The bid by a rider to get elected to the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria board has failed, but he’s not done yet!
John Mulder, a member of both the Classic Motorcycle Club of Victoria and the Australian Street Rod Federation, says he “got smashed” in the elections, while the “two Chairman’s picks got up comfortably”.
“On reflection, my strategy was inadequate and way too late to get the attention we needed within the Victorian Motorcycling community,” John says.
“But I’m not deterred. There were plenty of lessons and I intend to have another go but this time I’ll start much further out from the election.
“The stats show that roughly the same old 100,000 members voted, suggesting that we got buy-in from very few of the 420,000 licensed motorcyclists in Victoria.
“If I can convince just 1 in 20 of those motorcyclists to take an interest and vote in the next election I would romp in.”
John campaigned on rider issuers such as the lack of transparency surrounding the Victorian motorcyclist safety levy; the lack of consideration given to motorcyclists in road construction and road maintenance activities; and the cost of registration in Victoria given the modest impact that motorcycles have on our road surfaces compared with other vehicles.
The RACV has long been criticised for being anti-motorcyclist and pro-cyclist.
“The RACV is way too important to the future of motoring in our State and if we don’t get some car and motorcycle people around that table soon, we’ll be peddling push bikes,” he says.
“I would like to put the automobile back into the RACV.”
John says many of his ideas align with the recent Two Wheel Action Group’s petition for a better deal for riders.
Click here to sign that petition which calls for the following:
- Lower the cost of powered two-wheel registration and compulsory third party insurance ($50 – 50cc, $100 – LAMS, $200 – Open standardise across all states);
- 50cc scooters, mopeds, and equivalent electric bikes able to be ridden on a car license Australia-wide;
- Incentives for commuters to buy electric-powered bikes through green fund rebates (as per current solar rebates) and no stamp duty charges;
- National exemption from motorway, bridge, and tunnel toll charges; and
- Free parking and footpath parking, except in public thoroughfares and walkways.