From the generation of Facebook, Caitlin Flint says she will be using social media to get her campaign for Goulburn Mulwaree Council into the public arena. But she says face-to-face contact is essential and enjoyable. Photo: John Thistleton.
Fresh out of university and living above a McDonald’s restaurant on the main street of Coogee, a young Goulburn woman realised she had made a mistake about her nursing career.
Caitlin Flint was 21 and working at Sydney Children’s Hospital’s intensive care unit at Randwick. “That was the dream job; everyone wanted to work with kids in the most critical environment,” she said.
Having studied a Bachelor of Nursing and Para-medicine, she had felt health care would provide a suitable career path. “I thought I had hit the jackpot when I landed that graduate role but I soon learned city living wasn’t for me,” she said.
Instead, Caitlin returned home, began her local government career where she found her passion and at age 29, is now asking Goulburn Mulwaree ratepayers to elect her to the council.
She worked at Goulburn Mulwaree Council for seven years. She has been at Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council for three years and is Coordinator of Governance and Legal.
Caitlin wants to give Goulburn’s younger demographic a voice in the council chambers, and having seen the outcome of poor decisions, wants to use her local government experience to avoid them.
In her governance role she gives the tools councillors need to make informed and effective decisions.
“I make sure policies put to them from staff are not only legal but meet the needs of the community based on consultation and also staff resources,” she said.
Caitlin had worked as a trainee for Goulburn Mulwaree Council in customer service and planning, while studying at Charles Sturt University, before returning to Goulburn and working at the council full-time. When she left for Queanbeyan-Palerang she discovered councillors were all aligned with political parties.
“That just blew my mind coming from Goulburn where they were all independent back then,” she said. “I’m not saying that is always a bad thing, but definitely think local government needs to go back to the grassroots level and speak to what the community wants, not what the big parties want.”
Turning her mind to the September local government poll, she believes Goulburn Mulwaree ratepayers are most concerned about infrastructure, bridging the gap between the villages and city and quicker turnaround of development application assessments and certifications.
Caitlin would not have voted for Goulburn Mulwaree’s proposed 51.2 per cent rate increase, but understood why staff had recommended it, as many other councils had in recent times. “What I think we have landed on (22.5 per cent) is probably a good solution,” she said.
Aware of plans for a new regional museum and archive facility and a new community centre, she said both projects would total between $8 million and $10 million.
“In terms of capital works, I really think council needs to be taking a bit of a step back from the shiny new things at this point,” she said. Instead, earning the community’s trust back, listening to the people and getting the basics right were at the top of her agenda.
“We need the dust to settle, and get back to the basics,” she said.
Loading ...
