Dubbo councillor Vicki Etheridge has announced she's standing for council again.
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Cr Ethridge has joined the Country Labor team and will be standing in Dubbo Regional Council's central ward. She was first elected to Dubbo council in 2017, and has also been a councillor in Warren.
"I bring to the table my passion and my commitment to my community. I'm a hard-working councillor and I will continue to do so if my community sees fit. With their support I'll continue to be that hardworking councillor," she said.
Joining the Country Labor team was something Cr Etheridge said she had been thinking about for a while.
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"I looked at their policies and their priorities. I come from a working class family, we always voted Labor and then I moved away from Labor as I got older. But I felt that it was maybe time for me to get back to my grassroots, get back to a party that's there for the people, that's there for the real issues of the people," she said.
"I couldn't be happier with the team...and we're going to make a real difference."
Cr Etheridge has a long list of items she wants to see for Dubbo and the region, including more parking in the CBD, more doctors and nurses and a 24-hour police station in Wellington.
She also wants to see a 50 metre indoor swimming pool "so we don't disadvantage our swimmers who are getting up some amazing times".
Cr Ethridge said council was currently considering a 25 metre pool but to stay competitive with Bathurst and Orange it needed to be 50 metres.
"I'll also continue to push for a bypass. I just think there's no substitute for it, we have to have a bypass," Cr Etheridge said.
"And I'd like to see the high rises go up. That is very exciting to me. To be able to have high rise units in Dubbo is just amazing. I'm really keen to be there to see that happen."
Despite the recent upheaval at council, Cr Etheridge said she hadn't been deterred from running.
"That has caused me a fair bit of personal angst. It was very hard to accept what was going on but I'm not going to let that cloud my campaign," she said.
"I'm going to concentrate on my community, I'm going to bring back my passion and commitment and keep finding new ways of driving Dubbo forward."
Cr Etheridge was full of praise for the other candidates standing in the Country Labor team. She said they would be able to make a "real difference" in the community.
The local government elections will be held on Saturday, September 4.
The Dubbo local government area will elect 10 councillors, two from each of the wards.
Are you running in the upcoming Dubbo Regional Council election? Get in touch via orlander.ruming@dailyliberal.com.au.