Personal Details
What is your:
Name? Stephen Tancred
Age? N/A
Suburb of residence? Stanthorpe
Background
How long have you lived in the Southern Downs?
I was born here and have been a Southern Downs resident for over 40 years.
When was the last time you lived away from the region and why?
When I was working at CSIRO and finishing university in Brisbane I successfully applied to work with the Primary Industries Department at Stanthorpe.
I’ve been here ever since and love it!
Campaign General
What has prompted you to run for council/What is your assessment of the current council?
We have a good council that I think has achieved a lot.
It gets things done, it’s democratic, transparent and it’s managed its finances well.
I’ve been a part of this since 2020 and I want to be part of it going forward.
At this stage what is the main thing you offer:
– Residents as a whole?
– Ratepayers?
Every resident plays their role in the community and economy.
They are all important to me.
I can offer them my hard work, an open mind and fair representation.
Are there specific differences in approach for:
– Particular suburbs/towns in the region?
– Rural landholders?
We are blessed with strong communities that are all different. It’s a pleasure to reach out to new people and hear their stories.
Some prefer email, others the phone, and others want to meet in person. If re-elected I’d love to continue this.
What are some of the big issues currently facing the region and how do you propose to address them?
The big issue is replacing and repairing our $1 billion of ageing infrastructure; sewerage works, water pipes, buildings, roads, bridges etc. Pretty boring to talk about, but it’s what I like to help solve.
Council has improved water security in the past four years and hopefully with state government help we can solve Stanthorpe’s urban and irrigation water supply issues.
Council’s been working hard on this and if elected I’ll continue the battle to find a cost effective, reliable solution.
If elected, how do you promise to generate real change which improves the livelihoods of residents living in the Southern Downs?
Real change to improve liveability and economic security sometimes comes with big items like renovating the saleyards, opening a book exchange, replacing a bridge or re-opening a hall.
But often it’s the smaller things that add up to making here a good place to live and work.
Things like mowing the parks regularly, improving pool facilities, bringing down balanced budgets and keeping rates rises as low as we can.
I’ve worked hard for the past four years and I’ve made sure I didn’t waste my time – I gave my best for some big changes and a lot of little ones. If re-elected I’ll continue to be this style of a councillor.
