Kingscliff-based Tweed Shire Councillor Dot Holdom has been elected to the National Sea Change Taskforce committee, the influential local government group which represents coastal councils around Australia.
The election was held at the Annual General Meeting of the organisation in Canberra this week.
The Taskforce was established in 2004, and this is the first time the Tweed will have been represented at the Executive level.
Councillor Holdom said she was honoured to have been elected for the important role.
“I am delighted to be joining the Taskforce and I’m up for the challenge,” Councillor Holdom said.
“This Taskforce makes representations on behalf of the coastal councils and their communities to the most senior levels of the Federal Government and Opposition,” Councillor Holdom said.
“No other body represents the specific interests of these communities at a national level, so I’ll be in there boots and all.”
The population of Australia’s coastal areas outside the capital cities is now almost seven million, which represents 86 per cent of the nation’s entire regional population. The population in these areas has increased from 4.9 million since 1997, indicating the scale of migration to the coast which is expected to continue for the foreseeable future.
Cr Barry Sammels, Mayor of the City of Rockingham in Western Australia, was elected Chair of the Taskforce; Cr Kym McHugh, Mayor of Alexandrina Council in South Australia was elected Deputy Chair; and Cr Fiona Buchan, of Kingborough Council in Tasmania, was elected Treasurer.
The Taskforce Committee of Manage-ment consists of two representatives from each state who are elected for a period of two years, as follows:
NSW: Cr Dot Holdom, Tweed Shire Council
Cr Fergus Thomson, Eurobodalla Shire Council
QLD: Cr Debbie Blumel, Sunshine Coast Regional Council
Cr Julia Leu, Cairns Regional Council
SA: Cr Pat Chigwidden, City of Victor Harbor
Cr Kym McHugh, Alexandrina Council (Deputy Chair)
TAS: Cr Fiona Buchan, Kingborough Council (Treasurer)
Cr Jenifer Crawford, Glamorgan Spring Bay Council
VIC: Cr Jill Parker, Moyne Shire Council
Cr Mendy Urie, East Gippsland Shire
WA: Cr Barry Sammels, City of Rockingham (Chair)
Cr David Smith, City of Bunbury
At its August 16 meeting, Tweed Shire Council resolved to nominate Councillor Holdom for the executive position.
