Diverse businesses
I first was elected as a Councillor in July 1980.
Because of a family business I had a break from council between 1987 and 1993, but have remained a Councillor since then.
I was elected Deputy Mayor in 2000 then Mayor in 2007, a position I have held in Circular Head since then.
Circular Head is a regional area with agriculture, forestry, fishing and tourism being our main industries.
Smithton is our biggest town where most businesses operate, and Stanley is the gateway to tourism in our district.
We have two milk-processing factories, an export abattoir, two seafood factories, a potato factory, a iron ore processing plant and a sawmill.
The strength of our district is that if one industry is struggling, another is able to drive our economy.
Approximately 50 percent of Tasmanian dairy farms are located in Circular Head.
Stanley Nut is our major tourist attraction closely followed by Marrawah, Woolnorth and our newly finished Tarkine drive, which will be a major drawcard for us in the future.
We have the cleanest air in the world, and the stretch of water on the West coast of Tasmania is the largest in the world.
We have many islands to our North, which is great for recreational fishing.
Road challenges
As well as being Mayor I am also the vice president of the Local Government Association of Tasmania.
I work at Roberts as a rural salesperson selling various animal heath and stock feed products.
This job means I visit farmers across all districts in our municipal region, so I am able to check our roads regularly.
Maintaining our road infrastructure is always a challenge as we only have 8,500 people but we have 720 klms of road and 110 bridges to maintain.
We constantly rely on government funding.
Another challenge is many of our young people tend to leave for the city life.
People working in our district but living outside our area also presents its challenges.
Dealing with planning and building issues are some of the most difficult things I encounter at council.
Keeping councillors working well together can also be a challenge, but I must say we do have a great council.
Recently our council finalised our 10-year plan for our district, which will be a great asset for future works.
We have also developed financial plans and a strategic plan which all link together.
This should help us with future budgets.
Local Government reform has also been looked at, which resulted in Circular Head sharing resources with the neighboring Waratah/Wynyard council.
Projects we are working on at present include foreshore projects both sides of the Duck River in Smithton and a lookout with great views of the Bass Strait coastline.
Our council continues to encourage more economic development projects from private developers.
I was particularly pleased to see a new milk factory recently built in Smithton and a new agriculture training school open with funding from the Federal Government.
United community
To be a good councillor you must be a good listener, be prepared to listen to everybody’s view but still make strong decisions.
Councillors need to understand the local government act and meeting procedures well so we can best represent our ratepayers.
Councillors should also attend as many local events as possible. Circular Head’s Australia Day events held over the past seven years have been one of our highlights, with almost half of our community attending each year.
Winning various awards both State and Federal levels have been some of many highlights during my time at Council.
Helping many local people especially young people is one of the best roles I have in Circular Head.
The friendships I have made while being a Councillor will be the lasting impression I hope I can leave in Circular Head.
Outside of council duties I still enjoy playing cricket, being with my family, especially my five grandchildren, and running my small beef farm.
The three qualities I appreciate most in people is honesty, being respectful and being reliable.
