Councillor Peter Hetherington
Information pertaining to the Orange City Council election.
My wife Shelley and I moved to Orange from Sydney for 12 months to see what it was like. That was 17 years ago. We have found Orange to be a wonderful place to live and raise our family. We have two daughters Kate (18) and Hanna (15) who attend Orange High and have aspirations to go onto tertiary studies. Most of my working career has been in sales and marketing primarily in media.For the past three years I have managed a national radio news network which has a dual focus: that is producing and broadcasting an hourly news bulletin for a variety of stations across Australia; and training cadet journalists in practical newsroom applications so they are prepared for fulltime placement with mainstream media organisations such as ABC, WIN Television, Radio 2GB etc.I have a broad interest in many sports but particularly rugby league and cricket both of which I was involved in as a player and junior coach.I have a passion for classic cinema and believe that Spencer Tracey is arguably the greatest actor ever followed closely by Jack Nicholson.I don’t know much about music but love the work of Bruce Springsteen. He is a great performer and his lyrics are very insightful.I have been fortunate to travel fairly extensively to other countries so really appreciate what we have in Australia – if we are not the best country in the world we are close to it. After major holacausts such as World War 2, I fail to understand man’s inhumanity to man.Almost 70 years later we haven’t learnt a great deal.
I was first elected to Orange City Council in 1999. I have served to consecutive terms as a Councillor with two years as Deputy Mayor in 2004-2005. Ten years ago I had about the same amount of interest in Council proceedings as the average person in the street: Turn up on election day and vote for the person or persons you think will do the job well. But things changed for me because I thought some sections of the community weren’t getting a fair go. I was encouraged by members of the community wanting representation to run for Council. I did so as a True Independent not affiliated with any of the major Party groups which had dominated Orange Council to that time. I was elected on the platform of open represenation and accountability. When I was first elected a mate asked me who I would vote with (at that time Orange Council was split between the National Party and the Labor Party). I replied I would vote on the merits of the issues, not Parties or personalities. This something I have always stuck to and always will. In my time as a councillor I have been chairman or involved in a wide variety of committees such as Library, Aboriginal Liason, Tourism, Village of Lucknow, and Village of Spring Hill, amongst others. None of these have been very high profile committees but to me were exceptionally important as they added to the culture and fabric of Orange.Over the past two years I have probably been busier than ever before as I have been chairman of Sustainable Development (Planning) and Traffic Committees. These committees are important because they encompass a lot of the ‘big picture’ issues but I have alaways got most enjoyment out of dealing with issues of the people in the street.
My number one priority for the coming term of Council is to improve the integrity of the City of Orange. This will include a range of varying initiatives such as water security, employment opportunities, better education facilities, and developing social/cultural facilities amongst others. Quite clearly ‘water’ is an issue of global importance let alone local. However Council is a large organisation which has the ability to deal with several projects at any given time, not one at a time. Orange Council can engage and work concurrently between these projects as funding and time permits. Several of these initiatives will be the joint responsibilty of other organisations such as education facilities (state and federal government), and employment (private enterprise). To successfully move ahead with these it will be vital for Orange City Council to develop strong working partnerships with other levels of government as well as the private sector. Such partnerships should also bring injection of capital from outside Council resources thus reducing any financial impact on the Orange community.
I have always been a True Independent representative for the community of Orange. I am not burdened by any affilaition with political parties. My decisions are made with the good intention of what will benefit Orange not to grab headlines. Quite simply with me it is a case of ‘What you see is what you get’. All NUMBER ONE votes on September 13 will be greatly appreciated.
Regards
Peter Hetherington
Orange City Councillor
