Dylan Wight is the new candidate for the Australian Labor party in the seat of Tarneit. He has been brought in or pre-selected after the incumbent Sarah Connolly decided to move to the newly created seat of Laverton.
Dylan hails from Geelong but has been with the unions / Labor party for more than a decade.
Dylan comes from a single parent family. His father who raised him was a trained. Even his brother, Aunty and his father’s partner – all were teachers and it Would Have been natural for him if he had gone into teaching. Dylan chose union movement instead and now is making his foray into state parliament as the new Labor candidate for Tarneit.
Dylan comes from Geelong and has seen how people have to work hard to make ends meet. Having lived in the suburbs and attended school with children from housing estates, he was as young as 5-6 when he saw people could not survive without Medicare, that he decided to work for the union movement – work that gave him the opportunity and access to work in the seat of Tarneit.
Thus, he says it is not quite right when people say he has been parachuted from outside. He has moved into the electorate and lives there, albeit not for as long ago as the Liberal party’s Preet Singh who has been in the area for 15+ years.
He has bought a house in the area he told Bharat Times and while speaking to us, he said, ‘I am actually speaking to you from my own home in Tarneit’.
This is how he refutes the charge or the label of being an outsider:
While working for the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU), Dylan was part of the union delegates who looked after the workers made redundant by the closer of Toyota Altona and car manufacturing in general.
Dylan worked closely with them assisting them in writing their resume and helping their re-skilling efforts to find a new start. He also assisted in working out the redundancy packages for those who had chosen to retire.
That work brought him to Tarneit and Hoppers Crossing day in, day out and he formed many a friendships over the years with the people of Tarneit.
According to Dylan some 12000 plus members are in the area.
“When I door knock now, many times I run into former members (AMWU) and fellow workers and it is always good to strike a conversation with them” Dylan told BT.
Is it fair to call him an outsider?
Is it uncommon for pre-selected candidates to come from outside the electorate?
The answer to both questions is NO. It has been happening for decades. In some cases people moved into their electorates after being elected. He has already moved in.
One of Dylan’s supporters told Bharat Times: “Preet comes from India where this happens more than here in Australia. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a member of parliament from Varanasi. When did he buy a house or live in Varanasi?
Although much noise is being made, the issue is inconsequential. It will make no difference to the outcome. Tarneit has been a hugely safe Labor seat since 2006.
Unless every Indian living in Tarneit votes against Dylan, he will have no problems on November 26. – with inputs by DM
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