The Newcastle Independents have formed to contest the Newcastle City Council election on September 9th.
The group will field candidates who are against the Labor/Greens rate rise of 46.9% and also want to see an end to party politics that have caused problems for Council in recent years.
Lord Mayoral candidate, Kath Elliot, says the group have considered running for some time after witnessing the dysfunction in the council room.
"It's really important to take party politics out of local government so that the people that are in council making decisions are making them based on what the community wants and not based on what a political party might see as furthering their own agenda," Elliot said.
A local businesswoman, Kath Elliot will run for Lord Mayor as she has experience in Newcastle civic life.
" The local independents want to speak to the community and we are already out there talking to the community and asking them what they are concerned about and what their views are and also listening to people and understanding what is important to them, I think that is a very important part of Council."
Also in the Maitland local election, 41-year-olds, Todd Holden and Ben Quinn have joined the election race.
The two local men have joined Brian Burke's campaign and they aim to bring fresh ideas to the Council coming from a younger generation.
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| Source: Newcastle City Council |
