Candidates (from left) Nin-Nin Sang-Dong, Megan Norton, Pascale Vythilingum, Karissa Subedi and Dallas Tout fill a community-first ticket for the upcoming Wagga Wagga local government elections. Photo: Jarryd Rowley.
Wagga Mayor Dallas Tout will top a full, community-focused ticket for the local elections in September.
To avoid a political party bias and place community priorities first, Councillor Tout said he was adamant about putting forward a ticket of independent and community-focused candidates.
“People I approached for this ticket, they had to be not just strong in the community, independent and stand up for their part of the community, but they also couldn’t have any political affiliations,” Cr Tout said.
“If any of the candidates here today had any political affiliation, I wouldn’t have asked them to be a part of the ticket.”
The candidate who will sit second on the community-first ballot will be College of Nursing Education & Training Australia CEO Karissa Subedi, who said if elected, she would focus on improving and providing further medical care for the people of Wagga by listening to the public’s concerns.
“My industry background is in health care, the healthcare workforce and education,” she said.
“I am a nurse but also a nurse educator and intrapreneur and I run a college that addresses health care and health education.
“I’ve worked alongside Wagga Wagga City Council but I’ve never run for council. I believe I can provide a new perspective to WWCC. Community service is something that I’ve always done since moving to Wagga and I know I can contribute more by being on WWCC.”
Third on the ticket will be CSU student counsellor Pascale Vythilingum. Ms Vythilingum said she had chosen to run on Cr Tout’s ticket because her values and visions aligned with the Mayor’s.
“It has been very inspirational and insightful working with everyone on this ticket,” she said.
“Both myself and the rest of the team are hoping to deliver to the community the things they need as well as being a voice to the people who have concerns or hopes for Wagga Wagga.”
Rounding out the ticket will be Ngurra Hub’s Megan Norton and aged-care worker Nin-Nin Sang-Dong.
Cr Tout said that while there weren’t any set policies that he and his fellow candidates would be focusing on for the upcoming poll if elected, he would be looking to finish several projects that began during his most recent tenure.
“There are a huge number of projects that are still to be finished from this term of Council,” he said.
“There are no set policies because we are about getting the right information, working with the WWCC staff and making sure that we are fully informed so we can make decisions based on their merits.
“I’ve seen people announce policies early before and ultimately end up in a pickle because they can’t deliver on them. If elected, we will take our time to make informed decisions on each discussion as they come.
“There are a couple of things that need to be resolved, like the Southern Growth Area and the airport lease, and they will be topics brought up in the next term.”
Cr Tout said if re-elected, he would put his hand up for mayor again.
“I say this all the time. To me, it’s an honour to be a councillor. It’s even more of an honour to be able to represent those councillors and to be elected by those councillors as mayor.”
The 2024 NSW local government elections will be held on Saturday, 14 September.
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