Newcastle News

10 QUESTIONS WITH NEIL GORMAN – Cessnock Mayoral Candidate

1. What led you to run for Mayor?

As a lawyer I have had a long time fascination with politics and I believe I can do a better job than anybody else I have seen put up their hand in recent times. Being mayor is not about being a “good bloke”. It is virtually a full time job looking after the welfare and the future of 51,000 people and is not something that should be earned by being in a particular political party for 20 years. This is not a job that that can be performed well by somebody with no legal knowledge, no financial skills or business experience – but see how many candidates apart from me could pass such scrutiny. Cessnock deserves a mayor with the qualifications to do the job.

2. How would you change what has been a dysfunctional council?

Strangely I don’t consider this council all that dysfunctional – at least until the mayor’s extraordinary actions in having interlocutory injunctions issued against 10 of her own councillors who committed the heinous crime of refusing to be told how to vote and saying they were elected to make up their own minds. The major difficulty we have is a cultural one that whoever wins the election will need to address – even apart from the widespread dissatisfaction with the General Manager there is a community perception, shared unfortunately by the business community, that it is easier and cheaper to do business in Maitland and Newcastle because of the council staff. It doesn’t matter if the perception is true – it is vital to change it. First and foremost the ease and time for development applications must be improved.


3. Given the turmoil that has surrounded council, why are you the best person to lead Cessnock?

Turmoil has surrounded council and it is vital that the incumbent be replaced by a genuine leader – somebody who has controlled large numbers of staff, is used to dealing with large amounts of money, is an experienced councillor, has significant business management experience, understands the complexities of the law surrounding council, has financial qualifications and preferably has large numbers of political contacts in the state government. Several of the candidates in this election tick some of these boxes – I am the only one who ticks all of them.

4. There are 10 Mayor candidates, is this the worst outcome given that the election is now likely to be decided on preferences?

Yes. Unfortunately many people will see their votes expire or go to their 5th preference – obviously not desirable.

5. Who are you preferencing?
Gorman (1) McCudden(2) Burcham(3) Thomas(4)

6. What would be your main priority if elected?

Roads. We certainly have the Hunter’s worst roads, possibly the worst in NSW. I believe I have come up with a viable method to launch a massive roadworks programme in Cessnock over the next 4 years which will fix all roads for 20-30 years. This is not pie in the sky, it is using an existing Division of Local Government programme.

7. What is your biggest challenge in winning this election?

Money. Getting my message across with limited funds which changes to state laws have made hard for all groups to access.

8. Why should rate payers have faith in you?

I can only run on my record for the last four years. In that time I have strongly supported progress in the city, been responsible for the idea to give the Tourist Board funding to encourage conferences to visit our area, was responsible for the purchase of the art gallery, pushed for and got the Vineyard Visioning Statement, supported the residents of Black Hill and many other things.

9. How would you rate the performance of the current council and what would you change?

I would rate the performance of the current council as poor. Partly that is because a minority of councillors seem to oppose everything for the sake of opposing. I don’t believe a council can be better than it’s leader and our current mayor has been very poor, frequently losing control of meetings. The current Supreme Court case is a farce and will probably cost the community $500,000. The irony is that after the election one of us who are defendants will probably be mayor – and guess how long it will take the new mayor to discontinue the court case meaning the whole case was wasted.

10. How do you rate your chances of winning the election?

I am optimistic – I am reasonably well known, both as a councillor and through doing two radio programmes on 2CHR, we have a good set of policies and my four ward teams are highly electable.

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One Comment

  1. You want scrutiny? Then show us your resume and references to attest to your success as a “lawyer”, “somebody who has controlled large numbers of staff, is used to dealing with large amounts of money”, and “significant business management experience”. Otherwise it’s hearsay.
    To have “large numbers of political contacts in the state government” makes you sound like “Oil Can Harry”.
    And your radio programmes? Yawn!!

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