Walgett Councillor Jane Keir has become Mayor of the Walgett Shire Council, making history as the shire’s first ever female mayor. 

The election of the role follows three terms on the council, commencing her fourth, with a stint as deputy mayor also on her resume. 

Newly elected Mayor Jane Keir says that on top of her history-making debut as mayor, she’s excited to be joined by another woman on council, newcomer Sue Currey. 

“Since I was first elected in 2008 there’s only been one other female councillor,” Mayor Keir said. 

Running unopposed, Mayor Keir said that the step towards mayor is a scary one, despite having experience as Deputy Mayor five years ago. 

Mayor Keir currently works as the only registered nurse in charge of Kookaburra Court aged care facility, where she's worked since 2014 after retiring in 2012 as the Palliative Care Clinical Nurse Specialist for 17 years, working the area from Coonamble to Goodooga (Supplied).

“I was asked to stand for mayor and it’s a bit daunting but I’m very honoured and I will definitely give it a go,” Mayor Keir said. 

Despite her nerves, she does believe that her experience on council and in official roles has put her in good standing to take on the task ahead. 

“To be a mayor I do think you have to be experienced…it’s the etiquette and knowing what to do, you know the process and how to lead a meeting,” Mayor Keir said. 

With eyes trained to the term ahead, Mayor Keir said there’s plenty for the Walgett Shire Council to achieve. 

“We need to move forward from the drought, then the mouse plague and now the floods,” she said. 

From those events, the council will be dealing with the devastation left behind, including damage to road infrastructure, and the residents who remain isolated by flood waters. 

Despite the growing demand of the council as recovery efforts set in, the finances of the council are proving to be a challenge. 



“There is never going to be enough money to maintain the roads across our 22,000 square kilometres, we’re never going to receive the grants to repair all the roads,” Mayor Keir said. 

“There’s more and more cost shifting by governments and more that we’re expected to produce funding for, such as the Rural Fire Service - I can’t remember the last time we had a bushfire of any size, council pays an enormous annual fee for this service,” she said. 

Armed with a new council to help overcome these challenges, Mayor Keir is pleased for the fresh perspectives on offer, with many new faces elected.

“I think the popularity of the last council was very evident in the number of candidates nominated for this election and that only two of us made it through from the previous council, when six out of the nine previous councillors ran again,” Mayor Keir said. 

Amongst those new councillors is the new Deputy Mayor, Greg Rummery. 

“My deputy is new but very popular,” she said of the local rural agronomist, who beat out Alf Seaton for the position with votes 5-4. 

“My main aim is to see a productive unified council and see them working together respectfully, that is really my priority,” Mayor Keir said. 

The first meeting of the new council featured a presentation on what had been achieved over the previous, extended five year term. She believes the new and old councillors were very impressed with what had actually been achieved.