The following candidates have expressed public interest in nominating: (This list will grow up to the close of nominations). Existing Councillors seeking re-election are marked with an asterisk before their name, ordered alphabetically based on Last name. Political affiliation is in brackets.
Candidates Forum | Climate Survey | Stop Burning Plastic | Streets People Love | Waterways
Climate and Sustainability surveys and Pledges
Climate Action Merribek conducted a local tailored survey sent to all 55 candidates in all wards. Vote Climate also issued a survey on the Climate Emergency to all candidates across all Councils in Victoria. Stop Burning Plastic issued a pledge survey to all candidates across all Councils in Victoria. We undertook to compile results for Merri-bek of all 3 surveys. We followed our initial email up with a reminder to complete all 3 surveys.
One key assessment point is whether candidates respond, which provides one indicator how they may engage with constituents. If a candidate doesn’t respond, whether positive or negative, maybe you should not put them high on your preferences.
| Name | Local Climate Survey | Climate Emergency Survey | Stop Burning Plastic Pledge |
| Emma Dook (Victorian Socialists) | No Response | Yes | Yes |
| Cory Perkins (ALP) | No Response | Yes | Yes |
| * Oscar Yildiz (IND) | No Response | No Response | No Response |
Climate Emergency Survey
As none of the candidates have responded to the local climate survey, the Vote Climate statewide Climate Emergency survey responses are used below:
8. Why are you standing for (re)election to council? What are your top priorities if elected? (100 words maximum.)
Emma Dook: I’m a Merri-bek local and housing support worker. I’m running as a Victorian Socialists candidate because I want to fight for housing for all, and against a system that enriches developers and the wealthy few at the expense of the rest of us. Council is an important platform to advocate for issues that matter–including fighting for affordable housing, taking on developer greed, campaigning for better public transport and supporting Palestine. Too often, corporate interests dominate politics, and I want to change that.
Corey Perkins: Improve the services provided to the local community for the rates that we pay. Improve environmental sustainability and green spaces. Make road safety a priority for council. Improve support services for the young and elderly.
9. What are three of your achievements in recent years?
Emma Dook: 1. Unionising my casual workplace- from a member of 1 to over 60% membership- fighting for secure jobs with good pay. 2. Participating in the 100, 000s strong movement for climate justice in 2019. 3. In the past year, organising against Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza, and Australia’s complicity in it
Corey Perkins: 1) Helped develop youth mental health programs at the Royal Children’s Hospital. 2) Helped steer community organisations through the COVID Pandemic. 3) Providing care for my Grandmother who has a long-term illness
10. Do you accept the research evidence from climate scientists that the earth is already too hot and we are outside the safe climate zone?
Emma Dook: Yes
Corey Perkins: Yes
11. Do you agree that we face a climate emergency?
Emma Dook: Yes
Corey Perkins: Yes
12. If your council has declared a climate emergency, do you support this declaration?
Emma Dook: My council has declared a climate emergency and I support this declaration
Corey Perkins: My council has declared a climate emergency and I support this declaration
13. If (re)elected will you initiate and/or support measures to educate residents and stakeholders about the climate emergency and put pressure on other levels of government to act?
Emma Dook: I will initiate
Corey Perkins: I will initiate
14. Do you agree that it is now too late to restore a safe climate via emissions reductions alone and that additional measures, including drawdown and local cooling, are required?
Emma Dook: Yes
Corey Perkins: Yes
15. Will you initiate and /or support measures to rapidly reduce the municipality’s emissions towards zero, draw down carbon dioxide (eg planting trees), and increase the reflectivity of surfaces (eg roofs and parking lots)?
Emma Dook: I will initiate
Corey Perkins: I will initiate
16. Will you initiate and/or support measures to protect vulnerable people and ecosystems within the municipality from dangerous climate impacts?
Emma Dook: I will initiate
Corey Perkins: I will initiate
17. Under the Local Government Act 2020 Community Engagement Policy, councils are required to use deliberative practices. What action will you take to involve a broad cross-section of residents in deliberating respectfully and effectively on important issues? For example, will you push for the use of Citizens’ Assemblies to deliberate on contentious issues and/or to have input into the council budget? (100 words maximum)
Emma Dook: I am for the maximum amount of resident input and democracy- whether that is citizens assemblies, supporting local campaign groups and forums, protests, or any other forms that exist for residents to debate issues and pressure local, state and federal governments to act
Corey Perkins: I will make myself open and available to all constituents in Merri-bek to raise issues and concerns. I also support extensive community consultation on issues of importance to community, for instance through the holding of community forums.
18. Over recent years difficulties within some councils have resulted in the need for monitors, mediators and arbiters. The 2023 Arbiters Report on Darebin Council estimated that $600,000 had been wasted in just two years to deal with these failures. There have also been issues in Brimbank, Glenelg, Hume, Knox, Moira and Yarra Councils. What would you do to ensure that your council deliberates effectively and respectfully? (100 words maximum)
Emma Dook: Having open debate on key issues that matter should be a prioirity- council debates should be open and democratic forums so residents can keep councillors accountable
Corey Perkins: More transparency is needed for local government to function effectively and with the trust and backing of the community. I support any measure that I believe would work to rebuild trust and ensure transparency, including real time tracking if all gifts and donations to councillors and council candidates
19. Do you promise not to accept campaign donations from property developers or gambling interests, directly or via intermediaries, in this council election campaign?
