If every council needs a Karen, then Gladstone’s got one to take on the next four-year term of local government.
With her catchy, tongue-in-cheek slogan that resonated with ratepayers at the ballot box in the 16 March local government election, Karen Davis is one of the fresh faces joining the Gladstone Regional Council as a councillor.
Mrs Davis was taking her election corflutes to donate to Gladstone kindies this week as she reflected on a wildly successful campaign that saw the first-time candidate easily poll in the top three alongside sitting councillors Natalia Muszkat and Glenn Churchill.
“It was a bit of a winner my slogan with the community and people that I spoke to,” she said, laughing.
“I just thought of that sitting at the back table one night because people were asking my husband where did that come from?
“I just said it and I thought, ‘gee that’s a good slogan’, and I said to a few people close to me and most of them laughed and I thought I’m just running with it because I’ve got to use my name somehow.”
Mrs Davis said she ultimately ran for council because, as a ‘Karen’, she was becoming frustrated at things she perceived were not happening within the region and wanted to be a voice for change and, “have a go at getting things done”.
Mayor Matt Burnett, who did regular runs to the pre polling outlet with coffee and ice blocks for candidates, has rung to congratulate Mrs Davis on her success.
She said her expectations for the first six months of the quadrennial term were based around learning the job.
“I think just settling in and we’ve got a huge amount of learning in front of us, just finding your feet,” she said.
“Then I think we’ll hit the ground running and get into the guts of it and do what you want to achieve and make a change.
“I’m going to be one of the councillors who is out and about, that’s my main goal, especially into the rural areas.
“That’s one of my promises when I was campaigning and it will definitely be something I will be doing.”
Mrs Davis said, like most candidates, manning the pre polling venue for two weeks took its toll.
“It was a stressful experience for the pre polling I found, but not the amount of stress I’m used to in my work life,” she said.
“I think the pre polling is too long… I think the whole system needs to be changed.
“We need to get rid of us putting corflutes around the town, I think that is sometimes a waste.
“So too I think handing out how to vote flyers or pamphlets, the majority of people didn’t want them anyway.”
Mrs Davis suggested there should be more opportunities for voters to get to know their candidates and make informed choices before pre polling opened to the public.
“With some many turning up to the two weeks of pre polling, they still didn’t know who any of us were, probably more than half,” she said.
“So I think there needs to be more time for the community to get the know the candidates and not so much trying to get votes in a pre-poll situation.”
Mrs Davis said she had been a regular visit to the ECQ vote counting site in Gladstone to watch the process.
Thirty per cent of voters used pre-polling to lodge their ballot.
“They’re saying maybe after Easter (to declare), if someone decides they want a recount,” Mrs Davis said.
“Eight and nine are very close, Simon McClintock and Chris Cameron.”
