In the lead up to International Women's Day on Sunday, mayor Carols Sparks has said 21st century Australia needs women's perspectives and their ideas. After all, they are more than half the population.
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Sparks is Glen Innes's first woman and first Green mayor - and progressive social issues like ending domestic violence and climate change awareness are close to her heart.
"It's an unusual situation being a Green mayor in a National Party seat," Cr Sparks said.
"Government requires you to be a certain sort of person. You have to stand up for the people."
It is, she said, a complicated job - and she treats it as a job. She has an open-door policy, and people walk in most days. if someone has a complaint or question, she tries to resolve it with the general manager.
"I try to do the best for the community that I can," she said.
Her political career
Cr Sparks became involved in local politics in 2016.
"The community was asking for a change," she remembered. "Council elections were coming up. I'd retired as a registered nurse, working in palliative care. So I needed a change myself.
"I'd always had an interest in politics, and I decided I would stand for council. I went out and lobbied for people's votes - and managed to get on, which I was very pleased about."
In 2018, she succeeded Steve Toms as mayor.
Her first 18 months in the role have been challenging at times, but ultimately rewarding.
She's had good support - particularly from her deputy mayor, Dianne Newman. Others, she said, haven't always been supportive, and she's faced some discrimination.
But Glen Innes Severn Council, despite its ups and downs, works well, she said. "We've managed to keep things on an even keel, and get things done."
A safer Glen Innes
At the start of her term, the mayor said she wanted to listen and act for women and youth concerns, especially domestic violence.
"At that time, young people were committing suicide in the area, and we were third in the state for domestic violence."
As a councillor, she set up a Safe in Our Town committee with the help of police inspector Matt Hemsworth, Glen Innes High School deputy headmistress Shelly Way, and other services.
School children fought the domestic violence dragon in the playground and the main street, stabbing the monster with swords. The play promoted the need to speak out about domestic violence.
The committee also posted contact numbers in toilets and other public places, and set up a website. The committee is still going today, and wants more members to keep it active.
"Domestic violence is a problem in rural areas, and we need to support the children and the people involved," Cr Sparks said.
Council also set up the Youth Booth, a centre open four days a week after school, from 3 to 6pm, with a permanent youth worker.
Six months after opening, it is a bustling and well-attended centre for the young and young at heart. Children can have a meal, play tennis and basketball, or exercise in the gym, while a mental health trainer comes twice a week.
That centre, Cr Sparks said, is one of the things she is most proud to have achieved.
Council also established a shop at the recycling centre, where selling the better items taken to the tip; disabled toilets around the community; and will open a park, footpaths, and cycle trails.
"We're very proud of what we've done in the last couple of years here," Cr Sparks said.
Climate change awareness
Cr Sparks hit the national headlines after devastating fires hit Wytaliba (where she lives) in November. She found herself a voice for climate change awareness in rural Australia, writing for the Guardian and locking horns with the deputy prime minister, Michael McCormack.
"I didn't really have any choice," the mayor said. "I had to speak the truth as I saw it.
"The impacts we're feeling are due to climate change; the drought and fire were connected; and serious weather events were going to come more and more often. And our whole country needed to be aware this was going to happen."
Water and land management, Cr Sparks believes, are extremely important.
"We should look at the way the traditional owners of the land respected the land and waterways. Landowners should take on board the way they grew crops and looked after animals."
Cr Sparks is endeavouring to get a group together to give lectures and presentations on how to move forward after the loss of so many trees and wildlife in the area. She will meet cultural burners from the Firesticks Alliance Indigenous Corporation and the Aboriginal environmentalist Victor Steffensen.
Local councils can take the lead in preparing for climate change, the mayor thinks. One way is to make sure houses are fire-resistant.
Council elections will be held in September, and Cr Sparks encouraged more women, and younger women, to stand for council.
"Men have had a good crack at it over the last 150 years, and we need to get more women in the decision-making processes of our communities. Change needs to happen."