Council
30 August, 2024
Laurie Hickey set to stand for Leura
CORANGAMITE Shire Council Central Ward councillor and deputy mayor Laurie Hickey will re-nominate for the upcoming council elections.
Cr Hickey will be running for the new Leura Ward in this year’s election, which will cover half of Camperdown as well as Chocolyn, Skibo, Weerite and Pomborneit East.
He said one of the key reasons he is running is because of the knowledge and understanding he has collected throughout his term, as well as the contacts he has fostered during his time on council.
“The second thing is that, for the first two years of our term, we were working behind masks and working behind screens, so a lot of that social interaction was taken away from us – necessarily, but it meant we missed a lot of the opportunity to actually do our job properly,” Cr Hickey said.
“I’m looking forward to making up those years that we believe were lost.
“I’ll stand for the Leura Ward and, whilst it is a single councillor ward, it’s no different to us representing people right across the central as we have previously done.
“The Leura Ward is a demographic that has always been interesting – they’ve got some great sporting facilities out there. I think that, whilst I can represent those people, I believe that it’s very much a councillor for the entire Corangamite shire from the coast to Skipton.”
While he appears easy-going in his everyday life, Cr Hickey is passionate about promoting the area, including the agriculture industry and those who support it.
He said there were a variety of projects he was looking forward to seeing through.
“I’d love to see the Camperdown Production Precinct through - I have been the chair of that development committee for the last four years, and it is a fabulous project,” Cr Hickey said.
“At the moment, it’s almost ready for subdivision.
“There are opportunities for employment and for retaining our local tradespeople to work in the area.
“We’re looking at expanding renewables into that area, maybe community batteries and those sort of things, but there has been a significant investment for the shire to make sure the industrial precinct is going to be something that will be of value to an area where we need that industry to be developed.”
Cr Hickey said he was also hoping to see the redevelopment of Camperdown Theatre Royal through.
“There’s been some very exciting plans come around from that, and having spent many, many hours treading the boards in the theatre, it would be great to see the green room and the backstage area redeveloped, and also, the old basketball stadium being fully utilised and its potential realised,” he said.
“The Mockridge Park Precinct would be great to have funded and developed, particularly given the gold medal won by Grace Brown in the Olympics, and having that velodrome upgraded, having the soccer club with a ground that would be suitable for regional tournaments, and having a facility there that is able to be used by the community as a wider group and particularly incorporating the senior citizens of the town.
“I’ve always been very interested in the circular economy and the repair cafes and would love to see landfill minimized by having products revalued or reused to prevent the filling up of the landfill.
“It costs about $30 million to dig a new cell, and if we can prolong that by 10 or 15 years by reusing rather than disposing of, that would save council a lot of money.”
Cr Hickey said, as a retired man, he was able to accept a large variety of opportunities as well as dedicate a large amount of time to his work.
“I’m very happy to stand in front of the community and offer my services to be elected to the shire and hope that everyone sees fit to cast their votes my way,” he said.
“This year, I have served as deputy mayor, and it’s been a privilege to represent the shire on a lot more levels than what I normally would have done.
“There’s always the advocation for road renewal and road funding, looking after the supply chain to our agricultural industries, maintaining professional networks within the town, and looking for opportunities for young people to be engaged and to be offered a chair to a voice in our council as well.
“Sometimes it can take an hour and a half to buy a box of cornflakes – such is the role of a councillor in a small community.”