The real story on preferences

My How to Vote card has been officially registered and a sample is contained in the flyer. Most of the other candidates have registered their how to votes across the municipality and its sad to see some current councillors who have stacked wards with "dummy" candidates. That is people that stand for election on a basic or no platform and hand over their 2nd preference to the "real" candidate.

You'll know who they are when you see on their how to votes that they've preferenced other current councillors last or near to last or in some cases, if you are the same nationality, they'll place you last as well.

I'm not going to name names, I believe you all to be intelligent readers with minds of your own to figure out that information for yourselves. Unfortunately, local papers will only give you snippets of "news worthy" bits for you make your minds up with and last minute too.

I hope it is clear to you that I have never been a dummy for anyone and never will be. Stacking is a major problem in the Labor Party and in effort to clean up that image the Labor Party decided to officially support a small number of candidates per ward. I've mentioned in another post who those people are. We all faced a preselection and in the midst of a Head Office debacle, we were able to get most of our local members to vote and those people won on their own merits. We've been able to prove to our party our worth as candidates.
That said, supported candidates only get to use the logo, each candidate has to finance their own campaign. There isn't a slush fund for candidates.

I'm endorsed by The Hon. Simon Crean, which is an honour. I have great respect for Simon as a person and as an MP.
I got to know Simon better after doing Killester's Year 10 Work Experience program at his Clayton Electorate Office and joining the Clayton South Branch at a meeting during that week. Since then I've been one of the youngest still at the branch and have worked on his campaigns. He's a top bloke and an incredible inspiration.
His endorsement means a lot to me. I hope when you read that, you'll understand too.

But that's my story. Everyone else has their own story and journey. If that isn't enough- and never be afraid to ask of more, I urge you all to take a leaf out of genuinecandidates.com, where the real candidates for City of Maroondah have gotten together and created this list to ask of the following to the candidates:

Do they have a history of involvement in our community?

Do they belong to community organisations?

Do they have a web site or blog? What is on it?

Are they clear about what they stand for?

Do they live in the ward they are standing for?

Are they easy to contact?

You can find Lightwood ward candidates details through this link.
http://www.vec.vic.gov.au/DandenongCandidates.html

Better still, check out Google.com and find out what they've been involved with, you never know what you may find.



Cheers :)


Lauren Fernando
ALP Candidate for Lightwood Ward
City of Greater Dandenong