trent McCarthy: Darebin
Mike McEvoy: Yarra
Cathy Oke: Melbourne
Samantha Ratnam: Moreland
Mark Riley: Moreland
James Searle: Yarra
Ogy Simic: Port Phillip
Amanda Stone: Yarra
—————————————————–

Which party will finish up with the most councillors? I'm predicting it will be Labor on top, followed by the Liberals, the Greens with about 30 and then the Nats.

We'd also like to add former political party members to this list as well so let us know about those as well.

We don't have any National Party members as yet but there will probably be close to 20 once this process is completed. Quite a few rural candidates did not provide email contacts so we haven't been able to connect.

Shaming political parties into supporting their councillors

As we wrote in the last edition, if our political parties took local government seriously, they would be following the Greens lead and endorsing more candidates to develop their talent and stay connected to their communities.

At the very least, they should convene and fund a one day conference of all members who have been elected to encourage good governance, strong performance, information sharing and training. It's pretty basic stuff for leadership institutions but doesn't happen nearly enough.

City of Melbourne update

After 15,052 late postals were counted, it now looks like Team Doyle could very well be denied a majority in the next City of Melbourne council.

It seems that young people tend to vote later, which is why the Greens picked up 26% of these late votes and Team Doyle only 34%.

The 6009 below the line votes are all that remain to be revealed at 5pm this afternoon and based on the 17% share that Team Doyle scored in 2012, I'm tipping their final council vote will fall to 37.5% and this won't be enough to secure the 4th 10% quota, given the paucity of preferences coming their way.

At the moment, there are 4 candidates - Team Doyle number 4 Susan Riley, Jackie Watts, Liberal Philip Liu (top of Ken Ong's ticket and myself - vying for the final three spots. We'll know shortly after 5pm tonight but the only certainties are 3 Doyle, 2 Greens and Phil Cleary's candidate Michael Caiafa, a baker at the Queen Victoria Market who I'd enjoy working with if given the chance.

Finally, if you do get elected this weekend, check out this list of the 50-plus transparency reforms that City of Melbourne has implemented over the past 4 years, as well as this list of more than 50 motions we have put up since late 2012.

Some of them might be worth pursing at your councils in the months and years ahead, but there's no need to do it in any great rush. If you like transparency, the key move is to put it in the 4 year council plan that your council aspires to be one of Victoria's most transparent councils. Once done, the rest will follow over time because officers and councillors cannot argue for excessive secrecy if they've voted for transparency across the board at the start of the term.

If you want a good example of how transparency works for politicians, just look at this Laurie Oakes column about Nick Xenophon in today's News Corp tabloids. It's a beauty.

Crowd-sourcing LA trip to take on Rupert Murdoch at 2 AGMs

We're getting close to fully funding our trip to Los Angeles to tackle Rupert Murdoch next week thanks to about 15 donations from readers so far.

More detail was spelled out in this Crikey piece on Wednesday and if you can assist the donation details are below:

Donate to help hold Rupert Murdoch to account

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From the member edition archive

If you're a relatively new Mayne Report reader, here are links to some of the more interesting email editions sent out over the past nine years.

2016 - 13 editions so far

Running in Melbourne, council elections, Eddie McGuire, JB Hi Fi, NAB political donations, Jeff Kennett and plenty more
Sunday, September 18, 2016

Melbourne transparency reforms, council elections, pokies, capital raisings, long serving directors and MenziesSunday, September 4, 2016

Go Malcolm, denting Kevin, AEC goes nuclear and plenty more
Thursday, July 7

Final Menzies email blast
Friday, July 1

Campaign update, more pokies donations, Menzies ignored, ASA leave and council governance reform
Monday, June 27

Kevin's getting worried, campaign update, pokies, News Corp dispute, City of Melbourne and family news
Friday, June 17

Kevin locked in, so Make Menzies Matters campaign hits top gear
Friday, June 10

Menzies update, "Fake Liberal" corflutes, AFL pokies push, gift register and much more
Saturday, June 4, 2016

Menzies update, Westfield rate dodging, The Australian's gossips and candidate betting
Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Menzies update, ASA board, pokies and Four Corners
Monday, May 23, 2016

Mayne announces Menzies tilt as Kevin Andrews embroiled in stacking scandal
Saturday, May 7, 2016

Turnbull, Warburton, pokies, AICD, IOOF, Quills, internal audit and much more
Monday, March 22, 2016

Bank royal commission, ASA tilt, Copyright, Piccinini, pokies, Kevin Andrews and Cabcharge
Monday, April 11, 2016

2015 - 8 editions

AGM season, PAITREOs, pokies, MAV, Copyright, Piccinini sisters, ANZ carbon and transcripts
November 5, 2015

Global Integrity Summit, Macquarie, pokies, council update, AGM season and family news
October 12, 2015

Battling Slaters, a Stokes shocker, council, CBA litigation, ASA conference and RACV reforms
April 30, 2015

Tenth anniversary of Crikey sale, Aristocrat AGM, council transparency and then some
March 9, 2015

Why Ministers should support the Liberal leadership spill
Monday, February 9, 2015

