The Docklander looking to send a message to council

Katy Send has been a Docklands resident for close to 15 years but when she walks around the suburb that she proudly calls come she sees a community that needs a strong voice to stand-up for what the area needs.

For years Ms Send (pictured second from right) has been making submissions at council meetings advocating for her community, but she believes that Docklands has been neglected by the City of Melbourne. She wants wants to change this by running for council.

“We get less support and less funding from the council than any other City of Melbourne suburb, and we are not being heard. This must change,” she told Docklands News.

As a community member she has advocated to keep the Docklands Neighbourhood House, to do more work to get the community ready for emergencies and for Docklands to get a designated dog park.

But for Ms Send, being elected as a councillor is the next step that she can take to help shape the future of Docklands.

“It has been difficult to get a positive change on any of the issues that I raised with the council and therefore I am now running to be elected as a councillor,” Ms Send said.

Nominating as an ungrouped councillor candidate in October’s City of Melbourne elections, Ms Send said that, if elected, she would look to garner the support of other councillors on a range of initiatives that she has previously advocated for.

This includes funding the Docklands Homework Club, increasing support for the Diwali Festival in Docklands and increasing services to support senior residents.

Additionally, she has a vision to increase community safety through supporting regular “Coffee with a Cop” meetups so that the community can develop a relationship with the local police.

While Ms Send is a proud Docklander she has a broader vision for the City of Melbourne, and she said that she wanted to create meaningful long-term change at Town Hall.

Her first step will be advocating for transparency in council expenditures so that ratepayers are able to see how the council spends its money.

The desire to lead the charge with these changes stems from Ms Send’s personal experience trying to get access to council information.

“I made enquiries in the past and the City of Melbourne advised that the requested financial information is confidential,” she said.

But Ms Send disagrees with this approach and believes that is in the public interest for this information to be transparent.

“I have a plan how to achieve this and I am going to work on it in the next four years with the City of Melbourne, regulators, politicians and the community to bring a positive irreversible change,” she said.

“I am a very motivated and persistent individual and I always achieve my goals through hard work, continuously and patiently pushing for the desired outcome despite adversity.”

With a tenacious approach to work and life, Ms Send is telling Docklanders and residents of the City of Melbourne to vote for her in October’s elections and to “watch this space”. •