The inaugural Queanbeyan-Palerang Council was announced on Thursday morning with all 11 seats confirmed.
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The first nine results were as expected with former Queanbeyan Mayor Tim Overall, Brian Brown (Labor), Mark Schweikert (Liberal), Trudy Taylor, Peter Bray, Trevor Hicks, Kenrick Winchester, Michele Biscotti and Peter Marshall (Greens) all securing a spot.
The final two spots were won by former Palerang Mayor Pete Harrison and Country Labor’s Radmila Noveska.
The council will see the return of nine former councillors from both the former Queanbeyan and Palerang councils. The first time councillors are Mr Biscotti and Ms Noveska.
The council is split with seven Queanbeyan based councillors and four from Palerang.
Tim Overall suggested this was a positive result and put the issue of Palerang being left behind by the larger Queanbeyan population to bed.
“I think it’s a good result across the board,” Mr Overall said.
“It’s very pleasing that we have four councillors elected from the former Palerang area.”
“All the councillors are very much aware they’ve been elected to represent the whole of the local government area and all its communities.”
Pete Harrison, who had been very vocal about Palerang suffering a lack of representation, was circumspect when evaluating Thursday’s results.
“You have to be realistic and say that two of those candidates [from Palerang] were elected on party lines and there’s not really a Palerang element to what they’ve done,” Mr Harrison said.
“The third [Trevor Hicks] has also been elected by their close association with Queanbeyan.”
“I think you’ll find that Liberal, Labor and Greens will have party platforms that don’t necessarily align with any particular area or necessarily represent any particular area.”
“But it’s certainly a positive that four of the councillors have served on Palerang Council, from a corporate knowledge point of view that is really important.”
Kenrick Winchester said he was proud to have been elected by his fellow constituents but had one disappointment.
“I think this is a really strong result for Palerang,” he said.
“But I’m disappointed to not have a representative from Braidwood.
“Every major area in Queanbeyan-Palerang is accounted for except Braidwood and now we all have a responsibility to make sure their needs are met.”
There will be an extraordinary meeting of council next Wednesday, September 20 to choose a mayor and deputy mayor.