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New Council Introduced

Thursday 9th October and there was some excitement around the council chambers as a small crowd gathered for the first sitting of Byron Shire Council since the recent NSW local government elections.

The new councillors were there with their families and supporters and there were smiles all round as they sorted out the seating with the new members taking there place amongst the returning members and for the new council taking its shape for the upcoming term.

Each of the councillors gave a short speech thanking their supporters and the voters and outlining some of their visions and interests for the next four years and some of the views of the Greens councillors are printed below.

Cr Jan Barham spoke  about her gratitude in being reelected as the Mayor of Byron Shire and also in her pride in the way that the Greens have slowly but surely brought new ways of thinking to the work of Local Government and that this has not only provided benefits to the people of Byron Shire but has also provided a model for other councils around the country. She mentioned the Council Greenprint as an example of how she and the other Greens had embedded sustainability and the precautionary principle as core principles of caring for the environment.  She mentioned how much she had appreciated and enjoyed the contact she had had with the community over the last term and how much she was looking forward to renewing those contacts in the new term. She also signaled affordable housing as an important issue for the upcoming term.

Cr Richard Staples spoke about the difficulties of the current times with both environmental and economic turmoil around us and that with the rapidity of change that is currently taking place it is important for decision makers to be able to assess these problems and not to be overwhelmed but to see them as opportunities to progress society into new ways of doing things.

Cr Tom Tabart also spoke about the interesting times in which we now live with the combination of environmental, economic and energy concerns that are going to impinge on the shire and the community and the decisions made at the local government level would be key to dealing with many of the issues. He also mentioned affordable housing and the related issue of social equity as issues that would be front and centre in the new term of councils. Cr Tabart was also elected unopposed as Deputy Mayor.

Cr Simon Richardson spoke of the influences and experiences that brought him to where he is today. He cited an early interest in politics and activism lead onto formal studies in politics and history and then onto high school as some of the experiences that would shape his approach to being a councillor. He was very interested in youth issues and being the youngest member of council and a high school teacher he is probably well placed to seek out the views of young people and brings those views to council. He also stated that he was interested in finding ways of working in a non adversarial way with all people and groups invovled in the decision making process.