The nine seats available in the Walgett Shire in the upcoming council election won’t be easily earned, with nineteen candidates in the voting pool making for fierce competition on the ballot.   

The abundance of potential councillors is no coincidence, according to Walgett General Manager Michael Urquhart, who says that Walgett has seen a strong campaign enticing locals to run for council  

“The Office of Local Government (OLG) has had a good advertising campaign asking people to run for local council. They’ve been advertising that now for quite some time,” Mr Urquhart said.   

Home of several smaller towns and villages, including Lightning Ridge, Collarenebri and Burren Junction, the demands of the Walgett LGA are diverse. While there has been strength for Walgett in drawing candidates from every corner of the LGA, the last term saw no councillor elected from the town of Walgett itself.

“I think now that they haven’t had that representation from the local township, there’s quite a few running from Walgett now,” Mr Urquhart said.   

Despite this, Mr Urquhart is confident that Walgett’s councillors in the last four-year term haven’t fallen to a rural bias in decision making.  

“The councillors are excellent in that regard. They’re always out there and looking for what’s best for the entire shire,” he said.   

In fact, this year’s election has seen 13 new faces lining up for a place on the council.  

Only six current councillors are returning to run for another turn, with Bill Murray, Kelly Smith and Tanya Cameron deciding not to stand.   

“We want to try to get a good cross section of the community in local government,” he said.   

The LGA’s strong candidate pool could also mean a stronger contest for the position of Mayor, to be voted by councillors later in the month. Walgett’s current Mayor Ian Woodcock has had various stints with the position since 1995, returning to his reign in 2008 and then again in 2016, where he has remained since.   

According to Mr Urquhart the issues that rule the upcoming campaigns will likely be devoted to measures that create water security for the community.  

“One of the issues that we’ve all been across in the recent past is making sure that Walgett is drought-proofed. We’ve got to get a new offtake on the Barwon River just up from the weir, and another bore on the Castlereagh Highway. Certainly, the issues that would be most paramount to all would be water security for Walgett,” Mr Urquhart said.   

The focus is crucial but unsurprising, after Walgett made headlines during the drought when water supplies for the town reached a critical level and remaining supplies were left with high-risk sodium levels.  

Despite its prevalence and the grip that the delta variant held on the Walgett community, Mr Urquhart doesn't believe that COVID-19 will be on the cards for the campaign.  

"The local agencies and the LEMC (Local Emergency Management Committee) handled covid exceptionally well in the Walgett LGA," he said. 

“The longstanding councillors, I believe, know exactly what the community at large requires. These new candidates, if they’re elected, will support the existing councillor representation.”