Emma Dook: Yes
Corey Perkins: Yes
20. Do you promise to support the introduction of a requirement that all gifts or donations larger than $500 are declared in real time (similar to the measures adopted by the Melbourne City Council)?
Emma Dook: Yes
Corey Perkins: Yes
21. The state government has imposed single-member wards on councils against the wishes of many councils and the recommendation of the Local Government Association. Do you support or oppose single-member wards?
Emma Dook: I oppose single member wards, but I do not commit to any particular action
Corey Perkins: I support single member wards
23. Please provide a link to your candidate’s statement or paste it below.
Emma Dook: Hi, I’m Emma. I’m a Merri-bek local and housing support worker. I’m running as a Victorian Socialists candidate because I want to fight for housing for all, and against a system that enriches developers and the wealthy few at the expense of the rest of us. I’ve been an activist since the Howard era, when I protested against the Iraq war. I am a second-generation Japanese migrant, and remember well the vicious anti-Asian racism of Pauline Hanson in the 1990s. I’ve been involved in many campaigns against racism, including for refugee rights and against anti-Muslim racism. I am also a union activist and delegate. In my previous role as a teacher, I was involved in establishing a union at my college, and am incredibly proud of what me and my co-workers achieved there. Council is an important platform to advocate for issues that matter–including fighting for affordable housing, taking on developer greed, campaigning for better public transport and supporting Palestine. Too often, corporate interests dominate politics, and I want to change that.
Corey Perkins: My name is Corey Perkins, and I am the endorsed Labor candidate for the Pascoe Vale South Ward on Merri-Bek Council. I have been a proud local, living, working and volunteering in the community for many years. Working in government for the past two years, I have seen first-hand the difference a responsible and attentive government can make. In Pascoe Vale South, I want to focus on the fundamentals – roads, rates, and rubbish and move towards an environmentally sustainable future. We must deliver road improvements, increase our green spaces and expand council-operated kinders. I helped develop youth mental health services at the Royal Children’s Hospital and want to ensure that Council’s Youth and Family Services remain a crucial place of support for the community. For too long, entrenched councillors have taken our votes and community for granted, failing to deliver real improvements for the community. I represent a real change for Pascoe Vale South and Merri-Bek Council and will work to ensure that locals get real value for their rates. I am committed to working hard for Pascoe Vale South. Together, we can make a difference. I am available to chat anytime at 0435109886 or at corey@merri-beklabor.com.au
Stop Burning Plastic Pledge
The Stop Burning Plastic pledge not to burn waste. Merri-bek already has a Council policy not to use Waste to Energy Incinerators and to progress to zero waste to landfill by 2030. (see section 4.6.3 of Council Waste and Litter Strategy 2018) . Cleanaway is presently proceeding with an EPA Victoria development licence for a Waste to Energy Incinerator at Wollert. Signing this pledge commits to continuing present Council policy direction regarding sustainable circular economy waste management. Note: A week ago Minister for Climate Action and Energy Lily D’Ambrosio (Mill Park), Thomastown MP Bronwyn Halfpenny and Yan Yean MP Lauren Kathage supported the community in opposing Cleanaway’s Waste to Energy Incinerator. (Facebook Post) This is a statewide pledge:
Emma Dook and Corey Perkins were the only candidates to take the Stop Burning Plastic Pledge.
Streets People Love Candidate Scorecard
The Streets People Love campaign has created scorecards for candidates in the 2024 council elections in Victoria. Scorecards have been generated based on a candidate’s engagement with the Streets People Love campaign, their commitment to our pledge, their responses to a survey and input from campaign members located in the local government area in which they are running. The local community groups running this scorecard in the City of Merri-bek are Walk on Merri-bek and Merri-bek Bicycle Users Group Inc.
Streets People Love Pascoe Vale South ward candidate Scorecard .
Waterways – Vote for Merri Creek
Friends of Merri Creek have surveyed candidates in all wards. The Merri Creek corridor is iconic and questions of sustainability, pollution and biodiversity should be a municipal wide concern to all candidates. The survey is focussed on Merri Creek, Edgars Creek and Coburg Lake, and neglects Merlynston Creek and Campbellfield Creek tributaries. It also ignores the importance of Moonee Ponds Creek and tributaries such as Westbreen Creek on the western side of the municipality, which may provide a reason why candidates from western wards like Djirri-Djirri and Pascoe Vale South did not respond to the survey.
See Friends of Merri Creek 2024 election guide for six Councils in the Merri Creek Catchment.
View the Candidate responses for Merri-bek wards (PDF) for candidate comments.
Q1: Are you concerned about the protection and restoration of the Merri Creek, Edgars Creek and Coburg Lake? If so, what concerns you the most? (100 word limit)
Q2: What action do you plan to take in your role as Councillor – if any – to increase waterway protection and restoration activities along the Merri Creek, Edgars Creek and Coburg Lake? (100 word limit)
Q3: Briefly outline how as a Councillor, you will respond to three of the following threats to the health of the Merri Creek, Edgars Creek and Coburg Lake: (75 word limit per threat)
• Development encroachment
• Pollution, litter and sediments carried by stormwater drains
• Illegal dumping and littering
• Spread of problematic weeds
• Loss, degradation and reduced connectivity of habitat
• Irresponsible pet ownership
References
Political comment Authorisation
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