Ryan Dedini (second from left) leads (from left) John Kennedy, Kelly O’Kane and Sarah-Jane Jameson on the Ready to Serve ticket. Absent is Andrew Tuovi. Photo: Supplied.
Recreation, roads and Lake Albert are the top priorities for Wagga’s youngest ticket for the upcoming local government elections.
The Ready to Serve ticket, led by Kooringal Hotel chef and AFL Riverina Umpiring head coach Ryan Dedini, has expressed its desire to provide high-quality facilities for the people of Wagga by continuing the work started by Wagga Wagga City Council’s current councillors.
Mr Dedini said he put together the ticket with a focus on continuing developments on the city’s sporting grounds.
“Our group comes from quite a big hospitality background as well as a sporting background, working with local football,” he said.
“We want to come in and take on a lot of the great work that councillors before us have started to put into play, including some of the upgrades to our local sporting facilities.
“There’s obviously a lot going on with the funding out at McPherson Oval and the works at Robertson Oval. Working on finishing those developments as well as creating changerooms for women’s sport and junior club rooms is a big focus for us.”
While Mr Dedini expressed his ticket’s interest in continuing to develop sporting facilities across the local government area, he also flagged several other issues his ticket sees as being crucial.
“Areas like the Lake Albert pipeline are also really important projects we are focused on continuing as well,” he said.
”We want to make sure that we can do everything to make sure the lake survives and that people can continue to use the great resource that it is.
“The other big one, obviously, is the state of the roads. It’s been a big talking point around Wagga for a number of years and we will continue to have those conversations to find the best solution possible.
“We’re here to take on the community’s views, with no issue too big or too small. We’re here to bring them to the table, take on the views of other councillors, put them into perspective and then hopefully put our votes in the right direction.”
Serving alongside Mr Dedini on the ticket is No. 2 Kelly O’Kane.
“Kelly is a stay-at-home mum and a qualified teacher by trade, which I think is great and a really valuable insight to have,” Mr Dedini said.
“To have someone like Kelly come on board and to support our campaign is huge. There’s a lot of stay-at-home mums doing a great job so it’s important to have that voice.”
Truck driver Andrew Tuovi sits third on the ticket and is described by Mr Dedini as a community-first-minded candidate.
No. 4 on the ticket and adding youth to the group is John Kennedy, who works as an auto mechanic, while trainer and assessor Sarah-Jane Jameson rounds out the five-person ticket.
“Our ticket is obviously a pretty young one, but we are fresh off the block,” Mr Dedini said.
“We don’t have any bias in any direction. We’re going to do the right thing by the community and try to get everyone’s perspective involved before making our minds up and voting.”
The Ready to Serve ticket was selected 11th at the ballot draw and will feature in position K on the ballot.
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