7 days ago
The unlikely trio ready to kick goals in Spring Street
We at CBD HQ are eagerly counting down the days until next year's Victorian election. But while all signs are pointing to another blowout at the polls, a few bench warmers are busy plotting their offensive from the sidelines.
Merri-bek councillor Oscar Yildiz, along with former AFL players Anthony Koutoufides and Paul Dimattina, have their sights set on Spring Street, and are in the early days of setting up their very own political party.
It's an unlikely trio, to say the least. But if a game of Markers Up is featured at any point in the election cycle – we know who our money will be on.
CBD managed to get hold of Yildiz while he was enjoying a quick few putts at the golf course on Sunday. He assured us that there's a lot more work to do before anything is set in stone – but that he has complete trust in his new allies.
'We're honestly at the thinking stage … We haven't even got a constitution. We haven't even sat down and had a proper [conversation],' the councillor said.
'We just want to hold people to account … I'm a straight shooter, and Kouta and Dimma would say the same thing.'
The new crew have an event booked in for September, when they'll hold a lunch with some local movers and shakers to break bread and talk politics. Regular readers will recall that things didn't go too well at the last state political party Yildiz was connected with, the shortlived Victorians Party. He tells us that he's feeling better about things the second time around.
'There's no Clive Palmer or anyone like that behind us. We're not going to allow anyone else to really try and come in and hijack this party like happened with the last one,' Yildiz said.
