It was billed as a “unique opportunity” to hear directly from “business-focused candidates” in the running to become the City of Melbourne’s next lord mayor.
But instead, guests at the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry breakfast on Wednesday were treated to a spectacle of shouting, name-calling, a trophy presentation and a flurry of headline-grabbing policy proposals – ranging from free coffees to a potential council merger and even the revival of the Melbourne Star observation wheel.
Six of 11 candidates vying for the top job took to the stage, including the incumbent Nicholas Reece, former deputy Arron Wood, businessperson Gary Morgan and councillor Jamal Hakim. Former AFL footballer Anthony Koutoufides and Labor’s Phil Reed were late additions.
Two candidates were quizzed at a time, starting with Hakim and Morgan, the executive chair of Roy Morgan Research. Morgan – who is making his seventh tilt for lord mayor – committed to lowering rates, vowed to “make Melbourne great again” and boldly declared that cancer was “solved” due to his funding of a medical trial.
Morgan’s key proposal is to merge Port Phillip and Yarra councils with the City of Melbourne, increasing the city’s population from 150,000 to 360,000. He criticised the current population size of the council as a “joke” compared with Sydney (250,000) and Brisbane (1.3 million).
On several occasions Morgan shouted, including over the event’s MC, telling her: “Hang on, let me finish. I’ve heard the rubbish”.
“No need to be rude,” Hakim responded.
Hakim talked through plans to reform payroll tax, create “experience improvement districts” akin to London’s West End and New York City’s Times Square and corrected the record after a story suggested he wanted Diwali, Eid and Hanukkah to become public holidays
“We’re not going to add three public holidays and it does hurt business. What that announcement was is $10m for cultural festivals,” he said.
“We need to bring people back into the city, not just at Christmas.”
Hakim was asked if his policies were “dreamland” by a member of the crowd, who was later identified by Morgan as his company’s chief executive. A supporter of Hakim’s then lobbed the next question to Morgan, asking how he dealt with failure, noting his multiple attempts at council.
“I don’t think I’ve failed in life. I’m here today, this is the most exciting day of my life,” Morgan replied.
Koutoufides thanked Morgan for “brightening up my morning” and referred to him as a “comedian”.
While his proposal to treat city workers to a coffee on Monday mornings for at least a month made headlines, the former Carlton captain sought to focus on other policies, including staffed safety booths, increased lighting and a reduction of graffiti – particularly in Melbourne’s lane-ways – and a permit-system for protests.
“We need tidiness, cleanliness in the city. I grew up with migrant parents in the northern suburbs of Melbourne – Mum and Dad were out there every weekend hosing down the driveway. So I know cleanliness,” Koutoufides said.
As a self-confessed “fitness freak”, he acknowledged the appeal of cycling to work but suggested that the city’s bike paths were too wide. While initially critical of e-scooters, Koutoufides believed they should return to the city with proper regulations.
“I wasn’t a big fan of them too. But speaking to the people around the city, they really like them,” he said.
Koutoufides was paired with Labor’s Phil Reed, who confessed the party’s campaign was focused more on Melbourne suburbs outside the CBD.
“The bad news for people in this room, is that the Labor for Melbourne campaign is unashamedly focused on the notion of keeping local government local, and looking particularly to those communities … on the periphery of the CBD,” he said.
The main act – between the two frontrunners Reece and Wood – quickly descended into a sledging match, with the former accusing the latter of rising rates by $117m when he was last on council.
“Let’s not let the truth get in the way of a good debate,” Wood shot back, accusing Reece of lacking originality and being too close to the Labor party.
“Unlike Mr Reece, we do a lot of work on our policies. Lots of them sound really familiar because immediately the day after, usually Nick follows.
“Nick’s not a leader. He’s a follower. Nick’s not a doer. He’s a talker.”
Reece said Wood had made “personal attacks” against him and “talked the city down” every day of the campaign.
“I am relentlessly focused on Melbourne and what we can do to make our city the best and fairest in the world,” he said.
The candidates, however, did find some common ground when discussing Docklands. While Hakim, who lives in the area, described it as a “thriving community,” Morgan called it a “mess,” Wood said was “languishing,” and Reece criticised its design as flawed “from the start”.
Reece proposed Docklands could host a new Little India precinct and hinted at the potential reopening of the Melbourne Star, which attracted 400,000 visitors annually before its closure in 2021.
“I would expect to see the Melbourne Wheel [sic] spinning again in coming months. I’ve been working with the liquidators, there’s a preferred bidder in place, there’s discussions happening with the state government,” he said. “It an example of rolling up the sleeves, doing the hard work.”
The debate concluded with Morgan presenting a trophy from his grandfather to the hosts and extending a job offer to the other candidates.
“Gentlemen, you all got a job with me, if you’d like one. We employ hundreds of people,” he said.
The chief executive of VCCI, Paul Guerra, described the debate as “confronting” yet “inspiring”. He said there was a need for open dialogue among candidates with differing views ahead of the election.
Ballot packs for council elections across Victoria are being mailed this week and are due back by 25 October.
