Fired up for change

A LACK of leadership stemming from the current Bass Coast Shire Council has brought a Bunurong candidate to the forefront.
Fed up with rate hikes and community projects going by the wayside, Inverloch’s Mohan de Run will stand in this October’s council election.
Living permanently in Inverloch for the past six years – and spending time in his Inverloch holiday home for six years prior – Mr de Run has had plenty of insight into council and his local community.
“I’ve been largely involved with the council for the past three years. You become involved when things start to niggle the people around you. If you are not happy, you must do something about it,” he said.
Mr de Run said there were five core issues he would like to see addressed by council – financial transparency, governance, wasting money, equitable representation and accountability – and that he had the skill set to bridge the disconnection between council and the community.
“There’s something amiss with council’s current method of communication and there’s a lack of understanding coming from the community,” he said.
“Local government is the voice of the people, and the community’s needs must be addressed.
“Council must also be mindful about how money is spent, and unfortunately there’s been a poor distribution of revenue.”
Mr de Run said he was shocked to see rates were still high, despite the rate cap, and believed the community was not getting value for money.
“I championed the petition for the rate cap. There’s a cost of living that the government seems to forget,” he said.
“You can’t be milking ratepayers faster than they can earn their money if you aren’t delivering.”
As a retired company owner and director, Mr de Run has 31 years of experience in finance management.
“I’ve worked with several multinational and Australian companies in general management, specialising in logistics and training. I’ve had to work with multimillion budgets, deliver efficiencies and improve service delivery,” he said.
“I am passionate about making sure the retirees and pensioners are well catered for and small businesses and youth are well catered for.”
Mr de Run said there was a distinct lack of leisure activities available to people in Bass Coast, and if you aren’t interested in sport there’s not much left for people to do.
“I believe the Wonthaggi Aquatic and Leisure Centre is an important project and could incorporate other facilities to meet the needs of the wider community,” he said.
“At the moment, there is 15 percent of revenue going into capital works. This is too little. Our reserve is down so low we can’t obtain grants. I would like to see capital works go up closer to 25 percent.”
Mr de Run said nine councillors will go some way to deliver better representation across the shire and more direction.
“The community needs to be sure the councillors they choose are good leaders, articulated, good negotiators, good thinkers and most importantly they need to be able to manage the budget and priorities,” he said.
“I believe I can make a difference, deliver strong outcomes and better serve the needs of the community. Councillors cannot be frightened to lead. They are the voice of the people.”
Mr de Run said he believed he had met likeminded people he would be pleased to see elected to council, including Bruce Kent, who is running for the Westernport ward.
“The leisure centre is important. I’m pleased to see council has shown its support for the Cape Paterson Life Saving Club building and the Surf Parade footpath is underway. I think there is a necessity for more childcare. I know one childcare centre was approved in Inverloch and one was not, but I believe there is room for one more in an appropriate location,” he said.
Mr de Run’s campaign has started, and will be engaging in plenty of street talk in the lead up to the oncoming election.

Bunurong ward: Inverloch’s Mohan de Run will stand for the upcoming Bass Coast Shire Council election in October.

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Posted by Sarah Vella on Jul 19 2016. Filed under Featured, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry