Sue Speaks On Mayoral Election: Tonight 5pm

A NEW Mayor for the Upper Hunter Shire Council will be elected tonight at 5pm.

The mayoral election will be voted on by councillors and not the public after Council voted against a popularly elected mayor during the 2016 elections.

Nominations require two councillors to sign a nomination form for the nominee, which the nominee must then accept.

The only nomination expected this evening is for Maurice Collison.

Cr Abbott said, she would most like to see Cr Lee Watts elected to Mayor, as she believed Lee truly listened to the community and had the most experience as a Councillor and former Mayor.

“Personally, right now I think the right person to be Mayor is Lee Watts,” said Cr Abbott.

“Lee is a listener and therefore she knows what the community wants and what’s concerning the community, and then you go from there, but the main thing is you have to be a listener,” she said.

Cr Abbott said one of the issues with Council is that not enough women stand for elections.

“We need women from all walks of life, so we can hear everybody’s voice because I don’t believe Council is representative of the whole shire at the moment,” said Cr Abbott.

“There are three women on Council and two of us are quite aligned and although we come from different political persuasions, we both believe the community really matters and that means you can do a lot of things together,” she said.

Cr Abbott encouraged women in the Upper Hunter to put their names forward for the Council elections, to be held in September 2021.

“What I would say to the women of the Upper Hunter is next year in 2021, think about standing for Council because if you want these community projects to get there I think we need a lot more women,” said Cr Abbott.

“Because right now, we’re not hearing from 50 percent of the population, who are women,” she said.

“Which is why I say to women out there, whatever your age, wherever you are come forward and put yourself forward and I would be happy to mentor anyone with the limited experience I have,” Cr Sue Abbott said.

You can watch the Mayoral election tonight, live-streamed via the UHSC YouTube Channel:  here.