Former Indigo mayor Jenny O’Connor has a new role, elected as the deputy chair of Rural Councils Victoria.
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Cr O’Connor was forced to stand down as mayor when she ran as an independent in the Victorian election, but wanted to use the new position to make a difference.
Speaking at last week’s Indigo Council meeting, mayor Bernard Gaffney congratulated her on the new position.
“It will put her in the perfect place to advocate to state and federal governments on behalf of council,” he said.
Cr O’Connor will work alongside Southern Grampians Council mayor Mary-Ann Brown, who was elected as the chair.
The announcement comes as Indigo councillors put their support behind an updated advocacy plan.
The changes outline options to advocate for more support during the 2019-20 financial year.
Cr O’Connor said the plan would be used as a base to lobby federal and state governments “very hard” for the funding she believed Indigo Council deserved.
“Clearly, the fact we need this shows we are not given the resources that we need for our communities to provide the services they require,” she said.
“It is really important that we advocate for these things and it does really highlight that we are not just about roads, rates and rubbish at local government.
“We take a very key role in getting essential services into our communities.”
She also flagged one of the first changes she wanted to see happen.
“I would like us to also advocate for an additional item of accessing emergency municipal resource program funding in advance of natural disasters, rather than waiting until after they’ve happened and trying to clean up the mess,” Cr O’Connor said.
“The state government should actually provide some of that funding to small rural councils so we can prepare in advance for what we know is going to happen.”
