WHILE votes are still being counted across the country for the federal election, one result is certain. The final count is in, and grade six student Jack O’Connor has been voted the new junior mayor of Kingston Council.
O’Connor, who goes to Patterson Lakes Primary School, was elected on 16 May. The junior mayor elections have been running in Kingston for over five decades in partnership with Chelsea Rotary.
O’Connor won over a crowd of 250 people with his answer to the questions “if you were given a magic wand what would you change for your generation?”
He read a poem which secured the votes for him to win:
“Hey let’s talk, play a game, catch a ball, just say my name. Put down the machines, come play with us, or maybe even catch a bus. Talk to someone in your class maybe who you haven’t asked, what they like to eat or if they like to skate down the street.”
He summed up his message of encouraging people to put down their phones by saying “let’s not wait, it’s time to communicate.”
O’Connor takes over the junior mayor role from Alice Roberts. He will be sworn in at the 24 June Kingston Council meeting.
First published in the Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone New – 22 May 2019