Christine Maynard forced to quit City of Yarra council election race over training certificate technicality

An outspoken inner city candidate is planning to take legal action against the Victorian Electoral Commission after a technicality saw her disqualified from upcoming council elections.

Christine Maynard has been forced to retire from the council election race in the City of Yarra. Picture: Brendan Francis.

A vocal candidate for an inner city council has been involuntarily removed from the election race after an ambiguous training technicality left her unable to meet the criteria for registration.

Candidate for the Melba Ward of the City of Yarra council and community advocate Christine Maynard said the Victorian Electoral Commission had ‘retired’ her from candidacy after discovering she hadn’t completed mandatory training more than two weeks after the nomination date closed.

“I had completed an online candidate training session, not realising it wasn’t the correct course,” she said.

“In the registration interview the election officer asked me about the training but never asked to see a certificate to confirm I had completed it.”

Ms Maynard said her registration interview with the Yarra Council election officer was four days prior to nominations closing.

Christine Maynard had been involuntarily retired from the council election race due to an error made by an election officer. Picture: Supplied.

“They said they’d be in contact within two hours of the interview if anything was wrong,” she said.

“They picked up a documentation error that I went to fix the following Monday, but nothing else was said.

“It’s disgraceful.”

Ms Maynard – who resigned from one of her jobs in order to campaign for council – said it was a “legitimate and costly mistake”.

“My name is already on the ballot papers which have already been printed,” she said.

“I’m being denied the right to run for the next four years over an honest mistake that could have been picked up and fixed.”

Ms Maynard said the officer ticked all the boxes on the registration forms to say she had done the training without asking to see evidence.

“It’s ridiculous, it’s his job, he’s ticked it and signed the document,” she said.

“I could be fined $46,000 for this, because I’ve signed a declaration not knowing it wasn’t true.”

Ms Maynard has been a strong advocate for her local community, including leading the charge against public injecting rooms near schools. Picture: Sarah Matray

In text messages seen by the Herald Sun, other candidates up for election in City of Yarra say they were asked to provide their training certificates at the time of their registration, differing from the process Ms Maynard experienced.

Ms Maynard said she was willing to take action against the commission through VCAT if it wasn’t rectified.

“It’s disgraceful and I’m not going to stand for this political bulls--t,” she said.

“I’m taking a stand.”

Council Watch’s Dean Hurlston said the commission had “dropped the ball”.

“Candidates are facing retirement through a misunderstanding that could have been fixed within an hour if they were told,” he said.

“They are being denied procedural fairness in circumstances where the commission have completely stuffed up.”

Dean Hurlston

Mr Hurlston said he was “horrified” for Ms Maynard.

“She is a person who is an incredible community advocate and doing all she can locally,” he said.

“I’m horrified for her that she’s been retired over a stupid technicality that could have been fixed.

“What’s the point of having an election manager at each council if they’re not there to help people and check through the correct documentation.”

Out of the 2230 candidates across the Victorian council election areas, 14 have been retired since nominations closed.

The reason behind each retirement remains unknown.

A spokesperson for the Victorian Electoral Commission said officers were only required to witness the declaration being signed.

“Confirming completion of the mandatory training forms part of the declaration signed in the presence of the election manager,” they said.

“The declaration affirms they are eligible to nominate, and have completed the training at the time they’re lodging their nomination.”

The spokesperson said the training certificate was “not required to be produced to the commission”.

“Regulations require a candidate to specify the date of completion (for the training),” they said.

“Ultimately the bona fides of the declaration is a matter for the candidate themself.”

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