Councillor Tammy Greenhalgh likes keeping busy.

As well as being elected second on Mayor, Councillor Jason Hamling’s ticket in December’s poll, the new Colour City representative has a long record of volunteering with a range of sports and community groups.

“I’m secretary of Bloomfield Junior Rugby League Club; I’ve been sponsorship coordinator for 10 years and junior delegate for the club; I’m on Orange City Cricket Club committee; I volunteer for Ronald McDonald House; and I’m a full-time business development executive in the hospitality industry.”

Cr Greenhalgh has brought this same commitment to her work with Orange City Council; already having been elected as head of Council’s Sport and Recreation Policy Committee and also nominating for half-a-dozen other 355 Committees.

“Absolutely 100 per cent, I have put myself forward and committed myself to serving the community, I would never go in half-hearted,” she said. 

Getting Council’s big-spending projects up-and-running is the key to this Council term, she believes.

“The biggest thing is the major projects, the conservatorium, the stadium, the planetarium, these are things that need to be done,” she said.

“I’d like to see more family-oriented facilities, indoor playgrounds, facilities for juvenile mental health,” she added.

Having lost her eldest son, Harry, two years’ ago in a freak water-skiing accident, she would also like to see more services for grieving families locally.

“I’m in a group for bereaved parents called ‘Compassionate Friends’; at the moment I go over to Parkes because we don’t have one locally, but there’s a lot of bereaved parents in my community.

“Looking at Ronald McDonald House, the majority of parents there are actually for juvenile mental health and high-risk pregnancies,” Cr Greenhalgh added.

 With three women, an Indengenous deputy mayor in Cr Gerald Power, and a disabled doctor in Cr Steve Peterson now on Council, she said that the new Chamber is far more representative of the Colour City.

“It’s statewide, prior to this election, the number of women on local government was about 29 per cent, now it’s 40 per cent… whether it’s working mums or whoever, it’s good to see average people in the community being represented,” Cr Greenhalgh said.

She said that being elected on the Mayor’s sports-orientated ticket “came out of the blue” and was probably due to his emphasis on improved facilities for the Colour City.

“I’m family-orientated with two children the same age as Jason’s, so that’s how I became involved,” she explained. 

Ultimately, she said that the Council and its individual members will be judged on their performance, rather than their media profile.

“My mother has always been a believer in the idea of under-promising and over-delivering, you don’t make promises you can’t expect to keep.

“I want to get the best for the community, that’s my role.” 

She said that a lot of the criticism that seems to be almost a reflex-action for many locals when talking about Council is often due to a misunderstanding of its role.

“To be honest, a lot of it could be down to educating people on how local government operates, even things like the classification of the roads, what’s the responsibility of local government, and what is that of the State Government?

“But, Orange Council generally does a good job. Do you know, we’re only one of the few councils in the State with the Parental Responsibility Act to protect children out in the community? People need to know about this stuff,” Cr Greenhalgh concluded.