Few options for the wind-neutral Walcha voter

A quick glance at the list of candidates in Walcha’s local government election may lead some voters to despair.

Out of thirteen candidates vying for the eight spots on Walcha council, half are openly affiliated with groups that directly support, oppose or are involved in the establishment of the four wind farms planned for development across the Walcha Local Government Area (LGA). And most are otherwise unknown – six of the current council have not renominated – only Mayor Eric Noakes, and Anne-Marie Ponting are seeking to continue.

Candidates contesting the Walcha Local Government Election on September 14, 2024

Hyde Thomson is a newcomer to local council elections and says that he hopes to represent the Walcha community with a strong sense of impartiality.

“I’m not anti-wind farms and I’m not pro wind farms. I’m open to hear both sides…I’m just doing what I think is best for the community and the area,” he says.

His position on the issue remains in-line with Walcha Council’s “neutral” stance, which it adopted in response to an intense, and often-times unsavoury public discourse which has fractured relationships and divided the community.

Anne-Marie Pointing is running for re-election, and she shares Thomson’s sentiment on the issue of a neutral local council.

“We decided to take the neutral stand, which to me seemed a sensible thing to do,” she said.

Both candidates have expressed a wish for council to place a strong focus on other issues, including council’s takeover of Apsley Riverview, the local aged care facility.

Walcha Council announced earlier this month that it will take full administrative control of the facility in early 2025.

“I’d like to be involved in (the transfer of Riverview) and make sure that it’s run at zero cost to the ratepayers…it will cover its own costs. That will be a very big decision and a big job to take on for the council,” says Thomson.

“There’s more and more services being lumped into local council… a few years ago, the whole community fought really hard to maintain our autonomy, so we have to… make it work.”

Pointing says that the transition will simply be a matter of ensuring the effectiveness of Riverview’s current system is emulated by council.

“We’re really lucky because it is a really well-run facility at the moment. The people in there are being well cared for and the staffing in there is very good and they’re doing their job well.”

“It’s a good positive place, so now we’ve just got to make (the transition) work.”

Thomson believes that Walcha’s sporting culture is strongly tethered to the health of the community, and that his connection to Walcha’s beloved Rams has given him insight into how Walcha’s social fabric operates.

“My barometer for the strength of the community has always been sport, I think sport is incredibly important in bringing people together, in comradery and friendship,” he says.

“When I first came home from school in 1989, rugby union had four sides most weekends, rugby league had two or three sides, there was a local cricket comp with six or seven teams playing locally. Tennis used to be played over two nights with two different grades.”

“Now, rugby is struggling to put two teams on the field each week. Rugby league has had to merge with Uralla and there’s no local district cricket side. Tennis struggles to fill its courts…it’s a bit of a breakdown of the social fabric…”

Pointing believes that local infrastructure development and upheaval needs to be the perpetual focus of council, particularly local roads.

“There’s a lot of projects to be finished, so for me I’d really like to keep influencing (the finishing of) projects in town,” she said.

“We’ve got our Derby Street upgrade to happen, and there’s pathways being built throughout town. There’s a pretty good gravel re-sheeting program going on in our rural roads…there’s plenty of bridges to fix… there’s plans in place to upgrade the skatepark.”

“It would be good to tick a few boxes and go “done!”

The elections take place on the 14^th of September, and information on voting can be found here.

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