Wednesday, 19 June 2024

 Sam HIBBINS (Prahran) (10:35): I rise to honour John Chandler OAM, who passed away in March this year. I served with John on council in the City of Stonnington between 2012 and 2014, and his time on council was much longer than mine. In fact John served for 39 years on the old City of Prahran and then subsequently Stonnington. He served as mayor four times and was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for service to local government and the City of Stonnington in 2014.

I worked with John on Stonnington’s sustainability committee, and one of his key achievements was the Yarra River biodiversity project, one of the biggest regeneration projects in the river’s history and something that many in our community now enjoy the benefits of as we walk, run or ride along the Yarra. John also served as president of the Prahran Mechanics’ Institute, and in his time he oversaw the purchase and refurbishment of its current home at St Edmonds Road, which is now a terrific asset for our community.

Those who served on council at that time regard it as a really cohesive council that put the interests of the community first. John played a really key role in this, particularly in ensuring council’s open space strategy was enacted, and we are seeing the fruition of that today. Sadly, we have now lost three councillors from that time – Adrian Stubbs and Claude Ullin, along with John – and my thoughts and respects are with his wife Suzy, who I always enjoy chatting with when we bump into each other down at South Yarra station, and the wider Chandler family. Vale, John Chandler.