Tweed Shire residents will need to elect seven councillors who then elect the mayor.
The current 2024 Tweed Shire Council is made up of one conservative Warren Polgalse who has said he is retiring and is throwing his support behind Nationals candidate Kimberly Hone. There are two Liberal councillors, James Owen and Rhiannon Brinsmead; Greens councillor Dr Nola Firth; Labor councillor Reece Byrnes; and the two independent councillors – Mayor Chris Cherry and Deputy Mayor Meredith Dennis. Apart from Cr Polgalse they are all running again.
Ned Wales is a new Independent candidate who is throwing his hat into the ring this election. He has significant experience in urban planning and land use management. Colin Usher is running a ticket and says he has skills in change management and appears keen to open up rural properties for more housing. Mitch Dobbie is running as an ungrouped candidate and is keen to balance the needs of housing and the environment in the Tweed Shire.
Ungrouped candidate James Mckenzie and Nationals candidate Kimberly Hone both have Mt Warning in their sights. Ms Hone is in favour of reopening Mt Warning to the public. Ms Hone (who has not responded to questions from The Echo) is a member of the Pentecostal church said that her ‘ultimate goal’ in politics was to ‘bring God’s kingdom to the political arena’ as reported by the Guardian.
Read on to find out more about who you can vote on to Tweed Shire Council on September 14.
Tickets for Tweed Shire Council
Group A: Chris Cherry (Independent)
Chris Cherry says she has significant experience to bring to the the job of councillor (and potentially mayor) after eight years of sitting on Tweed Council. She has been mayor since September 2020.
Talking about the housing crisis Ms Cherry told The Echo that a ‘three-pronged approach to housing’ is needed. Ms Cherry said that the state government to introduce levers to stop landbanking and to build more social housing and that the Council needs to ‘review our development controls to allow more diversity of housing’.
Read her position in more detail here.
Group B: Brady Turner (Independent)
Did not respond to questions.
Group C: Reece Byrnes (Labor)
Reece Byrnes is a sitting councillor and says that he is about ‘keeping rates low, getting improved services delivered and upgrading local roads’. Mr Byrnes has said he is committed to serving the full four-year term on Council and highlighted the fact that National Party member Kimberly Hone is also continuing to campaign for the Federal seat of Richmond while running for Tweed Council (you cannot hold a position as councillor and federal member of government at the same time). Mr Byrnes says he is about balancing the environment and development on evidence.
Read his position in more detail here.
Group D: Ned Wales (Independent)
Ned Wales is running with Kimberly Lloyd and has considerable experience in the field of urban planning and land use management. Ned sees urban consolidation is a fundamental principle in creating sustainable communities and accommodating rapid population growth.
Ned recognises that we are in a critical decade, where rapid action is needed to decarbonise our economic system.
Read his position in more detail here.
Group E: Kimberly Hone (Nationals)
Did not respond to questions.
Group F: Pryce Allsop (Independent)
Pryce Allsop has had one term on council that concluded in 2021. He says that housing diversity is important and that ‘capital gains tax needs to be looked into, state government needs to better provide safety incentives and financial uplift to our economy’.
‘Why do we have a government wanting such a degree of red and green tape?’ he asks. He would like to see local planning ‘optimised for greater efficiency’ more in line with the Queensland system.
Read his position in more detail here.
Group G: James Owen (Liberal)
Did not respond to questions.
Group H: Colin Usher (Independent)
Colin Usher has experience in a high-level skill set in change management. He would like to see ‘common sense solutions that we can start immediately, secondary dwellings on rural farm land’ and says the council needs ‘to look at Zombie D/As and how we expedite these processes with possible timelines for delivery of the project’.
Mr Usher sees the councillor role as similar to a ‘board member’ position. He has an environmentally-responsible approach without being an environmental alarmist, he says.
Read his position in more detail here.
Group I: Meredith Dennis (Independent)
Meredith Dennis is a sitting councillor who has worked in businesses and volunteer organisations across the Tweed Shire. She sees the role of councillors as providing a connection between residents and the council.
Ms Dennis says that, ‘the housing crisis is our biggest challenge’ and recognises the need to build up in developed areas and ensure the correct housing is brought to market while protecting the environment.
Read her position in more detail here.
Group J: Dr Nola Firth (Greens)
Dr Nola Firth is a sitting councillor who says balancing housing and the environment is vital to a successful future of the Tweed Shire. Dr Firth says that the recently developed Affordable Housing Strategy set up ‘measurable targets’ around housing and she supports working with the state government, council, and non-profit organisations to set up public housing.
Dr Firth says there are significant opportunities to protect the environment during the next term of council. She has also done significant work in setting up the anti-ageist campaign.
Read her position in more detail here.
Ungrouped candidates
Mitch Dobbie has worked for 30 years in drug and alcohol agencies both in government and in the community. As someone who enjoys riding his bike he is keen to see an increase in bike tracks across the whole shire.
Mr Dobbie recognises that the housing crisis is complex and that this is a critical place in time for the Tweed Shire and a balance between housing and the environment is needed. He says that the Tweed Council ‘have the opportunity to partner with local businesses and community organisations to address issues that are impacting their community’.
For more information on his policies click here.
James Mckenzie is running for the fourth time for Tweed Shire Council.
Mr Mckenzie does not believe that he will win a seat but is using the candidacy to highlight his belief that Wollumbin, Arakwal and Bundjalung National Parks are fake, that Bundjalung is a white man’s fabrication. National Party candidate Kimberly Hone is also seekign to have Mt Warning reopened.
‘Wollumbin was taken as the name of my family’s peak and applied as a fake dual name to Mt Warning (Wulambiny Momoli),’ he says.
For more information on his policies click here.
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