"Community is the element that has been lacking from this council, with some councillors insisting that, as they have been elected, they don't need to listen to their constituents” said Cr Moore. “The Local Environmental Plan (LEP) has been unnecessarily delayed due to poor Council decision-making and as a result the communities' visions for the future of their Local Government Area (LGA) are becoming less and less achievable as development goes full steam ahead, contrary to those visions."
The Community First ticket members have all been active in their communities. With Catherine, who was elected as a Greens councillor in 2004, are Judith Turley, a farmer from Millpost, west of Bungendore; Forbes Gordon, who was until recently a farmer near Braidwood, is one of the founding members of BRASS (Braidwood Residents Association) and now lives in the village; John Taylor, a finance director and accountant from Bungendore and a founding member of the Bungendore Residents Group and Angela Casey, a teacher and member of the Araluen Progress Association.
"The idea of Community First is pretty straightforward," said Catherine. "It means that our focus will be on putting the interests of the communities of Palerang first, by working towards ensuring a healthy and sustainable future for all, recognising the pressing need to plan for and adapt to climate change and dwindling water supplies.”
"We need appropriate planning that takes into account the future needs of the people of Palerang and reflects the visions of the various communities. We are not opposed to development - as long as it benefits the community and preferably enhances the environment. Infrastructure provision and maintenance related to any development should be cost neutral or beneficial."
The group wants to see more community involvement, with roving council meetings that can facilitate ongoing and real community consultation which informs Council and its decision-making. They feel it is also important to reflect the proportion of women in the community by putting women in winnable positions, so the new Palerang Council has a better gender balance than is seen at present.
"In the event that some of us are elected, I don't expect that we will agree on everything, but we will all be signing a pledge before the election agreeing to treat all councillors with respect at all times, while recognising diversity of opinion."
“Community First is committed to inclusive and non-adversarial politics, and feel that decision-making would be greatly enhanced if there was more attempt made to achieve consensus by removing the egos and point-scoring from the debates and getting down to discussion about the real issues” she said.
"We also want to see more openness and accountability in decision-making," said Catherine. "We will start the ball rolling by setting up an ongoing register for any donations we receive. There is a big hole in the new laws, which don't require declaration in the period just before the election, so voters are going to the ballot box not knowing who has funded the campaigns of their candidates.”
"We will also try to ensure that any Council workshops are open to the community, with no closed meetings unless absolutely necessary."
The group would still welcome anyone from Wamboin, Bywong, Captains Flat, Hoskinstown or Carwoola who agree with its platform and would like to join. “The group had also hoped to be have some representation from Burra, but the community there appears to be focusing its energies on working to join Queanbeyan City Council” said Moore.
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