Q&A with Liz Schmidt - FULL ARTICLE
Excerpt from Sumpton’s Gold Rush Gazette - Friday 15th of March 2024
These questions were given to the Charters Towers Regional Mayoral Candidate Liz Schmidt by the Charters Towers newspaper in the interest of undecided or curious voters. See her answers:
Q: What is the plan for your campaign throughout the early voting period?
A: I have been sitting in Gill Street greeting early voters from 8 am to 5 pm every day so far (except when I drove to Greenvale for community consultation on Friday afternoon) and will be doing the same during the following week.
Q: What part of your campaign are you most proud of?
A: I am proud that I have kept the messaging positive.
I have informed the rate payers and the community of the facts and have not promised anything I am not prepared to follow up on if they honour me with their majority vote.
Everyone gets the same answer to the same question.
I have listened to the issues of the small communities and have assured them that they will be properly represented going forward.
I acknowledge a very small mistake with my signage, and I was proactive in remedying those small mistakes. Those remediations were noted and approved by ECQ.
Q: What is your message to voters?
A: This community needs a return to my form of leadership whereby there was accountability and openness at all levels of the council organization and where ratepayers got better value for their dollar.
I will investigate where the dollars are spent and try, with the support of a new open-minded council, to find savings that will enhance ratepayers dollars with limited or no reduction on essential services.
I will make sure that every grant opportunity is accessed so that extra necessities are funded form grants and not from the ratepayer funds.
I will make sure that the people of the community understand what is happening and why. If issues don’t align with community expectations the community will know why.
I will reinstate and chair the advisory and reference groups I developed during my previous term, and I will instigate and chair other necessary groups. This will ensure that REAL consultation is the norm and not the exception.
Most importantly: as during my previous term I will be available to the community, and I will turn up.