Cr Morris was tight-lipped about the rumours on Tuesday, so Ballarat ratepayers must wait until a Liberal Party meeting on Thursday before the truth behind the possible candidacy can be revealed.

The upper house position for Western Victoria on the ballot was left vacant by Aaron Lane after he stood down last week following a series of inappropriate tweets.

The Liberal Administrative Committee, on which Cr Morris sits, will meet on Thursday night to discuss the issues and decide on whether another person will replace Mr Lane’s nomination. 

In what only can be described as a horror few weeks for the Victorian Liberal Party, its candidate for the marginal seat of Bendigo West also stepped down on Tuesday after he posted several derogatory comments on social media.

The position on the Western Victoria ballot is seen as almost a certainty to be elected and is second only to another Ballarat representative in Simon Ramsay. 

Another Ballarat councillor, Samantha McIntosh, is also a contender for the vacant position as she is listed further down on the ballot.

It does, however, seem Cr Morris has been groomed for such a position since taking over from John Burt after he stepped down from the role of mayor. 

And it comes on the heels of Mr Burt standing down as a Ballarat City councillor over what can only be described as the pulling of puppet strings by much higher above in the Liberal Party so that a party-aligned mayor could be appointed.

Asked by The Courier on Tuesday about the upper house speculation, Cr Morris said it “would be inappropriate to comment” at the time.

If, after Thursday’s meeting, Cr Morris is nominated, he then needs to immediately step down as mayor of Ballarat. 

There has been so much speculation around the Liberal Party’s influence on the council in recent months, that a possible candidacy for the Western Victoria seat would muddy the waters even further.

If he is throwing his hat into the political ring, stepping down as mayor would be the honourable thing for Joshua Morris to do.