Five of the New England’s 12 councils have elected their Mayor and Deputy Mayor for the first two year term.
Armidale’s Mayor Sam Coupland and Deputy Mayor Todd Redwood were re-elected unopposed.
Narrabri Shire’s Mayor Darrell Tiemens and Deputy Mayor Brett Dickinson were re-elected unopposed.
Tenterfield’s Mayor Bronwyn Petrie was re-elected unopposed, with Greg Sauer being elected to the Deputy Mayor role after John Macnish was not re-elected to Council. Sauer has served in the role previously under Peter Petty in the term that saw him elected Mayor by having his name drawn out of a hat.
Eric Noakes was also re-elected unopposed in Walcha Council yesterday morning, with Glen O’Brien elected as the new Deputy.
Glen Innes, which meets to determine its Mayor today (10 October), may have a challenge but it is widely expected that the incumbent Rob Banham will be returned for another term in leadership. Uralla’s Robert Bell was declared elected months ago after not being challenged for the role in their direct election.
But in Inverell, which had possibly the most uneventful election of the 12 New England LGAs (save for Uralla which had no election at all), the 12 year run of Paul Harmon as Mayor has come to an unexpected end. Yetman’s Kate Dight has been elected Mayor of Inverell Shire in a contested election for a term of two years, and Jo Williams has been elected Deputy Mayor for a single year term.
Armidale born and NEGS old girl Dight has been a passionate advocate and supporter of women since first being elected to Council in 2017, including serving on the executive of Australian Local Government Women’s Association (ALGWA).
She is expected to lead a wave of women being elected to wear the Mayoral chains across the New England, with new mayors required in Moree, Gwydir, and Gunnedah where the previous Mayors did not renominate, and women being the leading candidates in all three with elections.
Liverpool Plains Shire will also need a new mayor after Doug Hawkins was unsuccessful in his bid for re-election.
The one council of those remaining guaranteed not to elect a woman as Mayor is Tamworth Regional Council, after no women were elected to fill any of TRC’s nine seats. It was not the only council to go backwards in gender balance; Liverpool Plains Shire is down to just one woman in seven, while Armidale has slipped back to just three women out of nine councillors, a few short years after being dominated by women.
Ironically, re-elected Mayor Sam Coupland praised the ‘representative’ mix of councillors around Armidale’s table.
“I’m very confident that great things are going to happen,” Coupland said. “Our region is on the cusp of significant change and the people that the region have elected to represent them I think are a very, very representative council.”
The population of the Armidale Regional LGA is 51.9% female, and a median age of 38. Armidale Regional Council is 33.3% female, with a median age of 52.
Representation and great things was also the theme of re-election Mayor Tiemen’s comments in Narrabri.
“We have an opportunity here to really set a very strong agenda for the future of Narrabri Shire, and represent all our great diverse communities,” he said.
“I really think as a group of councillors we can achieve great things.”
The remaining councils are expected to have resolved their mayoral elections in a series of extraordinary council meetings held over the next 10 days.
Top image: Newly elected Inverell Mayor Kate Dight (r) and Deputy Mayor Jo Williams (Inverell Shire Council; Facebook)
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