Gordon has a brilliant vision, much experience and deep love for our community, demonstrated by a long track record of voluntary and employed service roles in our region. His ideas of turning the Old Court House into an arts education hub is a "has to happen" project that will create a new industry sector and new jobs which plays to our existing strengths in education, arts and cultural tourism.

Gordon: It was a big decision to run for council and not to be taken lightly ...it's a lot of work. There are many issues that compel me to stand, including 100% employment, the development of an arts education hub, the expansion of health services and creation of a rail service through to Brisbane.

When the opportunity came to run as a group with Margaret O'Connor I already knew her bona fides through discussions over the last four years. Margaret has a great record of taking a principled stand on the issues that confront council. She is not afraid of the hard decisions and at the same time has a heart felt vision for the development of the Region and the well being of its people.

Margaret and Gordon's Vision for the Armidale Region

Margaret's been on Council since 2012 and is proud of our region's economic growth since then. Armidale and Guyra are actually growing quite strongly: new horticultural ventures in tomatos, medicinal marijuana, strawberries. Then there's airport upgrade, TAFE DIGITAL, SRI (UNE) in the CBD.

We now have a strong APVMA presence, a successful humanitarian re- settlement program of the Ezidi people benchmarking excellence in community relations. The industrial land at the airport subdivisions are maturing into new jobs and businesses. Indeed, we are now facing the challenges of growth, eg housing shortages, water security, inadequate public transport options, and road maintenance issues in excess of our resources.

Margaret's outstanding leadership in defending good governance and financial transparency even to the point of personal jeopardy when dragged to court for trying to debate the previous CEO's employment contract, remains a testament to her courage and integrity. Judge Brian Preston, Chief Judge of the Land and Environment Court found that Margaret and the other councillors sued by the former Mayor and GM were "just doing their job."

We need community champions who are willing to make personal sacrifices to protect our community, the rule of law and good governance.

These are the foundation of prosperity and wellbeing for our region.

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