Dooley down for Ballarat council run

VOTERS in Central Ward now have another option with a fifty-six-year-old electrical wholesaler throwing his had in the ring for October’s council election.

Moving to the city three years ago from Melbourne, John Dooley said helping make Ballarat a better was at the heart of his run.

“It’s a decision based on community,” he said. “I like to get involved in community activities, so when I came to Ballarat, I was looking for the same thing.

“The driver is being part of the community and volunteering, and this run is a follow on from that.”

This is first time Mr Dooley has stood for public office, although he has been a frontline campaigner on other people’s runs, including the 2018 State push by Amy Johnson and Andrew Kilmartin and he supported Tim Vo’s Federal effort last year.

A member of the Liberal Party, Mr Dooley said he was not endorsed, nor was his campaign being supported financially by the party, although he did expect some party members would help him.

“There’s no financial support,” he said. “The only support you would expect there to be would be from friends.

“People of the likes of Tim Vo and the younger brigade, if I can say that, all the way up to some of the wonderful people who are retired. You’d expect them to front up and say, ‘look, I’ll give you a hand’.”

As for what Mr Dooley will campaign on, there are some issues that could be described as squarely in the Liberal Party’s wheel house – like business support.

“In my work I deal with a lot of small to medium enterprises,” he said. “Not everything is about what they are going to buy today or tomorrow, people have views and talk about many things, but they have a real interest in the council and the City.

“I want to make sure the small and medium enterprises are being looked after by the City. Are they getting value for their money? What are they getting for their rates? How could that be done better?

“There’s a bit of vibe around about fairly substantial council projects and the people who eventually win the tenders. We’ve got a few things where Ballarat based people are going to the west of Melbourne to do work and people from the west of Melbourne are coming to Ballarat. That seems to be around the wrong way.”

Yet there’s also other issues facing the city that he’s keen to see action on.

Things like incorporating renewable energy into municipal contracts, environmental concerns and improved urban planning.

“I thought I had a good handle on renewables but since I’ve been working with windfarms, I’ve have gained quite an insight into how that works and why they are being put up everywhere,” Mr Dooly said.

“I think the City has had some good ideas on renewables but I’m worried they are coming from just one or two people. We need to use less power. I’d put forward plans where we use solar we could, and it should written into tenders that renewables have to be explored.

“I worry about planning on the fringes. Up in Black Hill I think there’s issues there, fatalities of wildlife is still quite common. Also, what happens with disaster management if there’s a fire up there. Seems like a lot of people to try and funnel down Hillview Road.”

All that, by his own admission, make Mr Dooley hard to pin down in traditional and simple terms used to describe where people sit ideologically within Liberal ranks.

As to which mould he fits into, his response in simple, “I don’t,” he said.

“I’ve been asked by many people where I fit in, and I tell them where I’m at and they say they’re not sure and they’ll get back to me.”

Mr Dooley’s announcement means there are four currently declared candidates looking for a seat at the table in Central Ward in October’s City of Ballarat election.

He joins current deputy-mayor and Greens candidate Cr Belinda Coates, and serving councillor and former mayor Cr Mark Harris.

Also in the mix are the two Labor Party aligned candidates: former state member of parliament Geoff Howard and Kumuda Simpson.