Hi. My name is Simon Chate and I have lived in Alstonville with my partner, Shirley, for over 20 years. We love Ballina Shire. We love the warm and friendly community, the easy‐going lifestyle and spectacular landscape – we wouldn’t want to raise our kids anywhere else.

As well as being a family man, I am a musician, a choir director and music educator. I have had extensive community interaction through my role as a teacher at Alstonville High School and have been in a position to affect change through my membership of the school P & C committee.

For the last nine years, I have taken strong leadership roles within the community, both through the creation and running of Alstonville’s community choir – Awesome Voices – and through co‐founding and organising our monthly, fund‐raising community performance event – Rous Unplugged – which has raised almost $30,000 for local charities and causes.

We need to look at increasing the availability of longer‐term rental properties and a way to make local housing more affordable. We need well‐researched, sustainable solutions to our long‐term water security that will meet the demands of a growing population and we need transparency around big decisions in council and straightforward access to community consultation.