CLAIRE Ewart-Kennedy, a former staffer for Liberal and National Party MPs, is Strathbogie Shire Council’s new mayor.
The Wahring resident appeared thrilled to be elected mayor for a 12-month period, having received five of seven councillors’ votes after she was nominated for the position by Cr Clark Holloway at Tuesday night’s statutory meeting.
Cr Fiona Stevens was nominated for mayor by Cr Laura Binks; these two did not vote for Cr Ewart-Kennedy.
“Thank you very much to all my fellow councillors, the ones that nominated me and voted for me, but also the ones that didn't,” Cr Ewart-Kennedy said in a short acceptance speech at the meeting.
“We're a team and we're going to work together as a team.”
Avenel’s Scott Jeffery, a former BHP senior engineer and manager who now runs a management consulting business, was elected deputy mayor, receiving four of seven votes after he was nominated by Cr Greg Carlson.
Cr Fiona Stevens was nominated for deputy mayor by Cr Vicki Halsall; these two and Cr Laura Binks did not vote for Cr Jeffery.
The new mayor, Cr Ewart-Kennedy, said council business runs in her family.
“As a very proud rural girl, I grew up with council business in my blood.
“My mother did it for 13 years; my father-in-law did it here for 44 years.”
Her father-in-law was Fergie Ewart, a Goulburn Shire councillor, and her mother, Helen Kennedy, was a councillor in Severn, NSW.
She said she was honoured to be elected mayor “after an interesting period in our history”, an apparent reference to the previous council’s suspension in December.
Cr Ewart-Kennedy was born on a New South Wales cattle farm and moved to Wahring, on the outskirts of Nagambie, in 2017.
In the 90s, she worked in corporate roles in Melbourne at major media companies including The Age and News Corp.
She later worked as a political staffer for MPs including Josh Frydenberg, John Pesutto, Ted Bailleu, Tim Wilson and Damian Drum up until 2022.
After retiring from politics, she served as a director at the GV Health Foundation until recently.
Cr Ewart-Kennedy and her husband Alistair also own and operate two farms and a Melbourne-based merchandising business, Winning Edge Presentations.
The family has another home in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond where the business is based, she told this masthead in August.
Cr Ewart-Kennedy is a member of the Liberal Party but stressed during the election period her candidacy was independent of party affiliation.
MAYOR’S FULL ACCEPTANCE SPEECH
Firstly, thank you very much to all my fellow councillors, the ones that nominated me and voted for me, but also the ones that didn't.
We're a team and we're going to work together as a team.
Thank you to the council staff and thank you to the people who've turned up in the public gallery and who are viewing online.
As a very proud rural girl, I grew up with council business in my blood.
My mother did it for 13 years.
My father-in-law did it here for 44 years.
I'm committed to public service.
That's who I am.
That's what I've always done.
I pledge to you – well, I would say I would honor to my community – that when we go into the chamber as a council, we work together to represent you, our community, your desires, needs, concerns are at the forefront of all decisions we make.
And as the mayor of the Strathbogie Shire Council, I'm very honoured to have that in the first year after an interesting period in our history.
And I will work with every single community organisation and every single one of my councillors positively and collectively and collegiately to make sure that we deliver for you, the ratepayers, who are requesting value for their rates but also the things that they want in their community being met.
We'll do our very best and that's all you can ask of us.
It's hard to put up your hand in public office, so please be gentle with all of us, but I promise to do the very best I can as mayor.
And I'm very, very humbled by this.
And I also thank my lovely family too, and my supporters.
Thank you.