Brent Hunter
Kenrick Winchester
CURRENT Queanbeyan councillors called for young blood and new life to be injected on to council come the September 8 elections.
Their request has been heard with two locals Brent Hunter, 21 and Kenrick Winchester, 29 looking to fill a seat left empty by councillors Kerry White, Tom Mavec, Steve Stavreas and John Barilaro who will not contest another term.
They may be young but these gentleman feel they can make a real difference as the council enters a new phase.
Brent Hunter has never attended a council meeting but it hasn't deterred him from vying for a spot on the Queanbeyan City Council.
The 20-year-old said the reason he is running for council is because he would like to see more diversity around the table.
"It's sort of to give a boarder spectrum to the council, provide a better age group in council," he said. "I mean if you look at the council at the moment, the youngest member is still probably in their mid-40s, mayor Tim Overall said himself he wanted more young blood on the council."
Mr Hunter said he wants to be taken seriously and believes there is no room for party politics on the council. "I personally don't feel big political parties should have a place in running the community by being allowed to use the full power of their party to back local candidates."
He wants the public to know he is genuinely campaigning for a seat on council even if he is inexperienced. "I'm kind of hoping to target everyone, I'm not using age as a campaign strategy," he said.
"I've read up on local government but it's hard to have experience, you need to be elected first to get that first-hand experience." The young gun has already vowed to run for the next council elections if not elected in this term.
While Mr Hunter concedes he is young, he said that won't stop his ambitions to get on council. "My aim is to help Queanbeyan, I want to give back to the place I've lived my whole life."
Another relatively young council candidate is Kenrick Winchester, 29-year-old who said his motivation for running on council comes down to his six-month-old son, Harry.
Mr Winchester said his family has had a long history with the city and wants to contribute to its future for the benefit of his young son.
The public servant said he will run as an independent in the upcoming election. "There's no place for party politics on local government, you should represent your constituents. The make-up of the council should reflect the make-up of the town which is doesn't right now."
Mr Winchester hopes to address traffic issues on Pialligo and Canberra Avenues and generate more business from travellers coming through town to head to the coast or snow.
He would also like an ongoing events calendar for young families and celebrate the city's milestones as well as concentrate on upgrading Monaro Street.
Mr Winchester said voting for him would ensure the views of younger residents are represented on council. "I have always taken a keen interest in local government, and thought now was the right time to put my hand up. I also felt that my generation wasn't being represented on Council," he said.
"When I did my research I discovered more than 65 per cent of Queanbeyan residents are aged under 40 - yet the youngest person on the current council is 41. This shows that not only are younger Queanbeyan residents under-represented on Council, they aren't represented at all."
The former Queanbeyan High School captain has been attending council meetings since he first entertained ideas of running for council. Mr Winchester said if elected he would be vocal at meetings if he was against for a particular motion.
"[Meetings] give communities a chance to talk about an issue but there only seems to be one councillor that disagrees," he said. "If elected, I would have my say on an issue if I was against it I would say and if I support it I would say that."
Mr Winchester said he would like to be mayor one day but believed he should do the hard yards as a councillor first. "I would be honoured to one day be Mayor of our great city, however, I believe to effectively perform the role of Mayor one should first learn the process and intricacies of local government via serving as a councillor first. And that's what I aim to do," he said.
