Mr Howard, who resides in Forster, leads a group of six independent candidates (Group A) into the local government election.

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“I have been fortunate to serve on MidCoast Council for the past two years and eight months and am proud of the substantial work completed by the current council, and the cohesive and collegial way councillors have simply gotten on with the job of addressing the many issues the MidCoast has to deal with.

“As such, alongside my fellow Group A Independents I am seeking re-election to continue the work of the council.”

According to Mr Howard, Group A’s major focus is financial sustainability.

“Being financially sound allows the councillors to continue to allocate funding to such key areas as road maintenance.

“In the 2023-2024 financial year, councillors allocated a further $7.5 million from reserves over and above initial budget to add additional funds into the road maintenance and rehabilitation budget, in an effort to catch up on some of the works that are outstanding.”

If elected, Mr Howard says he will push for this roads budget to be boosted annually.

“We will also make sure that Mid-Coast Council continues to harangue the four state Members [of parliament] who’s electorates overlap the MidCoast LGA for more grant funding to go towards our backlog of outstanding works.”

In a media statement to NOTA, Mr Howard also highlighted the importance of striking a balance between development and the environment.

“As conservative-leaning independents, we believe that whilst development is important, it should not be at the expense of our natural beauty and what we all love about the Barrington Coast.”

Mr Howard is joined on his ticket by Fabian Clancy, Rebecca Cross, Scott Paterson, Roderick Donegan and Emmerson Hollis.