MILDURA’S new council will need to deliver some tough decisions to help the community recover from the devastating impacts of the COVID 19 crisis, according to councillor Gavin Sedgmen who is recontesting this month’s elections.
Cr Sedgmen said a focus on events and tourism post-COVID and support for local businesses would be needed to rejuvenate the local economy once further restrictions were eased.
He said “airy, fairy feel-good things” costing council large sums of money should be tempered until the region gets back to its feet.
“At the end of the day it is solid, hard business decisions that are going to get people’s jobs back, get businesses open, get the town going again,” Cr Sedgmen said.
“As the new council moves forward they are going to have to make some really tough decisions to try to get our way out of this present COVID situation and there’s going to be a lot of pain for a lot of people for a lot longer than we would like.
“I’m not too fussed about the larger issues that the state and the feds have got jurisdiction over — the new Mildura council needs to be focussed on our own backyard.”
Cr Sedgmen said he had advocated for a 12-month rate freeze and which should again be considered by the new council.
“Although the budget is in place for the next 12 months I think the effects of COVID are going to go on and council will probably need to look strongly at trying to get that rate freeze in again to ease the burden a bit and send the right message to the community,” he said.
“The council should also sit down and look at all areas of spending to see where we can be a bit more smarter about how we spend ratepayers’ money and try to get that into areas that will generate business back into the community.
“Everyone in the community is hurting and everyone needs to share some of the pain and at the moment the only people who aren’t sharing the pain is council.”
Cr Sedgmen said opening traffic and parking to a Langtree Mall that was “dying through physical restraints” could also attract investment in the CBD.
“Even if you can’t get a park in the mall it will at least bring people travelling through so that they can see what’s going on,” he said.
“And we could do that quite cost-effectively — all we need to do basically is take the kiosk out, put some lines in on the pavement that is already there along with some bollards and all of a sudden you’ve got traffic back in the mall.”
He said streamlining council processes to speed development would also help in the region’s recovery.
“Once people are allowed to move around and once we can have crowds, getting events back in the region is a major key,” he said.”We’ve got to be geared up to be able to attract those events back into the region, whether they be sporting or arts and culture.”
The Mildura Rural City Council election will be held this month by post.
