Who to vote for, part 2

This survey of candidates was not on behalf of the PTUA.

I’ve got responses back from four of the council candidates for Tucker ward in Glen Eira.

All four responded positively when asked about transport (in particular public transport) issues. A number of them highlighted the issue of a lack of direct bus service from Bentleigh/McKinnon to Southland, which is interesting. I’d rather see Southland Station built; knowing how Melbourne’s typical bus services end up, it would provide a quicker link, more frequent services and longer operating hours than just about any Melbourne bus service would. I might talk to each of them about that.

They all highlight bus as well as train issues, thus showing an awareness of issues that aren’t getting the mass media spotlight. They all agree with the 68% of Melburnians who surveyed by The Age recently said PT investment should take priority over roads. Hardly surprising I suppose; Glen Eira already has a very mature road system, and space for widening/freeways doesn’t exist, not without bulldozing homes.

Theo Giantos is quite obviously more annoyed than the others by the lack of state government action. But there’s actually little else to separate these four, and based on these responses, I’d happily vote for any of them, subject to looking at their other policies and their How To Vote cards to work out if any of them are “dummy” candidates.

There are three vacancies, so I hope three of them get up over the others, whose lack of response makes their positions unclear to me.

I’ve summarised their responses below.

Candidate (alphabetical order)	Donna Elliott	Theo Giantsos	Jamie Hyams	Oscar Lobo
Glen Eira’s biggest transport challenges	Poor services and reliability (buses as well as trains) Unstaffed and dirty stations	Buses from Bentleigh to Southland Bus/tram connections poor Security on PT	Cancelled and overcrowded trains Unstaffed stations Level crossings Lack of bus shelters Need direct bus from Bentleigh to Southland	Cancelled and overcrowded trains Need more bus routes, eg to Bentleigh/McKinnon to Southland
What they’ll do about it	Talk to other stakeholders Use media coverage Undertake surveys to highlight issues	Lobby Minister and Metlink on services Talk to Ventura Buses about more eco-friendly buses Pressure via party leaders and media, work bodies such as PTUA	Campaigns with other councils and bodies such as PTUA	Take concerns from community to relevant MPs
68% of Melburnians support better PT over roads. Agree with that view?	Yes	Yes	Roads are good enough, apart from level crossing grade separation. Need more PT.	Roads are good enough. Need more PT.
Glen Eira isn’t a member of the Metropolitan Transport Forum. Support joining?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Other	Uni student?	Catches PT regularly Praises PTUA “History will be very unkind to both Bracks & Brumby on the issue of public (‘privatized’) transport.” Also supportive of cycling ALP member. Elsewhere highlights lack of station parking as an issue.	Whole of Melbourne needs an integrated transport strategy Liberal party member. Very active in local community groups. Former councillor; was one of those dismissed in 2005 by the Bracks government due to council in-fighting.

No response from: George Strintzos, Nick Staikos (incumbent, ALP member), Jim Magee, Raymond Landes (Liberal member), Henry Buch (incumbent, only since May 2008 when David Feldman resigned), Nellie Khoroshina, Jeff Mackie. The third incumbent, Kate Ashmor, did not re-nominate.

Mary Walsh’s Glen Eira Opinions blog has a record of some meet the candidate sessions, as well as candidate statements which help form an opinion on other issues:

• 9/11/2008
• 10/11/2008
• Statement from Jim Magee
• Statement from Theo Giantsos
• Coverage of the September decision to not aim to be carbon neutral

Other interesting reading:

• Leader Newspapers also has a good summary of candidates.
• Crikey’s Poll Bludger
• Statements from candidates on the Bicycle Victoria web site

So who will I vote [1] for? One of the four above, will see how I go on the day.

I hope everybody else is also considering their voting options.

And whether or not to have onions on your sausage.

PS. Given Glen Eira’s refusal so far to join the MTF, and their silence on the matter, I’m planning on putting incumbents towards the bottom.

PS. 10am Friday. I ran into Henry Buch at Bentleigh station this morning. He reckons he did reply to my email, so I’ll be checking my spam folder very carefully and updating the table above if I find it. A fellow voter/passenger joined in the conversation and ended up grilling him on childcare, which was entertaining. I don’t think she was impressed.