Council terms are four years. Two years in, the excuses run out: the budget has been set twice, the capital plan adopted twice, and every councillor has had a hundred-odd meetings to move the things they campaigned on. This is the point where "we're working on it" should be turning into things you can see.
01 / What was on the table in 2024
I'm not going to quote other candidates' 2024 material back at them from memory — that's how misattribution happens. What I can do is list the issues that every You Yangs Ward candidate, including me, was asked about on doorsteps in 2024, because they were the issues residents raised:
Figure 01 · The 2024 ward issues
What residents said mattered.
| Issue | Status, Sept 2026 | Who moved it |
|---|---|---|
| Six Ways intersection | Planning complete; no construction date | State — council advocacy role |
| Lara West community hub | Concept stage | Council |
| Serendip Sanctuary funding | Unresolved; community campaign ongoing | State (Parks Vic) — council advocacy |
| Lara caravan park | Approved Dec 2025 against officer advice | Council planning committee |
| Norlane ARC | Open; Dhilpamarna Auditorium named | Council — delivered |
| Footpath gaps (Hicks St, Forest Rd S) | Partial | Council |
| Rates cap pressure | Ongoing; efficiency program announced | Council |
| Creamery Road PSP | Passed 5–5 on casting vote, Aug 2026 | Council → Minister |
"Delivered", "partial" and "stalled" are my honest reading of the public record. If a councillor disputes a row, I'll publish their correction alongside it.
02 / How to check any of this yourself
You don't need to trust my table. Everything in it is checkable in about twenty minutes:
Public sources
- Council meeting minutes — every vote, every councillor, on the council website
- The adopted budget and capital works program — what's funded, by year
- The Council Plan quarterly reports — council's own progress tracking
- The advertised planning register — what's been approved
The tells
- A project in the capital plan two years running with no spend — that's stalled
- "Scoping" or "feasibility" in year three — that's a delay dressed up
- A councillor's voting record on ward items — did they show up, how did they vote
- Motions moved vs motions passed — moving a motion that fails is still a record
03 / The fair test
Being fair matters here. A councillor is one vote of eleven. They can't deliver a state project. They can't override officers without a majority. What they can do — and what you can judge them on — is: did they raise it, did they move it, did they vote for it, and did they explain their vote when it didn't go the ward's way.
Council votes are recorded. Public question time is minuted. The paper trail exists. A councillor who's been active on ward issues has one; a councillor who hasn't, doesn't — and no amount of election-year material changes what the minutes say.
04 / What I'd commit to
If elected in 2028, I'll publish this table for my own term — updated quarterly, with every ward commitment I make listed against its status, on this site. Not because it's comfortable. Because it's the only way a promise means anything.
Every candidate promises accountability. The test is whether they'll publish the scorecard when it's their name in the first column.— David Greenwood OAM