By Briar Sinclair
AFTER failing to win a seat on Hobsons Bay City Council last year, Newport resident Hans Paas will try his luck in the Hepburn Shire Council elections later this month.
But Mr Paas has warned his political opponents “not to crack open the champagne” yet because he will still live in Hobsons Bay even if he is elected.
A Hobsons Bay Community First (HBCF) member, Mr Paas lost to Peter Hemphill in the Williamstown North ward last November.
In the Hepburn election, which is a postal election, Mr Paas will run in the Birch Ward against incumbent Warren Maloney and three other candidates.
Mr Paas has owned a weekender in Daylesford since the 1990s and last year took the shire to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal over a dispute regarding decking he had added on to the house.
“I’ve had a lot of problems with the planning department,” he said.
“They’ve gone like a lot of council planning departments, their focus is now on revenue raising and regulation.
“It is no longer a level of government, it’s a business and we’re not residents, we’re customers.”
Mr Paas said he realised it was “not a personal vendetta against Hans Paas” after he heard similar complaints from other residents and alleged the council was bordering on corruption.
“Hepburn is similar to Hobsons Bay, the councillors are basically rubber stamps and council administrators run the show,” he said.
In similar strains of his Hobsons Bay election campaign, Mr Paas is running on platforms of planning and development and accountability and accessibility.
“My main purpose in standing is to raise these issues,” he said.
Cr Maloney said he believed the principal address for a candidate should be in the municipality they were running in.
“I have a very strong view that any councillor should reside permanently in the area they are standing for,” he said.
“I think that’s a reasonable expectation for residents to have of their councillors.
“Being a councillor involves 25 to 30 hours per week of involvement and a lot of time with the community.
“I haven’t encountered Hans on any community network around here so I can’t comment any further than that.”
He pointed out that a letter to the editor from a concerned resident had already appeared in a local paper in Hepburn about Mr Paas’ residency.
Cr Maloney also said any claims Mr Paas made about corruption in the council were completely untrue.
Like Hobsons Bay, the Hepburn Shire election will be via postal vote.
Mr Paas, who scored the “donkey vote” or top spot on the ballot paper, realises the task of being elected into the country shire is tough.
“I kind of think it’s a long shot,” he said.
“A lot of value will be put on where the candidates live.
“It’s a good test but whatever happens I’ll be happy.”
Meanwhile, fellow HBCF member Tony Briffa has also jumped boundaries to get a piece of the 2005 election action.
Mr Briffa, who was beaten in the Seabrook Ward by Renee Caruana in Hobsons Bay last year, is the campaign manager for his brother John, who is running in the Iramoo Ward in Wyndham City Council.
