Voters reward Nina Dillon’s leadership in Goulburn Mulwaree poll

Less than 12 months after Goulburn Mulwaree Council administrators used police in an attempt to stop Nina Dillon’s rally against a proposed hike in rates, the people have given her an emphatic endorsement for office.

Ms Dillon’s ticket received the majority of first preference votes in the early counting up until midnight on Saturday, enough to prompt her to stand for mayor once elected.

Police had surprised her when they contacted her in October 2023 to ask her not to proceed with a rally.

“I thought it was someone playing a trick on me,” she said. “I didn’t think it was real. But it was real,” she said.

Ms Dillon believes that a majority of electors have given her a mandate for a new direction for the council and that she will be a candidate for the mayor’s job.

“I have a lot of respect for [former Goulburn mayor Bob Kirk], but I think the community has given us a mandate and not only that, they are saying they want a new direction, and Bob has been there along the way for several years and done quite a good job.”

Ms Dillon’s first priority will be looking at the current budget and whether some projects can be deferred. She is also concerned garbage collections in some streets were cancelled on the grounds of narrow streets and occupational health and safety issues. She believes there has to be a better solution.

She does not believe the council should establish a new housing trust, as was proposed under the previous council.

“I’m not saying we don’t need more housing, I just don’t believe it is something the council should be involved in,” she said.

“It is going to amount to a large amount of money and substantial risk to the ratepayers.”

Ms Dillon, who was on council from 2008 to 2012, set out last year to raise community awareness about the proposed rates hike and to oppose it.

But after writing submissions opposing the increase, she believed if councillors had been unsuccessful the first time in getting it approved and were still in office after the elections on the weekend, they would have applied for another special rate variation in 12 months’ time.

“I thought, well, the only way I can change that is to run our own ticket and get the people who would stand up for the community,” Ms Dillon said.

After two well-attended rallies, numerous people asked to be on her ticket for the council.

“I tried to make sure we had very like-minded people, not just on the special rate variation but on other things around town as well,” she said.

“Having said that, there will be no block voting when we are in council. We will still all vote individually.”

Ms Dillon is hopeful of having three people from her ticket, comprising herself, Dr Peter O’Mahoney and Keith Smith on the council, but that will not be known until counting is completed. Chloe Hurley was originally at number three but dropped back to fourth on the ticket when she realised she was pregnant just before nominations closed.

“If we do get a fourth person on the council, we might have a baby as well,” Nina said with a chuckle.

She said many wonderful people had come forward in the lead-up to Saturday’s poll to help her.

“Through until Friday, we did not have any people to [hand out flyers] at Tallong, and I was concerned; I wanted to make sure all the villages were represented,” she said.

“And just out of the blue, a couple came in [to her office in Montague Street] and handed out our flyers at Tallong for us. We had at least two people at every booth; some had three people. People were keen to get involved and help us over the line.

“We were very excited when we saw the numbers coming in,” she said. After counting was completed on Saturday night her team had won every booth on first preferences.

In the past 12 months, she has stepped back from her accountancy business and worked only three days a week. She says with everything that has happened in her life, she has managed to stay on top of things and ensure the community was well represented.