By Laura Michell and Jaidyn Kennedy
A shock last-minute candidate has thrown his hat in the ring for next month’s Werribee by-election.
Aidan McLindon is mayor of outer north growth council Whittlesea, and now he has pledged to stop Werribee residents from being “walked over“ by the major parties.
Describing his candidacy as a “publicity stunt”, he said he was in a position to lead an outer suburban charge against Labor and Liberal.
“It’s time we bring these people to account, because they have taken Werribee for an absolute ride,” he said.
“They need help and I’m the person to bring that help to them.
“Without more publicity stunts, Werribee is going to continue to be walked over.”
Former independent candidate and Wyndham GP Joe Garra, who is now affiliated with the West Party founded by by-election candidate Paul Hopper, took to X (formerly Twitter) to question why Cr McLindon was contesting the election.
“He has no connection to Werribee,“ he wrote.
This is not the first time Cr McLindon has contested a state election. He stood in the seat of Mulgrave against former premier Daniel Andrews at the 2022 state election and served as a state MP in Queensland.
This time, Cr McLindon is standing on a five-policy platform comprised of four issues he said are impacting the outer suburbs – especially the City of Whittlesea.
They are the four proposed waste to energy plants in outer suburbs, the state government’s Local Government Act reforms, payroll tax and Australia Day.
His fifth policy calls for retired Werribee MP Tim Pallas to face a public inquiry over his travel expenses, including $72,683 spent on a trip to the UK and Europe just weeks before he resigned.
Cr McLindon said he won’t step down from Whittlesea’s top job while he contests the state election and conceded he is taking advantage of his election platform to “ensure these issues that aren’t being heard by the state government will be considered“.
He said he will give Premier Jacinta Allan and opposition leader Brad Battin one week to respond to his wishes before deciding where to direct his preferences.
“I do believe I could find myself in a situation where my preferences are determining the outcome of the seat,” he said.
One of the items on Cr McLendon’s wish list is for the state government to withdraw plans for four waste to energy plants in Melbourne’s outer suburbs at Wollert (in Whittlesea), Dandenong South, Laverton North and Lara.
Cr McLindon said the government also needed to review changes made to the Local Government Act, which he said were “restrictive” and impacting the ability of councillors to interact with the community.
“The councillor code of conduct is exhaustive. If I put something on Facebook and someone makes a derogatory comment, the onus is on me to remove it, but often you don’t see it,” he said.
“You can’t banter or talk out policy … robust local representatives are restricted.”
When announcing the reforms in November 2023, the state government said the changes would improve the performance and accountability of councillors.
Also on Cr McLindon’s wish list is for a minute’s silence to be observed on Australia Day and for citizenship ceremonies and Australia Day celebrations to be held on January 26.
He said holding a minute’s silence at 11.59am on Australia Day would acknowledge the “atrocities“ of the past. Under his proposal, a bell would then ring at noon, signalling the start of celebrations.
He also wants small businesses with a turnover of $10 million or less to be exempt from payroll tax as long as they employ an extra person.
