A Wyndham councillor has missed an ordinary council meeting to attend an invite-only Liberal Party function.
Councillor Heather Marcus was an apology at last month’s November 8 meeting, instead attending a Diwali celebration hosted by the Multicultural Liberal Business Club.
The event was promoted as a chance to rub shoulders with assistant immigration minister Alex Hawke, human services minister Alan Tudge and assistant minister to the treasurer, Michael Sukkar.
Cr Marcus said she felt it was vital to take advantage of an opportunity to meet with federal government ministers on a one-on-one basis, and secure future meetings with them to outline Wyndham’s needs.
She said while dates for these meetings had yet to be set more than a month on, she was confident they would be held before Christmas.
“I thought this would be an absolute brilliant opportunity for me to go and to be able to talk about all our challenges and opportunities in Melbourne’s west … the council gave me notes, and I handed those notes to those three ministers,” Cr Marcus said.
“If it means missing a council meeting, I just think I did more good going over there to be able to speak to those ministers one-on-one …it’s vitally important for a very large city like ours to make sure that we are getting our voice heard.
“Michael Sukkar and Alan Tudge both agreed that they would meet with us, but it has taken a little longer than we had planned.”
Cr Marcus said she was not, and had never been, a Liberal Party member.
Wyndham council chief executive, Kelly Grigsby confirmed that while meeting requests had been made, nothing had been scheduled.
Ms Grigsby said councillors did not need permission to miss council meetings or attend events.
