OPINION:
There is no doubt that the current councillor term at Mornington Peninsula Shire has been marked by considerable change. There has been a vast restructuring inside the organisation and a swathe of well-publicised changes including, perhaps most notably, the scrapping of the Climate Emergency Plan in April last year.
While suggestions of a “block” are refuted by Marsh, some votes in the current council terms appear predetermined, if not by connivance, then by undoubtably by councillor’s personal philosophies.
That is a pity. For the best outcomes for ratepayers are the ones where every item is carefully considered not through a predetermined view, but on the item’s merits. In a perfect world local government, which has a simple remit, would be separate from the scourge of political agenda that plague the other two levels of government.
Through this current council term, Marsh has maintained that the change agenda is not about ideology, but about maximising the benefits for the ratepayer. Indeed, it is well publicised that he has claimed no personal political affiliations and had no desire to “disappear to run for parliament”.
Things changed last week when news broke he had joined the Liberal Party, and on Monday threw his hat into the ring for Liberal Party preselection for the seat of Nepean.
Next Tuesday, Marsh will face a panel of 24 Liberal Party heavyweights vying for preselection as the Liberal Party candidate for the seat of Nepean. The panel comprises 18 members of the Liberal Party state executive and six members from the local Nepean executive. He will also be up against four other hopefuls, all no doubt keen to garner the “keys to the stateroom” that is the blue-ribbon seat of Nepean.
And there is plenty of opposition there. Ex-Frankston City mayor and two-time Dunkley candidate Nathan Conroy has also nominated. Also putting her hand up for another attempt is Briony Camp (nee Hutton), who ran for the seat of Hastings in the 2022 state election, losing to Labor’s Paul Mercurio. A third candidate giving politics another go is Nepean resident David Burgess, who unsuccessfully contested the 2022 state election for the upper house. Rounding out the four opponents is Bree Ambry; a Peninsula Health employee who currently serves on the board of the Southern Football Netball League.
Of course, there are risks for all five facing the preselection panel next Tuesday. But arguably none face a risk as great as Anthony Marsh.
It would be fair to say that all of Marsh’s eggs are in one basket, and failure to garner the preselection would see the sudden depletion of most of the 39-year-old’s political capital.
Returning, on Tuesday, as mayor of Mornington Peninsula Shire Council and the councillor for Briars Ward would be a Liberal Party member that had failed at a preselection bid. Someone who tried to get away from local politics but didn’t manage to.
No more claiming to be politically agnostic. Even single vote he casts from then on would be scrutinised as an ideological vote from a Liberal Party member.
If he is successful at preselection, he faces potential election for Nepean for the party that currently holds only 20 of the 88 seats in the Legislative Assembly. A party that has been beset with internal struggles over the past three and a half years. A party that appears unable to rise to the low bar set for it by an increasingly unpopular state government.
While he may be handed the keys, they may be to one of the most palatial staterooms on the Titanic, with a veritable iceberg coming over the horizon, as the party of Menzies faces an existential crisis.
Four years in state opposition may be even more frustrating for the ambitious Marsh, than staying on as a big fish in the small pond of local government. Or perhaps he thinks he think he can sound the alarm bell and turn the ship around.