TWO candidates running in the Canning local government election are related to sitting councillor Margaret Hall.
They are running for two different wards, so they |will not be up against one another.
Cr Hall’s husband Michael (Mike) Hall is running for Beeloo ward, while her son from a previous marriage is contesting the Mason ward. Robert Van Der Reest lives within Mason ward and Mike did not want to run against him so was persuaded to run for Beeloo, Cr Hall said.
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READ NOW“Our family have lived in Canning since I arrived from the Netherlands in 1955,” she said.
Mike and Margaret have fundraised within the community and she said her son was recently cleared of leukaemia.
“I think I am very lucky that my family is community, not politically, minded,” she said.
She felt it was not unusual, citing Mayor Russell Aubrey and daughter and Deputy Mayor Rebecca Aubrey in the City of Melville.
She said in her experience it took a couple of attempts to be elected to council.
A Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries spokesman said there were no provisions in the Local Government Act 1995 or associated Regulations to limit the number of family members that could nominate for, or be elected to, council.
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