Renewed Arron Wood “energised” about the road ahead at Town Hall

“A fresh start, a proven record” is the message at the heart of Arron Wood’s reinvigorated bid for the City of Melbourne, citing a lack of vision for the city as his prime motivation for returning for another crack at Town Hall.

It’s no small thing to put yourself up for public office. As the former Deputy Lord Mayor knows all too well, “it’s the most public job interview you can go for”.

After falling short against Sally Capp during the COVID-riddled 2020 election, he admitted “it was actually really hard to lose” after putting his vision out there for the people of Melbourne at the time.

“I think COVID was really tough for so many people,” Mr Wood told Docklands News when reflecting on the 2020 campaign. “It was tough even to get out and talk to people because they were dealing with so much.”

But as the pandemic continued to take hold across Melbourne, he said that the time away from council, where he served between 2012 and 2020, had given him precious time with his young family during a crucial period.

“COVID had a long tail and our family like a lot of families suffered, particularly our kids – they really got impacted with online schooling and all the rest of it. So, it took them a long time to bounce back,” he said.

“In the end, you deal with whatever you’re given and what I was given was certainly not second prize – I got to actually spend more time with my family when they needed me most.”

With Melbourne ultimately falling victim to the world’s longest lockdowns, Mr Wood is the first to “recognise it’s not easy to bounce back” as the City of Melbourne dealt with more than its share of challenges over the course of the last council term.

And he said that if “things had been flying”, perhaps there would have been no need to mount a comeback to Town Hall.

But in his words, he said “things aren’t going in the right direction”, and that it was the “lack of vision for what Melbourne should be as a city” which challenged him the most.

With that, and following consultation with the people who know him best – namely his family who he said were “110 per cent” behind him – he’s putting himself out there for the city he loves once again.

“It’s a combination of factors,” Mr Wood told Docklands News. “Still having that passion and drive, knowing that I’ve got the skills to do the job and then seeing the city head in the wrong direction.”

I saw crime, city cleanliness, even just the way of getting in and around the city, how businesses were struggling, how people were struggling. But the biggest thing for me was that lack of vision for what Melbourne should be as a city.

The well-known environmentalist and Kensington resident of nearly 20 years, who founded and ran innovative education program Kids Teaching Kids for more than 20 years from its City of Melbourne home before entering politics, led the city through significant change during his eight years on council and chaired governance, finance and environment.

Among many of his notable achievements, Mr Wood played an instrumental role in the council’s Melbourne Renewal Energy Project (MREP), enabling a new wind farm in Ararat to power the city’s infrastructure, paving the way for MREP2.

Serving as Deputy Lord Mayor during his last term on council, he also led the city as Acting Lord Mayor through one of its most tumultuous periods following allegations of sexual misconduct made against former Lord Mayor Robert Doyle.

He said voters only needed to “go back to my track record” to prove that “when I promise something, I deliver”, adding that unlike his main opponent in current Lord Mayor Nick Reece, he was heading into this campaign with a united team.

Cr Reece is a long-time Labor Party member who is running as an independent in this election on a “unity ticket” alongside Liberal Party member Cr Roshena Campbell as his deputy – an idea Mr Wood described as “farcical.”

“The idea of a unity ticket, where someone from a completely different political persuasion and vision from the opposite political space suddenly joined hearts, I think is a little bit farcical,” Mr Wood said.

“I do want people to be sceptical in this election of what’s been said.”

Under a “five-point plan” for the city, Mr Wood has a suite of policies aimed at cost of living, city safety, cleanliness and greenery, the economy, residential communities and “reviving Melbourne’s cultural heartbeat”.

Announcing swimwear entrepreneur Erin Deering as his running mate in August, Team Wood has already pledged to make Melbourne Australia’s “Christmas Capital” and has promised a zero per cent rate freeze – a policy he last introduced at Town Hall during COVID as chair of finance.

As the campaign for Town Hall ramps up heading into September, Mr Wood told Docklands News he was “feeling energised about what I could do if I was elected”, and that he represented a “clear choice” between change and “more of the same”.

“The City of Melbourne is there to be provide good customer service, and that’s something which actually does excite me – to lead that culture,” he said.

“The biggest excitement I got while I was on council was going down to a residents’ group or even a lone resident who’s got an issue and they’ve been banging their head against the brick wall trying to get it solved.”

“I’m really clear with people I speak to that if they want just to meander along more of the same, then vote for the current Town Hall leadership, but not if you want a change in direction – if you want to actually start fixing some of the problems that we have.”

As for Docklands, he said he would continue to advocate for much-needed infrastructure, including a new high school and long-awaited renewal of Harbour Esplanade

“My parents live in NewQuay and love Docklands, but it needs strong leadership to realise the vision for a thriving harbour community on the doorstep of the city,” he said.

“The primary school has been fantastic and we now need to see the high school built, the Harbour Esplanade master plan realised and an end to inappropriate development, which means standing up to Development Victoria and the state government when required.” •