By Violet Li
The City of Casey election campaign has kicked off, with a Hallam resident announcing his intention to run as a candidate in the October elections.
A Casey resident for more than 15 years, and from a law background, Ezatullah Alam has worked at the Federal Government, the State Government, and here at his doorstep, Casey Council as an integrity officer from 2022 to 2023. He is also a Labor member.
“I think my experience in the government sector and the skills I have, the general skills and the legal skills, will help guide my decisions and make the best decisions in the best interest of the community,” he said.
“A law background does give you that critical skills. You analyse the situation. You think about the consequences and not just blindly make decisions.”
Mr Alam said his area of expertise was the conduct rules for public servants and he had always been very passionate about the notions of integrity and accountability.
That landed him in the integrity officer role at Casey Council two years ago.
“Integrity is an important part of every organisation, whether it’s a council or it’s any other organisation,” he said.
As an integrity officer, Mr Alam processed Freedom of Information (FOI) requests and looked after privacy breaches.
He took care of the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner (OVIC) reviews and complaints made to the Ombudsman by members of the public in relation to the services the City of Casey was providing.
He ran awareness activities about FOI and privacy breaches within the organisation.
He was also responsible for investigating fraud and corruption.
“Similarly, I was the integrity agency liaison. When I was the acting team leader, I was the responsible person for conflict of interest declarations, personal interest returns, infringement reviews, and so on,” he said.
In addition to his professional pursuit, Mr Alam said he was a very community-based person who had been active since 2013.
He volunteers for cultural events, religious events, and youth events across different associations in the community.
Mr Alam launched his new round of research as early as possible. He started to talk with people in the community to hear the issues a few weeks ago.
“Overall inflation is a big problem. The crime rate has also increased. I’m not only limiting that to Casey. I’m saying overall in Victoria and Australia, and Casey’s part of it,” he said.
“A lot of people want improvement to the parks. Everyone wants that.
“In certain streets along the schools, cars are speeding. Residents are asking for speed bumps to be put on the streets.
“I think I have a really good understanding of the community by now. I know what people think, what people want, what people need, and what might be improved or could be addressed.”
