By Benjamin Millar
Megan Bridger-Darling has been sworn in as Maribyrnong’s newest councillor following a countback of votes from the 2016 election.
The countback was triggered by the election of Catherine Cumming to the Victorian upper house in November, requiring her to step down from her role as a councillor after 21 years.
Ms Bridger-Darling was sworn in at Footscray Town Hall on Monday after the Victorian Electoral Commission calculated that she had received the highest preference flow from successful candidates Catherine Cumming and Cuc Lam.
Ms Bridger-Darling, who has a marketing and event management background, came into prominence when she helped spearhead the campaign for the removal of paid parking in Yarraville in 2015.
She will sit as an independent councillor despite recently joining the Labor party.
“It’s very exciting, I’m really looking forward to making a difference in Maribyrnong,” she said.
“I stood because I wanted to represent the community, which I felt had been missing, particularly at the last election in 2016 – there was a real vacancy of community interaction, people don’t feel like they get heard.
“The most blatant example of that would be the parking meter fiasco in Yarraville. I wanted to be that ear and voice for the people of my community.”
Ms Bridger-Darling said issues currently facing the Stony Creek ward are safety, isolation and the fall-out from the Tottenham fire.
“The management of Cruickshank Park and the creek following the fire is a real big concern,” she said.
“Also the safety issues around Tottenham station and the lack of access from north West Footscray to south West Footscray – there is just a massive chunk of our community that is just isolated, so I think it’s time we put a footbridge back up somewhere near Roberts Road.
Maribyrnong mayor Martin Zakharov said the council will benefit from having Ms Bridger-Darling on board for the remainder of the current term.
“Look she’s very hard-working and dedicated. I have no doubt, because this applies to all of us, that we won’t agree on everything, but in general she’s prepared to do the work,” he said.
“And that’s the hard part, putting the time in – there are so many issues when you delve into it the details you find it’s not what you thought it was.”
Departed councillor Catherine Cumming has meanwhile taken her place in Victoria’s upper house as an independent after quitting Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party when she lost the ballot to be its leader.
