FORMER Mildura man Arron Wood says he hopes election as Melbourne Lord Mayor would reassure those in regional Victoria they have a voice in our capital.
This week Cr Wood announced his intention to run for the top job at the October 24 election.
He told Sunraysia Daily that, if successful, he would aim to better connect Melbourne with the state’s regional centres.
“Growing up in the country, sometimes you don’t think you have a voice in the capital city and I hope I can be that voice for them,” Cr Wood said.
“(Being) someone who understands regional Victoria, I feel like I could really do some pretty amazing things in better linking the capital city with our cities and towns around the state
“I think we can do better at that, on so many fronts.”
At the top of his list of five priority areas, he said getting people back to work in the City of Melbourne, through a COVID-safe approach, would start to revive the city and in turn help the rest of the country begin to recover economically.
“I think it’s the biggest challenge in the city’s history,” he said. “Before COVID the economy of the central city of Melbourne was $104 billion.
“If you look at a report from the last few years, when Melbourne was really up and running, it contributed close to 40 per cent of the national gross domestic product (GDP), which is extraordinary.
“So if Melbourne is suffering, then the state is definitely suffering and indeed Australia is actually suffering.
“On the flip side, if you can revive Melbourne’s economy, that’s a massive win for the state and the country.”
In relation to the response to COVID-19 across Victoria, Cr Wood said there should have been more thought given to regional areas such as Sunraysia, which has zero recorded active cases.
“You just wonder about how nuanced and tailored our approach is to this virus; we should have had that traffic-light system implemented much earlier — where there’s zero cases, then you’re open.
“If there are some cases, you move to amber, and if there are over 20 cases per 100,000 people, you move to red, that seems really logical to me, and it’s worked in other jurisdictions around the world.”
“We’re a really smart country, we’ve got some of the best researchers, HR managers, risk managers — let’s challenge them with how we open up COVID-safe.”
Cr Wood has been deputy lord mayor for the past eight years and said as a ratepayer and small business owner he understood the pain people were experiencing with the current stage 4 lockdown.
“When the pandemic came on, I pushed hard to freeze rates. It was a simple action but hard to get that support across the line.
“It made me think have we lost touch with our small businesses and ratepayers — to think about putting rates up during a time when we have so many small businesses and people doing it tough.
“That, along with a range of other things, really said to me my voice is important on council.”
He said he was being realistic about the enormous challenge the role would present, but had the complete support of his Mildura-based parents and family.
“They’ve been a huge reason I’ve felt supported enough to make the decision,” he said.
“My wife is so behind this, she’s got her own career and we’ve got a three and six-year-old doing home schooling.
“(My wife) is a different personality type to me, she’s a lot happier and more optimistic. I tend to get a bit worried about things from time to time and it’s just great to have her beside me saying, ‘Let’s think this through’.
“Without their support I wouldn’t even be considering it.”
It has already been an eye-opening year for Cr Wood, who spent 10 days living rough on the streets of NSW as part of the SBS documentary Filthy Rich and Homeless, before in June being honoured with a Medal of the Order of Australia for his service to the environment, community and local government.
The results of the election will be declared by November 14.
