Revealing the peninsula’s worst kept secret, Independents for Mornington Peninsula have announced their endorsed candidate for the District of Mornington, Melissa Goffin.
Well versed in the stressors of running an over-regulated business, or working in an underfunded public school, Goffin wants to send a message to the major parties.
"Mornington has been held by a single major party since its inception,” said Goffin. “We can’t keep doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome. This community is begging for change.
"We’ve watched essential local services go underfunded and infrastructure needs ignored by political machines that view our region as an afterthought. Parties make promises to us but we are not their priority. We’ve had enough.
Goffin is laser focused on the cost of living crisis, and the costs of running a business.
“There is one expectation of us, that we follow the rules, we absorb their decisions and the consequences they bring - and there’s another set of rules for them that always seems to work in their favour. We watch the cost of living rise, and then have to sit back and watch the government mismanage our money.
“I know how hard it is to run a business in this environment. I know how much we give to our families and how hard we work to get ahead. I’m tired of waiting for change to happen and for someone to fight for us, so I’m doing it myself.
“I fell in love with the peninsula and its way of life; its natural beauty, it’s tightly woven community, its small business culture. It offered the dream . And that dream is slipping away.
“Mornington wants to send a message on behalf of those who live here, run a business here, raise a family here; Mornington needs a fighter to see our community get what it truly deserves."