Politics past the hustings

The campaign for Lord Mayor and Councilor taught me many things: The first was to trust your gut instincts and secondly to be aware of the sacrifices made by others in supporting you.

It is true to say that when one takes on the challenge of entering politics one has to be selfish. You have to give everything of yourself to the cause. That means you must make meetings, listen to people, appreciate the issues at hand, adopt a point of view and work at it. And then work some more. And before the night is over put in some more work as well.

I was surrounded by good people through my campaign who contributed to it. A core of four were there from the beginning to the end. Without them my efforts would have amounted to nothing as they kept me focused, they encouraged me and provided ways of making the funds necessary to give us momentum. One cannot underestimate how important it is to have such people with you.

On Election Day itself a team of over 100 folks were required to staff the polling booths. It is a thankless task and can be tough. Again people were selfless despite the fact that for almost eighteen months I had been selfish with my time by not catching up with my nearest and dearest much at all as I pursued the goal of election.

When the final results came through and I missed out on a position on Council by little more than perhaps 500 votes. I was torn between utter disappointment and pride.

I wrote on the night of the information coming through of my defeat the following note:

The time now comes for me to take it in, look back on that which was and then ahead at that which will be. But first let me reflect with you on how I find the occasion here and now, because this is as pure as you will get it before I have time to cloud it with other less immediate emotions.

I am extremely proud of the race that we ran together. When it began we had roughly a constituency of ten thousand. And then after two amalgamations, the last of which was roughly only 6 weeks ago, that number was expanded to well over seventy thousand more.

And yet in the Mayoral race we still pulled 3.6 percent of the primary vote. We knocked off Peter Collins, a former Liberal Leader in New South Wales, Dixie Coulton, the Deputy Lord Mayor, John Fowler, the former Lord Mayor of South Sydney and the Australian Democrats. This was a fantastic result.

In the race for Council we were there almost to the last, defeated again by the big political parties, the Labor Party and the Greens in the final wash up. The others did not come close to us. That means we beat 55 other candidates in the race for Council.

I am very proud of all of you who contributed to this challenge I set for myself. The turn out on polling day was extraordinary. We had 37 booths to staff. We staffed 32. That was simply incredible and it was all due to your passion, your love and your willingness to commit, ingredients without which the campaign would have died there and then on the morning of March 27. I am proud of those of you who attended my fund raisers, who sent the fliers all over this great City by walking the walk armed with the little maps Mum had cut out for you marked with the highlighters! I am proud of the way in which you sent me emails and encouragement and kept in touch.

The other thing that I am moved by is the fact that in pulling so many votes, and remaining so much within touch of a spot on Council we proved that Sydney is a sophisticated City. I was a bloke coming from scratch in this race against a field of increasingly better experienced and more accomplished politicians than we could have imagined. And yet the voters dared to use their democratic right to entrust me with the chance to lead and contribute to the future of this City. They looked to my abilities, as opposed to the disabilities, which once again says more about the people who cast the vote and about this City than it does about me. It is easy for me to believe in myself, that is my way. But for others to believe in me takes something else, it takes a conscious decision to believe I am up to the task and that is a mighty thing to put into practice. This is something which I hope people apart from you and I realise so that it can be acted upon more widely in a positive fashion. We can all have a go.

You know me as a competitor so of course the result disappoints me. I was disappointed not to be elected Mayor. That was my goal and as long a shot as it was, if I did not feel a little sad I was beaten it would not have been natural. To miss out on a seat on Council is even tougher. But it is, if you like, the type of sadness or disappointment from which one quickly recovers: The positives are enormous. We did really well, despite missing the opportunity to represent we gave the others the fright of their lives.

Early on in the campaign a friend remarked to me, Matt if you lose what will you have at the end of it? My reputation, I answered. Exactly, she said, so don't ruin it.

It was a superb bit of advice. It was a lesson in life learned easily, it was a call to stick to my goals, my principles and to learn along the campaign trail the ability to absorb things, develop ideas, argue my point but not stoop to a level that brought discredit to my cause, to my friends, to the people who trusted me or to myself.

After that comment I made the conscious decision to make sure that I left this campaign, win, lose or draw, the richer for the experience, not the poorer and that meant holding firm to a good, clean line. And we did that and for that we are all rewarded by being able to walk on knowing we did our best the right way.

The question is what now?

Well I was in the Supreme Court yesterday before his Honour Judge Greg James and as I said to him, I have leapt from the fire back into the frying pan!

I am glad to be back at the DPP and relieved that I need not send out media releases and plan the strategy for this weekend's exercise in campaigning. I have it solely for myself and the ones I love and enjoy and have missed! However, as you all know, I never rest easy. There are always new challenges and news goals to pursue. So be rest assured there will be something to emerge soon enough that will continue to give this adventure of life something extra special for me.

Pausing for a moment to reflect on this City and the future now ahead of its new Council I do feel a certain regret of not being able to play an immediate part in its planning. There will be a weakness to its cohesion if there is a mood of indulgence by one group, or bitterness by the other. The time for healing cannot be wasted; it is time to move on. I hope that the promises made by those elected are kept. Shayne Mallard from the Liberal Party had a good idea about community grants that I think would work in well with part of Clover Moore's aspiration for the village recognition. Chris Harris of the Greens has good, strong grounding in social justice issues and made mention of access issues for people with disabilities. I hope he instigates the reestablishment of the Access Committee for the City. Tony Pooley and Michael Lee spoke about ensuring the benefits of the wealthy CBD rates income being shared among the newly acquired areas of the old South Sydney. I hope that this is achieved and that business can be encouraged to play a positive part in being a contributor to community programs.

Inexperienced people who have never been in local government will dominate this Council. As one of those inexperienced aspirants I wish the successful candidates all the best in their new endeavours. They will find the well oiled machine of Mallard, Pooley and Lee (I don't know Firth) to be accomplished politicians who will no doubt play the game their respective Party demands and it will be tough to decipher fact from fiction at times. But if they follow their hearts it will go well. I hope they have the courage to stand up to their own party members at times if they feel the call being made is wrong.

This City, as I have said, needs a plan for the future. It needs to understand its immediate place in the region and what the projections are for a range of issues and how to meet the forecasts in a positive fashion. This is a global city, business and development will continue, it must be done with sustainability and with an expressed objective. I look forward to watching these things being achieved over the next four years from the sidelines, as it is here that I live.

It is true to say too that democracy is an expensive business. In order to breathe life into my campaign I needed funds and if it had not been for the savvy ways of two strong supporters, Bill and Patrick, I would not have had the run I did.

There were incredible highlights along the way, including the opportunity to meet extraordinary people and being able to exercise a voice in an otherwise white noise environment that was often heard. Coming as I was from a starting point of no political experience the learning was amazing and if I ever consider doing such a thing again I know now what to expect. Two principles will be the bedrock upon which all will prevail: Trust myself and my gut instincts and remain true to myself. From these everything else makes complete sense.

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