FORMER Victorian state Member for Mildura and current Wentworth Shire councillor Peter Crisp has pointed to his experience in representation in his bid to be re-elected to local government.
He first got on Wentworth Shire in 2004 and served close to three years, before he was elected to Victorian Parliament on a National Party ticket in late 2006.
He spent 12 years on Spring Street, and most recently was elected to the Wentworth council chambers in 2021.
Balancing full time work and council meetings, he said he’s eager to continue momentum.
“It’s good work but it’s hard work,” Mr Crisp said.
“No one who comes to council should be expecting a lot of things to be easy.
“It is hard yakka, but it’s worthwhile yakka.”
Mr Crisp said the geographic and demographic differences across the Shire needed to be respected, as each area had different wants, needs and aspirations that required balance.
He said his variety of experience had given him a clear understanding of how things work politically, practically and within the community.
“Having been in State Government and State Parliament, knowing how it works I think is very useful,” Mr Crisp said.
“It’s a different insight to what many may have, but it also gives an insight into how to get things done.”
He said he hoped to remain on council to see projects be completed, including the introduction of a yellow-lidded bin recycling service.
“Mildura council has sought an alternative for some categories of waste to come across to the Buronga landfill, but similarly, cooperation looking Sunraysia-wide can have a benefit the other way,” he said.
“Loading onto Mildura’s recycling by using a similar contract and seeing our recyclables go with Mildura’s recycling stream I think is a good bit of cooperation.
“That will take a little bit of time to organise and I’m hoping that will be achieved in the coming four years of this term.”
He said preferences on his how-to-vote card would not be based on political views, and instead would reflect the need to have a mix of geography, gender and age on council.
“The National Party does not contest local government elections,” he said.
“That’s for good reason, because once you get past the Great Dividing Range, most of those communities feel that local government shouldn’t be run on party lines.
“Yes, I retain my membership of the National Party of Victoria, this is a NSW council, there’s a distance there.
“The National Party is state-based and I’m not a member of the NSW Nationals.”
