Maribyrnong councillor Catherine Cumming is ending her 20-year run as an independent to take a tilt at state Parliament as a candidate for Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party.
The Federal Senator was in Footscray on Friday to officially declare Cr Cumming as his party’s western metropolitan candidate.
Cr Cumming said she had never been interested in joining a major party, but the Justice Party was an opportunity to remain true to her beliefs and speak out as she wished.
“The west deserves someone who is outspoken and a voice of the west and I’m hoping to be that voice in state Parliament,” she said.
“One of the number one priorities for the community is their safety, law and order, getting justice – but also looking at the issues that actually create people getting into the justice system, such as mental health issues, the drug problem, gaming, youth unemployment and unemployment in general.”
Senator Hinch said Cr Cumming has been an independent councillor for 20 years, but supports all of his party’s major policy positions.
“She knows the area, she knows the situation and she knows the problems,” he said.
“And I think she’s got a good chance, the major parties are on the nose.”
Senator Hinch is recruiting candidates to run in each of the upper-house regions across the state and a handful of lower house seats.
“One of the criticisms of me is that I’m a Federal Senator and a lot of these issues are state issues – the bail laws and the sentencing laws are all local issues,” he said.
“I was never thrilled with minimum sentences, I thought you’ve got to let judges and magistrates do their job. But when they’re not doing their job then we’ve got to force them to do it – the revolving door on bail is just disgusting.”
The election is scheduled for November 24.
