Victoria’s first Indian-born mayor has been spared a conviction and fined $450 after admitting driving with his young son on his lap on a busy Melbourne freeway.
Pradeep Tiwari, 42, Mayor of Maribyrnong in Melbourne’s northwest, was initially charged with dangerous driving, failing to ensure a passenger not in the same seat as driver, and using a portable device while behind the wheel, but on Tuesday was allowed to plead guilty to the second charge only.
Mr Tiwari stepped down from his duties after a warrant was briefly issued for his arrest when he did not attend a scheduled hearing, and he later lashed out on social media in a rant complaining about racism. He has now returned to work as mayor and councillor.
Prosecutor Sergeant Geoff Adams told Melbourne Magistrates Court that Mr Tiwari was spotted driving about 80km/h on CityLink in Flemington with a small child on his lap in June last year, the Herald Sun reported.
But the mayor’s defence barrister Alexander Patton said his client’s son had managed to escape his car seat and it was too difficult to pull over.
“He was driving on a section of CityLink that made it difficult for him to pull over,” he said.
“He has reached across and placed his son on his lap until he was able to pull over at an appropriate place to re-seat his son.”
Deputy Chief Magistrate Timothy Bourke, who joked that he wasn’t sure that the charge meant, said Mr Tiwari had placed his son at “significant risk” and warned him to “learn from the experience”.
Mr Tiwari was born in a remote village in northern India and moved to Australia with his family at age two in 1985. He then worked for his father’s Indian grocery store business before entering local government.
In February he told the Herald Sun he was “stereotyped” during his mayoral election campaign in September last year, and said organising Indian cultural festivals and lobbying council for more activities led to him deciding to get involved in politics.
“When I was doorknocking, people who didn’t know me would ask, ‘Are you a real estate agent? A builder? A developer?’ It took me a few weeks to realise why,” he said.
“I noticed that in other areas, candidates from Indian backgrounds often came from those professions, and I was being grouped into that category.
“I had to develop a response because I was being stereotyped. People would see my name or my background and wonder, ‘What’s in it for you? What are you planning?’ I had to break this stereotype, and convince them with what I had done for the community, what my vision was, and why I was running.”
During his campaign he also complained about racism after someone drew a dot on his forehead on one of his posters.
Header image: Left, right Pradeep Tiwari (Facebook).
