Kempsey by-election: current councillors on why they're running again

There are 21 candidates seeking election or re-election. Those who provided their contact details to the Electoral Commission, or who have since reached out to the Macleay Argus, have been asked the following questions.

This article features the answers of the six councillors who find themselves candidates again after problems with the Electoral Commission's iVote system saw their election in December declared void. Two councillors, Liz Campbell and VJ Craigie, are not running.

Candidates are listed in the order they appear on the ballot paper. Where necessary, Macleay Argus Editor Sue Stephenson has reduced but not sub-edited answers, so they are no more than two sentences long.

A separate article with new candidates will be published once their responses are received.

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The Electoral Commissioner John Schmidt, was questioned in budget estimates in August last year and admitted that the iVote system wasn't robust enough to run effectively. It's hard for us, but it is law and the Supreme Court made a decision, so we just have look ahead now.

I am running again because I feel I have only just gotten started. I believe I was a unifying force on the previous council and the next council is going to be different, but I'm really looking forward to the challenge of working with a new group.

I think we really need to look into assessing the risk of coastal development, particularly with the major weather events and flooding we have been having. One of the big ticket items that is coming up after the by-election is reviewing our communications strategy regarding how the council communicates with the public, and I think that's an area we can improve on.

I think it's a complete debacle and it's a waste of taxpayers' time and money. It's also frustrating for the new councillors like myself, who are only just warming up to the occasion and starting to make changes and progress.

If I am re-elected, I want to continue serving the community as best I can. We all haven't had the opportunity to really make the difference we were sworn in to do, so my hope is to be re-elected so I can continue acting on the promise I made to the community when I was first elected.

I want to try and be as unbiased as I possibly can as a councillor and make decisions that best meets the community's needs, whatever that may be. I want to be that fair voice for the community in the council and make positive changes on as many issues as I can.

The topic is a complex one with many simple solutions, but unfortunately there are no robust standards for events like this, so we are forced into this ridiculous situation.

I put my hand up expecting a four-year commitment and I would like to continue with that. I believe I still have so much to give, and I look forward to continuing to serve our shire in the next term.

There are a lot of exciting and concerning topics in council at the moment. I'm passionate about finding a balance between them all, but getting our council out of long term debt is what's required to achieve these goals.

I can't believe we were named as defendants in a court case when we had done nothing wrong. I feel that the iVote system has been a debacle... and I really believe the community needs to know that it's not the councillors' fault, but here we all go again at great expense to the community and the candidates themselves.

I'm running again because I successfully ran in the last general election, and I love my Shire, especially South West Rocks where I live. I feel like in the last six months I have done a good job in council and I would like to continue to keep doing that job and serving my community.

I am not anti-development, but I'm into sustainable development. We have some very sensitive proposals at the moment which I really want to look at; I [also] think we all know our roads are an issue at the moment.

I feel completely stitched up by the Electoral Commission and the Supreme Court. Around 17,000 people lodged a formal vote and they elected in eight people to be councillors. Thirty four people didn't vote and we're throwing out 17,000 votes in favour of those 34 people because they're (the Electoral Commission) saying those 34 people could have changed the outcome of the election.

Since January when we were sworn in, we've had five or six council meetings and three public forums... and I really feel like I am just getting started on what I was sworn in to do. We had an induction process that was cut short because of the failed iVote, so we haven't been given the full opportunity to learn about how to be an effective councillor.

Infrastructure and the roads are massive issues in the Kempsey Shire and these come into our planning processes. The plans were given to us by the previous council, we didn't have much of an input in them at all... so I would like to see what can be tweaked and to see if we can take money from one place and put it somewhere else or if there are more grants that we can apply for to help solve those ongoing issues in an efficient manner.

The Electoral Commission had the power to postpone the election to 2024. They chose not to because they have no attachment to the community and they have no accountability on what it's going to cost the community financially and time wise.

My dedication is to the community and to complete that [four-year] term. There are so many projects that still have time to go before they can be delivered, and I'm not walking away from that responsibility.

I've got a lot to deliver still for the Macleay, and I believe we as a community still have a long way to go with jobs, the growth of our residential area in South West Rocks and with the development of the new sewerage system for the whole of the Macleay.

Early voting in the Kempsey Shire Council by-election opens Monday (July 18) ahead of the election on July 30.

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