Any resident, community group, ratepayer or business that has contacted me over the past three years, will have noticed that I promptly return calls and do not abruptly rush people who make the effort to contact me about their concerns.

Unfortunately one of the other candidates running in Mullum Ward has decided to attack me over my council mobile phone usage. This candidate has no connection with the community and is instead relying on the preferences of dummy candidates to help her get elected.

“My bill is typically higher than the others because it shows the volume of work I do for the council,” Cr Makin said. “I also get back to people who leave messages. There are a lot of councillors who don’t return calls and as a result I get a lot of frustrated people calling me.”

I use a separate mobile for personal use and my personal mobile phone, 0409 136 213, is the number I am using during the election period to ensure that council equipment is not being used for electoral purposes. In addition, since I have always been employed within small business, I do not have the luxury of using work phones for council purposes.

Many of Maroondah’s residents are reluctant to ring mobiles and often I will provide the opportunity for people; such as pensioners, senior citizens and people with disabilities, the option of calling them back so that they do not face the burden of mobile call costs.

Councillors need to be accessible to the community and take the time to listen to people. Baseless attacks by candidates who have a lack of community involvement, unfortunately demonstrates yet another low within this council election.