Five sitting councillors are taking a front row seat in Saturday’s election, in the knowledge their jobs are safe.
At least two of them – Cr Scott Bannan and Cr Miriam Stemp – say they’re using the time to prepare for their next term in office.
“It’s weird because it’s my first election as a sitting councillor, so part of me hopes I was unopposed because I’m doing a good job, but I don’t kid myself into thinking I’m perfect – I think there’s a fair bit of it where people just don’t want the job,” Cr Bannan said.
“I used to always think that if I get into council, I’ll work so hard from day one so that come campaign time I’m not running around.
“And I haven’t had to, so I’ll go at it 10 times harder in my second term now.”
Cr Stemp agreed it was a good space to be in.
“When I was advised I was uncontested I had already started campaigning, was in the process of delivering flyers to all my residents and had signs and other election material ready to go,” Cr Stemp said.
“I knew I had worked hard over the last four years, but was aware of other locals who are passionate about our community, who want to make a difference and who I thought may decide they could achieve this as the local councillor.”
Cr Stemp said she was using any spare moment to prepare for the next four years.
“I am still answering emails, attending council meetings, visiting residents and reporting things across the community which need attention by council,” she said.
“I am continuing to engage with the community holding pop-up stalls in shopping centres, attending community, school, sporting and business events to ensure I understand the main concerns and priorities of the community.”
Cr Stemp said there were “any number of reasons” why she was unopposed.
“From my experience in 2020, running a successful election campaign begins well before the election and involves spending a lot of time out in your community to understand what is important to residents, community organisations, sporting groups and businesses,” she said.
“You need to be prepared to work long days and weekends and do this while potentially still working, caring for a family and managing other commitments.
“Election campaigns can be expensive and you need to fund this yourself or seek donations.”
Cr Bannan said he was grateful to be spared from what he called one of the “nastiest” election cycles he had witnessed.
He said some candidates in other divisions were unaware of the jobs requirements.
“Once you’ve done a 16-hour day busting your guts and you get home thinking you’ve done alright for the day and made people happy, and then you get a notification of someone bagging you out on social media about something you knew nothing about,” he said.
“You haven’t seen your family all day and it never ends.
“But there’s a lot more good than bad.”
Councillors Jacob Heremaia, Natalie Willcocks and Tony Hall will also return unopposed.
