Mulino’s call

By Jade Lawton
EDRINGTON Ward Councillor and City of Casey deputy mayor Cr Daniel Mulino may be forced to choose between his role on council and his employment at the office of ALP Senator Jacinta Collins before the end of his term.
Premier John Brumby is likely to ban councillors from working for politicians in response to the state Ombudsman’s account of breaches of conduct at Brimbank Council, in Melbourne’s west.
Cr Mulino is one of two Casey councillors employed at an ALP electorate office and one of many across the state to be caught up in the fallout from the Brimbank report.
The Gazette understands that Cr Mulino has told a metropolitan news source that if forced to choose, he would resign from council rather than his role at Jacinta Collins’ office. The Gazette tried unsuccessfully to contact Cr Mulino for comment over the past week.
In the event of the resignation of a councillor from a multi-councillor ward, the Victorian Electoral Commission holds a countback, where the vacating councillor’s votes from a previous election are redistributed among the unsuccessful candidates according to voters’ preferences.
In the November 2008 council election, Daniel Mulino was a clear winner, with 5826 first preference votes.
Mick Morland, who had been on council for more than 17 years, had 4743 first preference votes but lost his seat on preferences to Simon Curtis, with 4031 votes.
Mr Morland told the Gazette on Tuesday he would have to think about any decision that might involve his candidature last November. He would not predict a return to council in the event of Cr Mulino vacating the seat, nor though would he rule out a return in that event.
“I don’t think I would step up. I have been out of it six months now and I am really enjoying spending time with my wife. I gave council 17 and-a-half years,” he said.
“I think it is terrible what is happening with Brimbank. I don’t believe political judgements should ever be in council. I am a staunch Liberal but I don’t see how the parties come in to local government; we just represent local issues,” he said.
Mr Morland speculated a vacancy would not arise and therefore he wouldn’t be called on to step in the role.
“I don’t believe Daniel would quit. I believe both Daniel and Simon are doing great jobs. I have worked with them on numerous occasions and they are both great guys,” he said.
Behind Cr Mulino, Cr Curtis and Mr Morland, the Edrington candidate with the next largest number of votes was Casey volunteer and executive officer for the Australian Air League in Victoria, Judy Owen.