By Dongyun Kwon
Yarra Ranges Ryrie Ward councillor Fiona McAllister officially announced her nomination as a candidate for Ryrie Ward, Yarra Ranges Council (YRC) in the 2024 Local Government Elections through her Facebook page.
Cr McAllister is now finishing her third term as a Yarra Ranges councillor for Ryrie Ward and she’s getting ready for her fourth term campaign.
Cr McAllister said she decided to nominate again after lots of conversations with the community, her family and people she knows in the local government.
“I was encouraged to run again which I really appreciated, but I suppose the main push for me is the feeling that there is still a lot more to do,” she said.
“I feel I have the knowledge and commitment to keep on working on the things that matter most for the community.”
Cr McAllister was first elected as a councillor in 2012.
The reason she got into local politics was because there were things happening locally that she wasn’t happy about.
Cr McAllister said she wanted to put up her hand to fix those problems rather than just being frustrated.
“Two of the main things I had experienced that I wanted to see done better were the way the council engages with and connects with the community and then planning,” she said.
“Both are still on my agenda and have been my entire time on YRC.
“We have definitely made progress on both but working with the community differently and better is definitely a priority for me for the next four years.”
Through the experience of being a councillor for the last three tenures, Cr McAllister could learn more about what the local community needs.
Especially during the last four years, with being mayor between November 2020 and October 2021 in the middle of the crisis period with Covid-19 and big storms, the councillor could make a huge progression.
Cr McAllister said it was a real roller coaster for a term with Covid at the start.
“For those first two years of my current term, I was finding ways to continue to support the community through a terribly stressful time, and our beautiful open spaces and the environment we all appreciated was a big focus on this during Covid from the council,” she said.
“I was also mayor during the big storms and saw the impact of this in a very first hand way and represented the community and the council throughout this time.
“The recovery strategy and plan was really important, and I think the Community Recovery Panels made a big difference to many.”
The Ryrie Ward councillor was on the Valley Recovery Committee with a group of community individuals.
Almost a million dollars were distributed in funding to help groups organise ways to support the community through connection, food, social support.
It supported local economies to overcome the unprecedented crisis.
Cr McAllister said she’s also proud of the many other grant programs, including the one started to help local businesses and the establishment of the Healesville Trader Group.
“During Covid, I advocated strongly for the Valley to be reclassified to regional to allow more freedom in line with our neighbouring areas,” she said.
“Then in the following years, we finally managed to achieve the purchase of Green Street, which felt like a real win after such a long time.
“I’ve been able to advocate for many community groups to be able to run great programs, get upgrades to facilities or more funding, see many millions more in the budget to fix drainage issues, and most importantly of all to help many individuals and clubs navigate their way through issues or challenges with YRC.”
Cr McAllister said her top priority in the next term, if she is successful in the election, would be to make sure Yarra Ranges Council spends every cent of rate and other revenue in the best and most efficient way on the things that matter most to the local community.
“Many individuals, families and businesses are doing it very hard at the moment, so we have to make sure that every decision we make impacts positively and spends money in the best way,” she said.
“Local roads are deteriorating, especially with the weather we are having and with the reduction in spending from other levels of government, so we have to find new, affordable and better ways to improve and fix our roads and other infrastructure.
“There is a strong focus on sustainability, resilience and emergency preparedness, but I hope to be able to continue the push for having solar on all of the council and ideally community facilities and projects that benefit all financially and environmentally as well as protecting our towns better in emergencies and making sure we all have access to power and services when we need them.”
