By Benjamin Millar
Maribyrnong councillor Catherine Cumming is on track to enter state parliament as the fifth and final upper house representative for Melbourne’s western suburbs.
Star Weekly revealed in February that she would be ending her 20-year run as an independent councillor if successful in a tilt at state Parliament as a candidate for Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party.
With 53.4 per cent of the vote counted, Ms Cumming had picked up 7 per cent of the vote, behind only Labor, Liberal and the Greens.
Labor’s Cesar Melham, Ingrid Stitt and Kaushaliya Vaghela all look to be locked in, along with the Liberal party’s Bernie Finn.
Huong Truong of the Greens looks set to lose her place despite collecting 8.6 per cent of the vote, with preferences flowing from other micro-parties to Cr Cumming ahead of the Greens.
As vote counting continues across Victoria, Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party stands to win as many as four of the 40 available upper house seats.
Cr Cumming attributed her strong vote to a combination of her own local profile and that of Federal Senator Hinch.
“I’m still so excited, I just can’t wait to represent the west and fight for the area on state issues in the Parliament,” she told Star Weekly.
Cr Cumming said Senator Hinch had made it clear when she joined his party that she would remain free to speak out about what issues she wished to address.
She said she is looking forward to working with the new Labor government on ensuring they meet their promises for Melbourne’s west including a $1.5 billion pledge to build a new Footscray Hospital.
“I will be making them stand by their promises and not somehow do a backflip on them.”
Cr Cumming also highlighted drug law reform and tackling growing problems associated with ice as high on her agenda.
Once her election is confirmed she will resign her role as a Maribyrnong councillor, triggering a count-back of votes from the 2016 council election to elect a new councillor to replace her.
