Some people say George Greiss, the leader of the Liberal Party on Campbelltown Council during the last term, is too polite, too nice, to his opponents.
Given an opportunity to criticise the ruling Labor Party majority of the past five years – and there’s plenty of fertile ground in that space – Cr Greiss chooses to be philosophical in response.
The closest he will come to being negative about Labor’s stranglehold on council is when he says the Liberals “amended a lot of motions to make sure that they benefitted the community and were not just tokenism’’.
Greiss, who will once again lead the Libs at the December 4 election, says there was also a bit of bad luck on his side.
“We went for long periods during that term without Cr Ted Rowell and Cr Ralph George, who were absent for health and other reasons, so that did not help us in the chamber,’’ he says.
“But we did what we could; we tried to keep them honest.
“We tried to stop a few things that we did not succeed in, but Labor had a majority and all we can do is, well, it’s a numbers game on council.
“Having said that it’s a democracy and Labor had the numbers,’’ he says.
There was one significant victory for him during the term, when Cr Greiss won enough support for his long held idea to establish a design panel for Campbelltown.
A panel of experts look at every development in Campbelltown to ensure that it adds aesthetic value to the area and is not just a giant lump of ugly concrete.
In the long term the design panel will mean Campbelltown stands out as a good looking city.
“It will make a significant difference – the panel reviews how new developments will look, and make sure they’re not standard concrete blocks, but have design merits,’’ says Cr Greiss.
“So as Campbelltown starts to grow and we see new blocks of units going up it’s important to have good looking buildings that incorporate nature, good architecture, good colour schemes, not grey jungles coming up everywhere.’’
Neither Ted Rowell or Ralph George will be part of the next Liberal Party team on council, as both have called it quits.
It has meant that the Liberal Party could put a team together for election to the new council that boasts an injection of youth and women.
And talking to George Greiss, who becomes animated when talking about the December 4 Liberal Party ticket, you get the sense a shake up is on the way for Campbelltown Council.
“I am really excited about having young Riley Munro on our ticket for this election, it will make a big difference to what we bring to the table,’’ he says.
“He brings a lot of enthusiasm to the ticket – and we may even be able talk about Pokemon on council.
“Riley has grown up in the area, went to local schools, is connected with local youth, and very active in the community.
“I think he has a very good future in politics.’’
Riley is number three on the Liberal party ticket, while at number two is Marian George, a Leumeah resident and mother of three kids.
John Chew, Binod Paudel, Christopher Formosa, Gypshouna Paudel, Marcus Uren and Liberty Estrella are also on the ticket.
At the very top is of course George Greiss, who has already served 13 years on council, but who sees the next term as an opportunity to make an even bigger contribution to Campbelltown.
“As a Liberal Party representative I do bring a different perspective to issues and debates on the council,’’ he says.
“I certainly still want to serve and contribute, do some things for the people of Campbelltown.’’
Cr Greiss says one of the things his side will push for in the new term is the introduction of wards for Campbelltown.
Currently, for election purposes, Campbelltown is one giant ward, which makes it hard for independent candidates to get elected or elected councillors to serve.
“Wards for Campbelltown seems like a smart idea and I think that is something that we will push for in the next term,’’ he says.
“Having a number of wards would for example also make byelections a lot cheaper.
“And wards are good for grassroots democracy, too.’’
Cr Greiss sees the next term, which will be over three years before a new election is held in 2024, as a waiting game for Campbelltown.
“Campbelltown has done a lot of strategic planning, such as Reimagine Campbelltown, employment and housing strategies, local planning and so on.
“If I had my chance, I would have done things differently, there’s no doubt about that.
“We are sending out a message to the market, that this is our vision for Campbelltown. And if they are willing, we are ready and we are open.’’
Over the last term George Greiss became a father, twice, so he is heading intro another council term with a much bigger family around him.
“I spend as much time with my family as I can,’’ he says.
“Family’s got to come first.
“If you don’t look after your family I don’t think anyone would trust you to look after Campbelltown.’’
