THOMAS Marjolijn

A bit of background: my husband and I have been self-employed for the past 25 years and we have 2 children (a 24yo daughter and 20 yo son). Besides raising my children, running the property and managing the business office; over the past 12 years I’ve been employed in a number of business and community roles (Executive Officer Tamworth Business Chamber, Retail Manager St Vincent de Paul, Event Manager ABCRA, President NENW Regional Advisory Committee, Executive member Tamworth Dressage Club) and what all these roles have in common is that they have allowed me to work with and for PEOPLE. These roles have opened my eyes to a number of issues and opportunities that exist out there and have enabled me to represent and advocate on multiple levels but I want to do more – I want a seat at the table so I’m in a position to do more, to advocate from the inside, to understand the workings from the inside. I want to be able to lend a voice. I’m passionate about a lot of things (business/red tape/crime/liveability of our beautiful city) but what I’m most passionate about is being of service.

My strengths are in
– Establishing & maintaining relationships through quality communication
– Strategic planning
– Building strong cohesive teams
– Creating workable solutions
– Being organised; I believe the devil is in the detail and I value being organised
– Empathetic listening
– Collaboration; able & willing to consider multiple sides of a situation

I have never been a member of a political party

I would say my past actions speak louder than words – my previous roles (both paid and voluntary) have all been around service to my community (business, general or sporting) and working with people. I hope to be given the opportunity to continue working in this space at the next level – council.

I attended a recent council meeting where a motion was raised by Cr Rodda on introducing a transaction record and the reason this motion failed is that apparently there are already three (3) areas where the public can get access to this information. I can’t remember exactly what these 3 areas are but I’m sure that can be easily tracked back through the minutes. Transparency and equality is of the utmost importance and if I was to secure a councillor position I will definitely be looking in to all these procedures and bring to light any which I deemed shady.

Following on from the previous question; I would need to see what policies and procedures are in place now to advise how I would improve them. Maybe the procedures are perfectly fine but councillors and staff aren’t held to account to follow them. Maybe they follow them but the community is unaware. Maybe the procedures are lacking and require updating. It’s very difficult to comment without full knowledge on the situation.

Again, a little as above – difficult to comment without fully understanding the inner workings but safe to say anything happening behind close doors raises people’s suspicions. However people have to understand about areas like commercial confidentiality etc. I believe the way to manage would be better communication.

I support regular reviews of all council assets. In regards to Chaffey Dam, it would depend when a review was last undertaken and whether there was a specific needs to look at it ahead of schedule (if that was the case).

Water security is of the utmost importance to the sustainability and growth of our region, there’s no doubt about that. I support creating additional water catchment areas in suitable locations, I support innovative thinking in to new water sourcing opportunities. I can’t comment regarding purchasing Peel Valley licences as this is the first I’ve heard of it and I would always want to be informed on both sides of a topic before making any kind of comment.