A Sunbury residents group claims Jacksons Creek ward councillor Ann Potter is living part-time in Cairns and failing to properly represent her constituents.
The Sunbury Residents Association has written to Local Government Minister Marlene Kairouz, claiming Cr Potter had been in Cairns for 59 days out of 110, leaving residents unrepresented at community meetings.
In a letter to the minister, seen by Star Weekly, association president Peter Free said Cr Potter “is not effectively representing Sunbury residents by virtue of her part-time residency in Cairns”.
The association moved at its November meeting to file the complaint. Mr Free queried whether Cr Potter’s “part-time residency in Cairns” satisfied the requirements expected of a councillor.
The association claimed Cr Potter attended fortnightly council meetings via video and was unavailable for functions such as meetings of the Sunbury Cemetery Trust and the Sunbury Global Learning Centre community reference group.
Cr Potter told Star Weekly she missed one Hume council meeting on October 9 “due to a personal family matter”, but had kept Hume’s mayor and chief executive informed of her “ongoing critical family commitments”.
“I am committed to serving the Hume community as a Jackson’s Creek ward councillor,” she said. “But there are times it is a challenge to balance my community work and family commitments, and my family will always come first, as I would expect anyone would expect me to do.”
