What ‘Kouta’ has planned if he becomes lord mayor – and why he’s not playing the footy card

Personal growth and a love of Melbourne: That’s what Anthony Koutoufides says is driving his bid to become the city’s lord mayor.

The former Carlton star on Saturday unveiled his ticket – “Team Kouta” – made up of one-time federal Liberal MP turned fitness instructor Gladys Liu, former Wyndham councillor and property developer Intaj Khan and fellow commercial property developer Zaim Ramani.

Anthony Koutoufides launching his Team Kouta campaign for lord mayor of Melbourne on Saturday.Credit: Penny Stephens

Following the campaign announcement, Koutoufides and his team sat down with The Sunday Age at the Westin Hotel off Collins Street, inside a plush lounge room with velvet sofas and gilded mirrors.

When asked how his status as a football legend would help his lord mayoral ambitions, Koutoufides – who now owns gym KoutaFit – shrugged it off.

“Don’t worry about that. This is the new life,” said the 51-year-old, who played 278 games for Carlton from 1992 to 2007 and starred in the Blues’ 1995 premiership.

“I lived my dream of playing AFL ... footy will always be there, and I can’t help that, now I just need to grow as a person.”

Koutoufides on Saturday with ticket members (from left) Intaj Khan, Gladys Liu and Zaim Ramani.Credit: Penny Stephens

Koutoufides – who insisted he was independent and not in any way aligned with the Liberal Party – said he was committed to bringing Melbourne “back alive”.

“Where are the people? People don’t come in. It’s too hard. It’s not enticing,” he said.

Koutoufides also said his campaign was being fully self-funded by his team, but that the amount was “personal” for now. Donations must legally be declared within 40 days of the election, but there has been pressure on candidates to be voluntarily transparent before polling day.

He said he had not received any financial backing from a political party or business groups.

“But if it does, we will be upfront and honest with you guys,” he said.

Koutoufides credited Khan as his inspiration for running, despite having no political experience.

”I’ve never met a guy that’s so committed and given 100 per cent, and [he] is probably the main reason why I decided to go ahead with this,” he said.

Koutoufides said he had been approached by Khan to throw his hat in the ring about three months ago – but it wasn’t the first time. He was asked to do so about a year ago, but rejected the idea.

“The universe reached out again,” he said.

“I think in life you’ve got to really push yourself to live out of the comfort zone. It’s going to be difficult. I’m not going to say it’s easy.”

Koutoufides reflected on his time on reality show Dancing With The Stars in 2006. “I never danced, and went on to win. I’m that sort of guy,” he said.

He said he was also familiar with adversity. In his footy career, he underwent a 10-day “torture camp” at which he cried nearly every day.

“I had to endure quite a bit, but if you have that goal and love for it, you push through,” he said.

One of Koutoufides’ primary policies is to take on the work-from-home culture and force CBD-based employees back into the office at least four days a week.

Asked how he would do this, he said he’d be pushing the Allan government to make it happen. “It’s state government stuff, we’ll refer back to them.”

Liu chimed in and said that, at a council level, they could offer incentives to workplaces to create a four-day rule – starting with enforcing it at Town Hall – and explore measures such as free coffee for workers.

Anthony Koutoufides playing for Carlton in 2000.Credit: Pat Scala

Another key policy is to fast-track planning permit approvals for more housing. However, the state government controls the permissions for large-scale City of Melbourne developments.

Asked how he would approach this, Koutoufides said his aim was to build a close relationship with the Victorian government.

“Developers are waiting so long for permits, and we really want to get things moving,” he said.

Koutoufides rejected the notion that having two developers on his team would make him the face of a campaign to promote property and business.

The remaining names on his ticket – to be announced in coming weeks – would be “very diverse and exciting”, he said.

“Property, businesses– I’m for everyone, not just them,” he said.

If elected, Koutoufides also wants to make parking in the CBD easier and review the city’s bike lanes – which may involve removing some – to make traffic flow better.

On e-scooter hire companies, which were banned in the city this week, he disliked their safety and amenity impacts, but he believed they could be allowed with the right measures in place.

Khan – who is running for deputy mayor on the Team Kouta ticket – was in 2018 convicted and fined $23,000 for failing to disclose company interests while serving as a Labor councillor in Melbourne’s west.

On Saturday, he said that his past breaches of local government rules had happened because he had been “naive”.

“Yeah, we paid a fine,” he said. “That does not [mean] I cannot serve on local government now.”

Intaj Khan outside Sunshine Magistrates’ Court in 2018. He was convicted of failing to disclose company interests while he was serving as a councillor in Melbourne’s west.Credit: Marco de Luca

Asked about Khan’s previous run-ins with integrity rules, Koutoufides said he was “very comfortable” with his prospective deputy’s past.

“Sometimes the headlines are, you know, more of a headline than when you read the article,” Koutoufides said.

“You make little mistakes. We all do.”

Khan also once tried to stand for Labor in the state seat of Tarneit, and two years ago joined a Liberal Party branch in then-opposition leader Matthew Guy’s electorate. He was subsequently blocked from running for the Liberals.

Last month, the Australian Financial Review reported that a $30 million property deal between Khan and property investment firm Remi Capital was the subject of a probe by liquidators. Khan denies any wrongdoing and says he was a victim of what the liquidators have described as a Ponzi scheme.

The Hong Kong-born Liu – who is on Koutoufides’ ticket as a councillor – was the first ethnically Chinese woman to be elected to the House of Representatives in 2019. She then lost her seat of Chisholm n Melbourne’s eastern suburbs in 2022 to Labor.

She said she remained a “quiet, low-key” member of the Liberal Party, but had stayed away from politics. Instead, she has been teaching HIIT and core classes at a gym.

“Now I want to help this team to help the businesses and people who are living here.”

But she waved off suggestions she was going back into politics: Unlike the state and federal level, this was not “real” politics, she said. “What we do is focus on the local issues.”

The Liberal Party is yet to announce its City of Melbourne ticket, but Liu said she did not want to partake because “that would be political, and that’s something I don’t want to do”.

Ramani, 42, is the director of the Thornbury-based ZLM Property Group and a longtime Collingwood supporter. He is also running as a councillor

Koutoufides said Liu brought “great balance to our team” and was a hard-hitter, while Ramani was a long-time friend.

Other declared candidates for City of Melbourne lord mayor are current lord mayor Nick Reece, former deputy lord mayor Arron Wood, independent councillor Jamal Hakim, businessman Gary Morgan, Roxane Ingleton for the Greens and Phil Reed for Labor.

With Broede Carmody

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