Labor’s new Campbelltown Council leader George Brticevic may speak softly, but depending on the question, his words can feel like a gale force wind.
A week out from the September 10 elections, Cr Brticevic hits back hard at the mantra of independent candidates: “keep party politics out of council’’.
“An independent will say that because they want to be elected as independents, but I’ve got a group of five, six people who are a voting block for things that come up before council and we can actually get positive change,’’ Cr Brticevic says.
“We can put things forward and with the support of two others we get it through – independents can’t do that.
“If you’ve got 15 independents, wow, that’ll be just a circus and a fracas!
“So we actually give council stability and can get things done and those who say, oh there shouldn’t be party politics locally, well, if you want things done, you want stability, you vote for a major party, preferably Labor,’’ he says.
A good example, he says, is that missing piece of vital infrastructure in the Campbelltown CBD, a bridge over the railway line to link Broughton Street with Badgally Road.
“I love how the independents are all promising this bridge – how will an independent deliver the $150 million for it?
“Whereas we’ve got Greg Warren, our sitting Campbelltown member, Dr Freelander, who delivered a promise the Libs had to match, $50 million to Appin Road.
[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]“We’ve got state, hopefully local, and federal representation and I’m very confident in the near future we are going to have Labor governments both federally and state and we can actually make the bridge a possibility,’’ Cr Brticevic says.[/social_quote]
George Brticevic has ended up at the top of the pile in Campbelltown Labor after just four years on council.
The former leader, Anoulack Chanthivong, relinquished the reins after becoming the State Member for Macquarie Fields last year, although he continued attending council meetings.
Cr Brticevic says he learned from the best in the party.
“I’ve done my four year apprenticeship under Anoulack and I’ve been part of the Labor Party since 1994,’’ he says.
“Aaron Rule [former mayor] taught me politics when I was a 10 year old hitting the golf ball around the park at Macquarie Fields.’’
Cr Brticevic says he would be disappointed if the Labor Party did not get six of their candidates elected to council on September 10.
“Because of the great work Greg Warren and Anoulack have done and with Anne Stanley retaining Werriwa, the doc [Mike Freelander] taking Macarthur back for the first time in 20 years, I think Labor’s going in the right direction, and it’s the Libs’ turn to be on the nose, so if we don’t get six it will be disappointing,’’ he says.
The Labor ticket for next Saturday’s election has Brticevic at number one, followed by veteran councillor Meg Oates and first term councillor Darcy Lound.
Locals may know a little about the top three, but what about the Labor candidates in positions 4, 5, 6 and 7, who may also end up with a seat on council?
Who are they, the Voice in Macarthur asks Cr Brticevic.
“Margaret Chivers is a retired deputy principal at Campbellfield Public School, who established her own business with her husband, Graham, also a teacher, teaching kids to read and first aid,’’ he says.
“Margaret also runs a charity, Boxes for Christmas, going Australia wide in 84 nursing homes.
“People who are estranged or who don’t have any relatives or friends get a present for Christmas.’’
Rey Manoto is a leader of the local Philipino community: “Rey’s a great guy and he is the only person to get the head of another country to visit Campbelltown for the unveiling of the statue at Rizal Park, Rosemeadow.’’
Masood Chowdhury in spot six has been a Minto resident for 19 years, P&F president at the Grange Public School for more than a decade, has three children and whose eldest daughter is doing medical science at university.
Karen Hunt in position 7, has lived in Minto for 34 years, says Brticevic.
“One of her sons, Jeff, is an Olympian from London 2012, a marathon runner who was unlucky not to go to Rio.’’
The Labor leader says Meg Oates “always amazes me’’.
“She’s a Labor stalwart, received the McKell award for services to Labor.
“Meg’s our ‘experience’ that we will continue to learn off,’’ he says.
Brticevic and his number 3, Darcy Lound go back a few years.
“We used to play for the Macarthur Rams (soccer team) back in 1994, and he’s gone on to be not only the Rams’ president but also the Macarthur Association president.
[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]“It means Darcy’s in charge of 10,000 registered soccer players, so you can’t have a cup of coffee at McDonalds without people stopping to say g’day to him.[/social_quote]
“A fantastic guy to have on the team.’’
That’s the team, what about that other team, the Wests Tigers, is council doing enough to entice them here fulltime?
“Wow! We’ve tried many times,’’ Cr Brticevic says.
“Justin Pascoe is probably the first Wests Tigers CEO that’s come over with a positive attitude.
“I’ve been talking to some people about maybe changing the way we operate the Campbelltown Stadium to get more games.
“I think we could match the generous deal the Tigers get from ANZ Stadium to play four games there every season
“Say an average ticket is $20 and you get 10,000 people to a game, that’s $200,000, minus your $80 or $90,000 grant for the Tigers, your operating costs, and council will come out in front.
“Just in terms how long their contract is with ANZ, if we can break into it, by all means, I will be very supportive, and I am talking to other councils about that.’’
What does he think about the view that Labor on council was more reactive than proactive in the past four years, focusing on stopping development in the Secnic Hills, plans for a super jail, moving motor registries out of the area and selling Hurlstone land, among others.
“All those issues were standing up for Campbelltown on behalf of the residents,’’ Cr Brticevic says.
“We also voted against the rate rise, people are hurting from that 10.8 percent compounded over four years.
“But it’s not just about the big things – my proudest achievement was getting the tennis courts at Macquarie Fields converted to basketball, futsal and volleyball courts.
“My next port of call is four derelict courts, an embarrassment to council, I want to change that for the kids of Rosemeadow.
“The little things are important, so if somebody’s got a problem, speeding in their street, we get calming devices installed, or teenagers drinking alcohol we make it an Alcohol Free Zone.
[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]“So it’s not only the bigger things, standing up for the community, it’s also about the little things done because some people just need that little thing done, that pothole fixed or a community centre cleaned up,’’ Cr Brticevic says.[/social_quote]
At the last council meeting before council went into caretaker mode, Cr Brticevic proposed a Vivid like festival as part of revitalising the local night time economy across the LGA, especially Queen Street and the Ingleburn CBD.
“So we will have Ingleburn Alive in March, Vivid in May, Riverfest in August and Fishers Ghost in November,’’ he says.
“The thing with Campbelltown is that have so much high rise coming.
“These people haven’t got a yard to mow, they haven’t got gardens to tend, but they’ve got spare time and probably some disposable income.
“So talking about revitalising Queen Street, let’s give them a place where they can go and have a coffee, have dinner, maybe do some shopping.’’
