Cr Jamal Hakim pushing to make history in Melbourne

Lord Mayoral candidate and Docklands resident Cr Jamal Hakim is hoping to make history by having the first Greek-Australian Deputy Lord Mayor, and the first Aboriginal councillor elected to the City of Melbourne.

A “democratic, welcoming and flourishing city” is the vision current Cr Jamal Hakim is striving for after announcing his candidacy for Lord Mayor on August 2 ahead of October’s City of Melbourne elections.

Celebrating the city’s diversity is at the heart of the former Midsumma Festival board member’s campaign for Town Hall, and he has pledged that Team Hakim would “shape a future for Melbourne that prioritises people, not politics”.

It’s a narrative that strongly resonates with Esther Anatolitis, who is considered one of Australia’s most influential advocates for arts, media and urban planning, and has joined Team Hakim as its candidate for Deputy Lord Mayor.

A long-time contributor to the Greek community, if elected, Ms Anatolitis will make history as the first Greek-Australian Deputy Lord Mayor of the largest Hellenic city outside of Greece.

And on August 22, Cr Hakim announced that award-winning Aboriginal writer, advocate and executive, Bebe Oliver, would run in the number one spot on the Team Hakim councillor ticket.

If elected, which is a strong likelihood given the likely preference flows from the progressive end of the field running in this election, Mr Oliver would become the city’s first-ever Indigenous councillor.

Mr Oliver recently led Aboriginal strategies, policies and programs at the City of Melbourne and is now the artistic director and CEO of Blak & Bright First Nations Literary Festival and a strategic advisor and consultant.

He said he was honoured to join Team Hakim, “where commitment is to genuinely and authentically place Melbourne’s interests at the forefront of every action and decision we make.”

Cr Hakim, who has been central to driving activation and community in Docklands during his first term on council, said he believed in “the power of representation driving real progress for Melbourne”.

Ms Anatolitis told Docklands News that Team Hakim’s message for a democratic, welcoming and flourishing city was something she wanted to be part of.

“I’m someone who lives, works and loves Melbourne. I’ve been here for more than 20 years, and I am no stranger to representative governance,” Ms Anatolitis said.

The evolution of any city is kind of beautifully cyclical and that cycle grows and expands. Melbourne’s success is very much grounded on its multiculturism.

Neos Kosmos, for which she has also written, featured Ms Anatolitis among the 50 most prominent Greek Australians of the time in its 50th anniversary magazine, and when one glances at her CV, it’s easy to understand why …

Ms Anatolitis’s leadership career in arts, media and urban planning began in ethnic broadcasting when she ran the National Ethnic and Multicultural Broadcasters Council, and later worked at SBS Radio Melbourne.

Within the City of Melbourne, she has been CEO of Express Media, the Emerging Writers Festival (of which she was a founder), Craft Victoria, SYN Media 90.7FM, Regional Arts Victoria, and Melbourne Fringe.

She has been an AFR 100 Women of Influence finalist and has worked on cultural precincts and master planning all over Australia, and was inaugural deputy chair of Contemporary Arts Precincts, the social enterprise behind Collingwood Yards.

Ms Anatolitis has also worked with local governments, including the City of Melbourne, on arts precinct and urban planning projects, and is a prolific writer, commentator and editor who has written several books.

She has served numerous government policy committees and arts boards, including ACMI, Regional Arts Australia, and the Arts Industry Council of Victoria, and is currently a member of the governing council of the National Gallery of Australia, co-chair of the Australian Republic Movement, and an associate professor at RMIT School of Art.

As a “passionate advocate of Australian multiculturalism” who speaks several languages, she has advised both the Hellenic Museum and the Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria, where she has served the board of the Antipodes Festival.

She is also a proud member of Melbourne’s queer and disability communities, living with a rare brain condition similar to epilepsy on the migraine spectrum.

With many others having approached Ms Anatolitis to run for the City of Melbourne in the past, Cr Hakim said he was thrilled she had accepted to join his team as someone who “understands quintessential Melbourne”. •