Spotlight on Mark Edwards, Councillor for Division 5, Redland Bay and SMBIs

I’ve lived in the Redlands most of my life and love it here.    

I moved here with Mum and Dad in 1974.  Dad spent 28 years in the Navy and Airforce which resulted in overseas postings so I travelled quite a bit when I was young.  We lived in Malaysia and Sydney and Amberley.    

I was one of four children.  My sister and mother live on Russell Island.  Dad died on Coochie Mudlo Island where he lived for several years. 

I know quite a bit about my family background  as my wife, Suzette, and I have had a long love affair with genealogy. 

For instance, I’ve traced my history back to o the first Fleet when my ancestor Thomas Harmsworth died at Port Jackson on  30 Apr 1788, just a few months after the fleet arrived. His wife Alice survived him and lived until 08 Oct 1830, and was buried at Green Point, Tasmania.    

My wife, Suzette has an interesting family history too, being a descendant of two first fleet Convicts and also of family from Germany in the 1800’s who sailed to Moreton Bay.  

My family ancestry is very much based in the military.  My grand father fought in World War II, most notably at Tobruk, and my great grand father was a World War 1 vet.  It’s something I’m very proud of. 

In my teen years I went to Cleveland State High when it was the only high school.  That's where I met Suzette.  We have been happily married for 35 years. 

Immediately after leaving school, I commenced a 20 year banking career that started at a local Cleveland branch of the Commercial Bank of Australia which became part of Westpac Banking Corporation.  

Back then the bank's offices were located opposite the Council Chambers  and most of our customers were farmers.  It was a small, close community.   

But from there, I rose through the ranks, as you do, to senior regional manager roles. I was transferred all around Queensland and found that I excelled at accountancy and Management.  

Over that time, we moved around quite a bit and Suzette and I really enjoyed the excitement of living in new places every few years. The outback of Queensland, looking after Birdsville and Boulia, was very special. 

But home is always home and by 2001, when our children’s education became a priority, we were back in Redlands and settled in to a new life away from banking.  

We have two daughters - Taylor, who successfully graduated and is employed by the State Government, and Tiffany who is now in her second year of university study.

Aside from my banking career, I’ve always been very interested in community issues.  For example, I have done a bit of work  to protect runaway kids when we were living at Yeppoon in Central Queensland.  

Trained by the State Government in a drug awareness program, we not only ran a youth program that was the largest in the Rockhampton area but also took runaway kids to live in our home until a permanent safe environment could be found. 

At times, my job took me to the outback where I was involved in remote communities, acting as a sentencing judge with the police outside the court circuit.  

It was pretty interesting to be both the local Bank Manager and also the official representing the Court outside their circuit.  

One of  my best experiences was helping the indigineous people write a submission to the Fedral Government seeking native title to the Simpson Desert beyond Birdsville. The success of this application lead to employment opportnities to the indiginoues people and expanding the tourism experience, a win/win outcome. 

To relax I love having some down time together as a family - I try to make it a priority. I also love the occasional game of golf with my friends at the Redland Bay Golf Club where I'm currently a Member. 

Mark makes spending time with his family a priority.

One of the best things about being a Councillor is the day to day social interaction with our community groups and residents.  I meet a lot of different people and have managed to  forge some great friendships with people who belong to lots of different organisations such as the Men’s Sheds, the local RSLs, Progress Associations and more. 

Politics was not something I had planned for and was a result of frustration with my Council dealings and seeing my rate notices spiral upwards year on year.  

The continuing Council budget deficits of the previous administration kind of set off the banker's brain in me.   I was led to believe that the Council financial management was out of control and I felt something needed to be done. 

I can remember complaining to Suzette about what I had learned about the way it was being managed and operated when she looked at me and said, “then do something about it”.  That was the moment I decided to run for Council. 

  Since being elected, the key thing that drives me is to deliver positive outcomes - I love being able to make a real difference to people’s lives. 

I think my banking background has certainly helped, particularly as the Portfolio Chair of the Office of the CEO which oversees the finance of Council, and has delivered our third year of surplus budgets and a net nil debt position.  That's an achievement most local governments could only dream of and I'm really proud of it. 

But there’s still a lot to do and a lot I’d like to have a chance to do. 

Now the financial position of the Council is sound, a  program of major infrastructure improvements can go ahead without impacting on the ratepayer. This includes traffic flow improvements, parking provisions, foreshore redevelopments, more boat ramps and improvements to roads.  

As a parent, I also believe that a university in the Redlands should be a high priority.  At present, a child at uni actually  creates a burden on our families as we try to manage the balance of long travel and costs for our children to attend.  

The good news is that Redlands has started to attract higher education facilities and that is an issue that I intend to pursue. 

Certainly Division 5 is without doubt  the most challenging of all Divisions in Redland City and more than one person described it to me, in the early part of this term, as a ‘ poisoned chalice’. 

This Division has diverse issues relating to the islands community and Redland Bay and it’s quite difficult to be able to meet everyone’s needs and wants. 

One way I’ve dealt with this diversity is to establish homes both on the mainland and on Russell Island.    I’m the only Councillor who has two residences, but I felt it was really important to be able to relate to the issues of the people I represent so I can better engage with the community.   

I would like to think that I have been successful in this.  I have worked hard on the ground and delivered some good results for both the mainland and island communities in my Division.  I hope that voters on March 19 will agree.