“I’m not trying to be popular”: the first-term councillor prepared to rock the boat

Liberal councillor Owen Guest has been quick to establish himself as the “enfant terrible” of Town Hall, calling for the City of Melbourne to become more fiscally responsible and transparent.

Cr Guest, who is the portfolio head for Finance, Governance and Risk, burst onto the scene when he called out the council for “selling the farm to pay for the silverware”, following the sale of the eight-storey “Parkade” car park at 34–60 Little Collins St to hospitality billionaire Justin Hemmes.

From then on, his mission has been clear: to reduce the council’s debt and to ensure that it is financially responsible, transparent, and provides vital services for ratepayers.

A troublemaker since his teenage years, Cr Guest said he was happy to rock the boat if it led to better outcomes, and that his decision to become a councillor stemmed from his passion to make Melbourne a better place.

He grew up on leafy streets of East Melbourne and began what would become a successful career in finance in the CBD.

Cr Guest concedes he was slow to start his career, describing himself as a “drifter” in his early adulthood.

However, after completing a commerce degree with First Class Honours, he decided to go the extra mile and earn a PhD in finance – an achievement he downplays, but one that led to a successful career as an options trader and has clearly informed his hawkish approach to advocating for fiscal responsibility at Town Hall.

Before becoming a councillor, Cr Guest was the treasurer of the Liberal Party of Australia (Victorian Division) and was the Liberal candidate for Macnamara (formerly Melbourne Ports) in the 2016 election, where he narrowly missed out on victory.

However, he told CBD News that his affiliation with the Liberal Party didn’t restrict what he could and couldn’t say on council, and that he endeavoured to play the role of devil’s advocate throughout his term.

Cr Guest believes that if you assess the services provided by the City of Melbourne against the adage that councils are responsible for “roads, rates and rubbish”, it becomes clear there are some serious flaws.

One such example, according to Cr Guest, is the council being placed in a position where it must sell the council-owned waste service, Citywide, to help pay off its $215 million debt.

The sale of Citywide, alongside Gurrowa Place, will provide a boost of more than $200 million to council coffers and help it edge closer to becoming debt-free, a goal it aims to achieve within seven years.

While Cr Guest is pleased the council is working to reduce its debt, he said it needed to become more financially transparent and responsible to ensure it didn’t face similar issues in the future.

For the council to become more effective, Cr Guest said there needed to be a stronger focus on delivering services for ratepayers and business owners, rather than aspirational projects such as Greenline, which rely on unrealised federal or state funding.

He acknowledges that not everyone will agree with his views but says that the beauty of government is that “opposition” and diverse worldviews lead to better outcomes. •