2014 - 8 editions focused on back half of the year post ASA gig

Special edition on the Victorian election result
Sunday, November 30, 2014

Vic election, Herald Sun, Rupert votes, Tex, Xenophon and much morey
Sunday, November 23, 2014

Rupert AGMs, Cabcharge, Costello, Bolt, Ten and Victorian election
Sunday, November 16, 2014

CBA tilt, LA visit, Rupert AGMs, Cabcharge and state election
Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Cabcharge, donations for Rupert visit and governance reforms at City of Melbourne
Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Tilts, Fairfax, CBA, Brickworks, Albert Park, ASX, Woolies, pokies and Crown
Friday, September 20, 2014

We're back: inside a post-ASA election season blitz
Monday, September 15, 2014

2013 - 10 editions with 5 favourites below

Capital raisings, Ansell, IAG, Packer, pokies, Rich List, City of Melbourne and ASA update
Monday, December 23, 2013

Franking robbery, East West trust breach, BHP bonuses, John Gay and plenty more
Sunday, August 25, 2013

ASA policy paper, Kevin Andrews on the pokies, Senate preferences and much more
August 19, 2013

ASA, Billabong, Westfield, Newcrest, Shorten, Turnbull, pokies and then some
Monday, July 22, 2013

Rudd v Gillard, referendum, Labor sleaze, Clive Palmer, ASA, City of Melbourne and plenty more
Monday, June 24, 2013

2012 - only 9 editions given council and ASA commitments

Backing Rudd, Lachlan, Bob Brown media debate, Manningham governance, Gunns and St Kilda AGM
Monday, February 20, 2012

The OZ goes mad, Murdoch piracy, AFR, pokies double rate, Gina, council super, BoQ rip-off and power speech
Wednesday, April 4, 2012

2011 - 21 editions but slowed down after elected to ASA board in May

Murdoch special, media inquiry, pokies, Manningham, Zara, secretive Shortenite crs and Vodafone take-down
Thursday, September 15, 2011

Elected to ASA board, pokies, Rio, Santos, RHG, Hartigan, Manningham, capital raisings and Rich List
Thursday, May 19, 2011

2010 - 39 editions and last year with paid staff

Paperlinx, Packer, Murdoch, Manningham, pokies, Rich ex wives, foreign takeovers and much more
Saturday, October 23, 2010

DJs, women on boards, ex Lib goes no pokies, preferences, Pratt-Shorten, Labor's debt and Manningham council audio
August 3, 2010

Director rankings, Rio, Westfield, MAP, Manningham, Paatsch, state election, rich list, pokies and much more
June 9, 2010

Political donations, Stokes, Westfield tower, Richard Colless, Manningham nursing home, state debt, Rich List and Grand Prix
February 23, 2010

2009 - 40 editions but was slowed down by Manningham council

Seven AGM, crazy Perth visit, Fairfax, Telstra, Transfield, capital raisings and much more
November 9, 2009

News Corp AGM, Packer, Fairfax, James Strong, Woolies, Eastern Golf, Kohler-Gatto and much more
October 20, 2009

Bad Bendigo, Mark Day, Manningham, pokies, NAB, Asciano, Rich List, Paladin and hostile EGMs
September 15, 2009

Macquarie AGM, Melbourne's decline, Asciano EGM, capital raisings, Goyder's pokies and AGM diary
July 28, 2009

2008 - 172 editions in our first and best full year of operation as the GFC hit and before we got overloaded at Manningham

71% backing at Centro, $11bn backing at BHP and huge Qantas protest
November 28, 2008

Combank's $700m ABC Learning debacle
November 13, 2008

Toll board skewered over $55m executive rort
October 30, 2008

Rupert's accountability dodge, Macquarie's Italian hit, Babcock funds revamp, pokieact.org and rich lists.
October 20, 2008

BHP and Woolies tilts, AFIC push on Stan Wallis, ASX-Kohler yarn and new Rich Listers
September 26, 2008

Macquarie videos, Stokes raid, new board tilt, Oz Minerals, share trading and much more
July 25, 2008

Owen Hegarty payout rolled, history is made
July 18, 2008

Great debate at the Babcock AGM
May 30, 2008

Our liveliest edition yet
Thursday, May 8, 2008

Burrows quits Fairfax, Rupert, donations, long-serving directors and much more
January 31, 2008

Markets tumble, Rupert book deal, Centro, Rich List, Xenophon, AFR tips and our buying spree
January 17, 2008

2007 - 15 editions as we launched shortly before running in Federal election

Fortescue Metals AGM: time for Twiggy and FMG to grow up
Sunday, November 8, 2007, 10.30pm

How $5bn worth of votes backed us against Rupert's dodgy gerrymander
Saturday, 20 October, 2007, 7.20am


That's all for now.

Do ya best, Stephen Mayne

* The Mayne Report is an email newsletter and website which promotes transparency and good governance in the corporate, political and media worlds. It is published by Stephen Mayne, the founder of Crikey.com, shareholder advocate, ASA director and City of Melbourne councillor. To unsubscribe from this email list, click here.