By Dongyun Kwon
As no one else was nominated to be a candidate for Chirnside Ward councillor, the current councillor will continue his position till the end of the next term.
Cr Richard Higgins will start his fourth term as Chirnside Ward councillor after the current tenure is over.
Cr Higgins started his journey in local politics in 2008 with his first term at Yarra Ranges Council, and he has consecutively secured his spot except for the term between 2012 and 2016.
The Chirnside Ward councillor said it’s a “great honour” to be a councillor again.
“It was a bit of a surprise,” he said.
“I thought there would be somebody interested [in nominating for Chirnside Ward councillor] as has happened in the past, but that wasn’t to be.”
Cr Higgins recently retired from the Police Force and thinks he can put more time towards being a councillor.
The veteran councillor said it’s not good to change all councillors at once.
“It would be a good mix if some of the old stayed around and put a hand up again to hopefully be re-elected,” Cr Higgins said.
“It’s important to have a little bit of stability in the council.”
The main focus for Cr Higgins for his next tenure is to find good harmony with the new councillors.
Cr Higgins said he’s been very lucky over the years to have councillors who were very focused and working well together.
“The main focus to start with is to get the councillors working well together,” he said.
“Once that happens, we’ll start working out the issues and problems.”
In 2008, he put his hands up to be a councillor as he was not happy that some issues were not sorted out.
The experienced councillor said it’s been a huge learning curve over the last three terms, and he wishes to continue to learn more.
“I think now I’ve got a good understanding of how everything works and what can and can’t be achieved,” he said.
“The gains, I’ve got for the community, especially Chirnside Ward, have been quite good, and it’s good to keep focused on maintaining that all the wards get some gains for everybody equally.
“None of the groups shouldn’t be missed out, which is not always easy to achieve, but it’s important that it is achieved, so we get something going in the direction form.”
Cr Higgins is encouraging community members to reach out to him whenever they face some problems or issues that they’re not happy with.
Chirnside Ward residents can contact their councillor via phone on 0429 151 489 or email at CrRichardHiggins@yarraranges.vic.gov.au
