Patrick Durkin
Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle has been returned for another term with more than 40 per cent of the vote but without a majority of the 11-member council.
Mr Doyle said he wanted to use his second term to boost safety in Melbourne by increasing cameras in the city and introducing a ferry service in the Docklands as well as a bulk buying solar panel scheme.
“I think we were the only team to spell out properly costed policies, we didn’t do things that were either outrageous and just uncosted like a giant network of underground car parks or promise things that weren’t our business like 24 hour public transport or more cops on the beat like some of the ticks did,” Mr Doyle told the AFR.
Mr Doyle’s running mate and current deputy lord mayor, Susan Riley was re-elected but Team Doyle will have a bloc of only five on the 11-member council with incumbent Kevin Louey joined by new members Beverley Pinder-Mortimer and Arron Wood. The Greens’ Rohan Leppert will join Cathy Oke on the council, along with the ALP’s Richard Foster and shareholder activist Stephen Mayne.
Mr Doyle rejected claims his second-term agenda would be hi-jacked.
“This was always going to happen when the number of councillors was increased from seven to nine [plus two leadership positions],” he said.“I have worked with most councillors very productively and I am happy to try and do so again, to a large extent the reputation of the council and the individual councillors will be underscored. People will be prepared to work together or try to run individual agendas.”
Cr Doyle’s main rival, Sotheby’s chief executive Gary Singer and the Greens’ Alison Parkes were set to receive about 12 per cent of the vote.
Pollster Gary Morgan and his running partner, businessman John Elliott, were heading for 11 per cent.
“Doyle has done nothing in the last four years and will do nothing in the next four years and Melbourne will continue on its steady decline,” Mr Morgan told The AFR.
The Australian Financial Review
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