Cr Swan has assembled a team of five to contest the election – Coffs Harbour business owner Marcus Blackwell, consultant Mel Browne, Woopi News founder and publisher Lisa Nichols, and Gumbaynggirr man and Indigenous advocate Lucas Walker-Craig.

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Cr Swan – a former deputy mayor – said she had never felt more passionate about the need for Coffs Harbour to progress and prosper.

“We’ve kind of got ourselves stuck and we need the right leadership to move ourselves forward in a way that’s collaborative and effective,” she said.

Latitude 30 restaurant owner Mr Blackwell said it was time for Coffs Harbour to capitalise on its location and natural beauty to once again become a top-level tourist destination.

To that end, he backs the Coffs Harbour Jetty Foreshore Masterplan, which he helped formulate.

The plan includes cafes, restaurants and commercial spaces, along with landscaping, playgrounds, tourist accommodation (maximum six storeys) and residential accommodation (maximum four storeys).

“When we arrived here in 2002, Coffs Harbour was voted the most liveable city under a 70,000 population in the world,” Mr Blackwell said.

“Since then Port Macquarie has gone ahead in leaps and bounds with hotels, waterfront development and nice areas, and we’ve done nothing.”

He supports the development of “two good four-star hotels” in the Jetty precinct to help revitalise tourism, create employment, attract airlines to Coffs Harbour and make air travel affordable once again for the average person.

“Realistically, even if we said yes you can start today, we probably wouldn’t see one finished for five years.

“In the meantime, we’re still going backwards. We’re starting to lose sporting events because we haven’t got enough accommodation.

“If we can get new hotels and more quality accommodation, we’ll actually create more jobs within tourism. There will be more and more opportunities.”

Cr Swan said it was important to call out the people who were “fear mongering” about development at the Jetty. She said it was not viable for the council to attempt to buy back public land, as has been proposed.

“Wouldn’t we be better off staying in our lane and working with all levels of government and people who are experienced in this area to get the best outcomes for our community rather than giving us more debt,” she said.

“Look how much we lost our minds over the Cultural and Civic Space (Yarrila).

“That’s nothing compared to what would happen down here (the Jetty area).”

She said that while the Jetty area was a priority, there were other pressing issues, such as local road maintenance, upkeep of parks and gardens, and disposal of rubbish, which is currently being trucked to Queensland.

“We are not prioritising what the community needs, and you can see that by the outrage that is ongoing on social media and in conversations, when we’re not doing the little things like mowing the lawns, fixing the potholes, looking after the assets we have.

“We are now known as the most difficult council to deal with.

“That isn’t just impacting what’s going to happen at the Jetty, it’s impacting our capacity to go for grants across the whole local government area.

“Everyone knows that relationships are really important for a connected community, and that doesn’t go away when we’re talking about different levels of government.

“It’s so important we work together. If we’re sitting here throwing stones and saying we won’t do this and blaming and shaming, no one’s going to want to do anything with us, and that’s to the detriment of our community.”

Cr Swan said she and the members of her team are not affiliated with any political party.

By Mike HELY