VETERAN FIGHTS FOR MORE JOBS
A 20-YEAR council veteran who was acting mayor during the Night of Noah is making a comeback.
Sandra Chesney, a Jensen local who lost her seat during the council amalgamations in 2008, will run as an independent in Division 1 against Team Jenny Hill’s Cr Margie Ryder and Townsville North Queensland State Alliance’s Brigot Pugh.
The closure of Queensland Nickel’s Yabulu refinery in 2016 impacted her family, with her children picking up fly-in fly-out mining work after losing their jobs, keeping Ms Chesney busy with grandmother duties for the last 12 years.
But seeing Townsville turn into a “dead, tired, rusty town” has spurred her to act.
She will campaign on job creation, and even though she isn’t a fan of Clive Palmer, is supportive of the mining magnate reopening the refinery.
“We need families to stay here, the city needs work, they can’t pay their bloody rates if they’re not working,” Ms Chesney said.
And when it comes to her old black and yellow political corflutes, Ms Chesney said she “nearly died” when she realised they were reminiscent of Mr Palmer’s United Australia Party colours, but at $33 a pop, she’d rather recycle than waste a good A-frame.
Councils are run a lot differently now, particularly since tough anti-corruption laws came into play following the implosion of a few local governments in the southeast corner, and Ms Chesney said the State Government had “taken over councils” and the power seemed to be held by bureaucrats instead of the councillors elected to represent the people.