Ten years on council has proven a rewarding endeavour for Macedon Ranges Shire councillor Jennifer Anderson.
Cr Anderson was acknowledged for her 10-year service to local government with an award presented at the Municipal Association of Victoria annual conference and dinner last month.
The Woodend local first joined council in November 2012 and has been mayor five times. She is currently deputy mayor of the Macedon Ranges and also deputy president (non metro) of the MAV, the peak body for the Victoria’s government sector.
Cr Anderson said environmental policy had been an area she was proud to see strengthened over her 10-year tenure.
“When I first started on council we weren’t set up so well to look at our environmental how we protect our very special environment here locally,” she said.
“We started with a natural environment strategy and then that developed into having a biodiversity strategy, and we’ve developed our climate emergency work and our zero net emissions as well as the single-use plastic policy.
“I’m pretty proud of that one because that was developed following a motion created by myself and Helen Radnedge after a meeting with a young resident who requested we do more, even before state government policy, to look at how we could reduce our use of single-use plastic.
“I’m also proud of the work that we’ve done in waste and resource recovery. We were an early adopter of the glass recycling and we’re now one of the Victorian councils with the highest diversion of waste from landfill.
“I was given the opportunity to be the chair of the Loddon Mallee Waste and Resource Recovery Group where we worked on regional and rural solutions to improve resource recovery.”
Another proud moment for Cr Anderson came when she was part of a close council vote to secure open space at Wyralla Reserve in Gisborne.
“They were going to sell off the space but the community wanted to keep it and now it’s a beautiful reserve,” she said.
“The preservation of Hanging Rock and the East Paddock has also been one of the big challenges throughout my time on council. “In my first term on council there was a proposal to develop it but the community didn’t want this, so stopping inappropriate development has always been one of my priorities.”
Cr Anderson has some advice to offer anyone considering running for council.
“If you get elected, it’s very important to make sure that you’re learning from others and getting a variety of opinions from experts,” she said.
“It is hard work, it’s a lot of hours, and it does require quite a lot of juggling of the rest of your life and your career, but if you’ve got supportive people around you and a community willing to put in the effort to tell you what they want, it makes it a lot easier.
“Things take time, so you have to be patient, but when you achieve things that you know are great for your community and the environment, and you’ve worked together on a common goal, it’s really nice to know that you’ve played a part in it.
“It really is teamwork, a good team of staff, fellow councillors and a community that work together to achieve good things.”
Cr Anderson has been a member of Woodend Landcare for 11 years and enjoys parkrun most Saturdays in Woodend.
She is also a member of the Kyneton Horticultural Society, the Kyneton and District Poultry Society, Macedon Ranges Sustainability Group and the Macedon Ranges Cycling Club.
