"It's quite funny. I wanted to get an Indigenous person on [Dubbo] council so I approached Rod Towney at the time.

"When he pulled out I got a bit shirty so I went down there and I said 'what do you have to do to run?'

"You had to be on the electoral role, and pay your $200, get a couple of people to nominate you and then you fill out a form. So I went down and got $200, handed it over. And then I forgot about it."

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A few weeks later, Mr Mundine said his wife walked into the room with the Daily Liberal in her hand.

"She said in that voice, the one every husband knows that puts fear into their hearts, 'don't you have something to tell me?' And I'm sitting there thinking 'no, I don't think so'.

"She showed me the paper and in it were all the people standing for council."

In 1995, Mr Mundine was elected as the first Indigenous person on what was then Dubbo City Council.

Now, he's disappointed to see Dubbo Regional Council has no Indigenous councillors.

"It's a good opportunity to make a difference and do things for your community," Mr Mundine said.

He has fond memories of his time on council, including the establishment of the Dubbo Regional Theatre and Convention Centre. Mr Mundine said Dubbo was a place where if you put in the hard yards, you could see the rewards.

"We had a really go-ahead council and a good mixture of people. We had conservatives and Liberals and Nationals. I was in the Labor party at the time," he said.

"We had good jousts every now and again but the focus was on what was good for the regional centre. We were very focused on regional development and we believed Dubbo deserved to have the best."

Mr Mundine is encouraging anyone considering standing for council to just give it a shot.

"If you want to see Dubbo be the place your kids grow up and then live and work, then out your hand up and run for council," he said.

"What's the worst that could happen?"

The Dubbo Regional Council election was initially scheduled for September 4. However, it has been pushed back until Saturday, December 4 due to concerns over COVID-19.

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