With 47 per cent of the Mayoral vote Robert Mustow will once again be Mayor of the Richmond Valley Council (RVC) and will most likely get three councillors elected from his ticket.
That means Mustow is likely to retain control of the council with himself as mayor and three councillors maintaining the current conservative approach. This leaves three positions on council for other candidates.
Former RVC general manager Jon Walker, who currently has 21 per cent of the vote, will take one and the fifth council position will go to newcomer Lyndall Murray who has 19 per cent of the vote.
That leaves the sixth and final position that will be decided by preferences and wil; lbe a athree way fight between sitting councillor Robert Hayes, second on Walkers ticket Stuart George Hayesthe and Bianca Rayner the second on Murray’s ticket. The final results won’t be known until the postal and below the line votes are counted and preferences distributed.
Robert Hayes received 13 per cent in the mayoral ballot and garnered just over 11 per cent of the councillor vote but will be the recipient of the Msutow ticket preferences that will give him a boost.
‘The big surprise is newcomer Lyndall Murray,’ Evans Head local Dr Richard Gates told The Echo.
‘The other surprise is Hayes who has done so poorly on first preference votes. Mustow won’t want anyone to go on holidays if he is pushing something through council as he would then need to use his casting vote as the mayor. I think it will certainly be interesting times ahead.’
Ms Murray told The Echo that she is ‘blown away’ with the support she has received across the area.
‘I came second in the mayor vote and I won the mayors vote across Broadwater, Coraki, Evans Head, and Woodburn, excluding Evans Head pre-poles.
‘I really got a great boost in confidence with the voting in this election. I think there is an appetite for change. This will give me a chance to look, listen, and learn during this council term and then be in a strong position for the next council elections. People from other council’s have reached out to say how impressed they are with how I performed,’ she said.
Youth crime
‘I’m looking forward to working proactively with other councillors. I think what we’d like to initiate are conversations on issues like youth crime; but looking at it with progressing positive programs with engaged youth, not locking them up. We see sport sport as one of the pathways, with wrap around support, that can help young people in relation to youth crime. For example we’d like to see hockey back at Coraki.
Iron Gates
Iron Gates was another key area that Ms Murray said she would take action and will seek to have an appeal initiated.
‘I will uphold the intent to appeal the Iron Gates decision. Any potential indemnity costs need to be stacked up against the long term costs to the environment, cultural heritage, and social wellbeing of this region,’ she explained.
‘I expect the lawyers and GM will say it is too expensive if we lose the appeal and have to pay the costs. However, If you don’t model the other costs such as to the environment, cultural heritage and social wellbeing of the area then you can’t make a fair decision. For example, I can’t get a doctor’s appointment here for four weeks yet they want to put another 900 people out there and this will have a significant impact on the local community.’
Rates
The cost of the coastal rates levied is also another area that Ms Murray will be looking at as she has seen first hand how the higher rate levies on the coastal area is impacting people.
‘It has a significant impact on the elderly, even with the discount, it affects their budget on a pension. I’m looking forward to getting a brief on that,’ she explained.
‘We were so thrilled with the Casino Community Hall vote – to have over 230 votes there, that speaks to the appetite for change. I think younger voters are starting to show up. On the day at Casino, it was the younger family demographics that were seeking change and it was these people came out of the polloing booths and proudly told us that they had voted for us.’
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