Melbourne City Councillor Ken Ong announces bid for Lord Mayor

MELBOURNE City Councillor Ken Ong will splash $100,000 on a bid to become Lord Mayor.

Melbourne City Councillor Ken Ong will run for Lord Mayor with his deputy Sue Morphet and team Alice Lai, Barbara Yerondais, Phillip Le Liu and Tony Penna. Picture: Christopher Chan

MELBOURNE City Councillor Ken Ong will splash $100,000 on a bid to become Lord Mayor.

Cr Ong will today call for “new blood, new ideas” in Town Hall as Robert Doyle seeks a record third term.

Cr Ong said he wanted to eliminate personal conflicts — “it’s been seen many times in some of the public meetings” — to create a unified council.

“It is not about flashiness,” he said.

“It’s about doing the hard work, getting the hands dirty, rolling up the sleeves and pounding the streets.

“I have been doing that for eight years and I think the City of Melbourne’s ratepayers and stakeholders are intelligent ... they don’t blindly vote.”

Under Melbourne’s directly-elected mayoral system, the second-term councillor risks missing out on a council spot if he fails to topple Cr Doyle.

He previously offered a six-figure donation to run as Cr Doyle’s deputy, before announcing a bid for the top job himself.

Businesswoman Sue Morphet will run as Cr Ong’s deputy with consultant Philip Liu, Southbank Residents Association president Tony Penna, architect Barbara Yerondais and Alice Lai rounding out the ticket.

Cr Ong said his top priorities were to promote Melbourne’s role as an “economic engine” and tackle the city’s growing homelessness crisis.

“If we keep doing the same thing, in the same way, year in year out, and we are not getting a different result, we should come up with a different strategy,” Cr Ong said about homelessness.

“If it means taking a stick to the state and federal authorities that is what we will do.”

Four others have announced runs for Lord Mayor, including former federal politician Phil Cleary, Greens candidate Dr Olivia Ball, pollster Gary Morgan and ex-Brotherhood of St Laurence boss Nic Frances Gilley.

Nominations for Victoria’s October elections close at noon tomorrow.

@moniquehore