Fiona Carrick in the Woden Town Centre: “I think the electorate would like to see more diverse views in the Legislative Assembly that can debate issues and bring forward views that are not tied to party politics.” Photo: Ian Bushnell.
Fiona Carrick has stepped away from leading the Woden Valley Community Council to start recruiting a team of independent candidates to contest the Murrumbidgee electorate at the ACT election in October.
Ms Carrick, who ran as an independent in 2020, garnering a healthy 3783 votes or 7 per cent, led the council for almost seven years and has handed the reins over to former Greens MLA Caroline Le Couteur.
She won’t rule herself in or out on whether her name will be on the ballot paper, saying the election was still 10 months away. Instead, her focus was on sounding out people in the community interested in local issues who would consider running as a team of independents or supporting their campaign.
Her probable second bid for an Assembly seat appears part of a developing movement of independents taking on the established parties.
Ms Carrick said many people were dissatisfied with the current Legislative Assembly and the level of service they were getting.
“I think people want to see more ambition for the social and economic development of their local areas,” she said.
That included Woden Town Centre, where she has long championed greater planning for social and recreational facilities, but also hubs across the Murrumbidgee electorate and Canberra generally.
Ms Carrick said the government was taking too long to deliver the proposed commercial centre in Molonglo, where services have taken a long time to catch up with population growth.
“It’s critical that it services the social and economic needs of the Molonglo residents and draws them together as a community and supports them as a community,” she said.
Ms Carrick was confident that there would be a strong showing by independents in October.
“I think the independents will be taken more seriously this time,” Ms Carrick said. “I think the electorate would like to see more diverse views in the Legislative Assembly that can debate issues and bring forward views that are not tied to party politics.”
But her push in Murrumbidgee was not connected to the independent duo of Peter Strong, who will run in Kurrajong, and Ann Bray, who, coincidentally, will run in Murrumbidgee.
Nor was there any particular group or individual behind her initiative.
New Woden Valley Community Council President Caroline Le Couteur: The government must take the community seriously. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
She would not say if anybody had been sounded out, but over the coming months, a website would be set up, a call would go out for likely candidates interested in local issues, and she would be visiting areas across the electorate to drum up support.
Mr Carrick said her team would not direct preferences.
“I will be asking voters to vote number one for credible independents, and then it’s up to them where they’d like to see their preferences go,” she said.
The past seven years had been a fantastic learning experience but increasingly frustrating when dealing with the government.
“It’s time for a change from the council,” she said.
Her replacement, Ms Le Couteur, said she was happy as a supporter of community involvement to step in to give Ms Carrick a break and to keep the council running, especially in an election year.
She said it was important that community-based forums got a look-in, not just political ones.
Keeping the community abreast of what’s on offer and what the various parties and candidates are standing for would be a priority, but the council was also organising a public forum on public transport for April.
“It’s not going to be a meeting saying ‘for the tram or against the tram’, that’s not the issue,” she said. “The issue is getting a good public transport system for the people of Woden, in particular, and Canberra, in general.”
How the new planning system would actually work in practice and advocating for music venues and sporting facilities in Woden were also on her list.
Ms Le Couteur said community councils had room for improvement but still offered much to the people they represented and the government.
She hoped there would be much better consultation under whatever new government was elected.
“The important thing is to take the community seriously and not just have online one-on-one conversations or non-conversations, which are not working for many people in the community,” she said.
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