Looking forward to making Darwin a better place to live is Kon Vatskalis, as of today.
Vatskalis was officially declared mayor on Monday morning following the August 26 election.
“For me it’s a special honour because I’m the first Greek-born Mayor of Darwin,” the new Lord Mayor ABC Radio Darwin, adding that “considering the Greek population that’s significant because this is a true multicultural Darwin — somebody, doesn’t matter where they come from, can reach a position like mayor.”
Vatskalis migrated to Australia in 1983, and then served 13 years in the Northern Territory’s Legislative Assembly as the Member for Casuarina with the former Labor Government.
Even though his political career still takes him somewhat by surprise he said his win was a victory for multiculturalism.
“I’ve seen Darwin in really good times and I’ve seen Darwin in really tough times, and this is one of those tough times we’re going through,” he said.
“At the same time, some of the decisions made by the previous council really boggled my mind.
“I don’t know why you’re doing so stupid decisions [sic]; politics 101, don’t piss off the voters, and they did that one. But it’s more than that, you need a council to lead, and unfortunately I think the previous council did not, he added.
Kon Vatskalis also took to the media to deny any claims that party politics played a part in his election.
“The Labor Party had nothing to do with my campaign, my campaign was assisted by my own personal friends with donations of friends and my money,” he stressed.
“At the end I was struggling to find volunteers to be at the polling booths to give how-to-vote cards, but we did it.”