My decision to nominate for Huon Valley Council stems from my work in the Huon Valley community and my belief that the solutions to the problems we face can be driven through cooperation and partnerships.

Arriving in the mid 1970’s from Northern England I was greeted by a snow capped Mt Wellington/Kunanyi, and the distinctly Australian attitude of ‘a fair go for all’. I’ve made the Huon Valley my home for 25 years and am grateful for all the opportunities that Tasmania has afforded me.

I have established a number of businesses in the Valley, including the multi-award winning Huon Bush Retreats, which has been my home for the past eleven years.

I have over 20 years of experience achieving outcomes through collaboration and partnerships. This has been through several private enterprises, community groups, as a general and executive member of several NGO’s, as the chair of the local tourism association and in my role as a director of the regional tourism body. I am currently the manager of Geeveston Community Centre.

My preferred model for achieving outcomes is collective impact – where individuals, non-government organisations, government and business, work together in pursuit of a common agenda. By seeing others around us as colleagues, rather than competitors and by working together, we can all benefit from what the Huon Valley has to offer. I strongly support environmentally and socially beneficial programs, regardless of the political allegiance of those involved. I am particularly encouraged to see awareness of the importance of sustainable development appearing in the conversations of most of my fellow candidates.

I believe that for the broader community to benefit we should be encouraging the development of a large number of smaller enterprises that feed into the local economy. Local food production is a great place to start. Global markets have changed since our economy was first established and other parts of the world are now more competitive at supplying cheap raw resources. From mass fruit and wood fibre exports at low price/high volume, we are moving to high value/lower volume specialties.

With our resilient population and abundant land and water we are perfectly positioned to take on this challenge.

Most people, and most council, have realised that times have changed and are actively seeking new opportunities. With easy access and the rural and natural values that are clearly evident here, the Huon Valley can now seize the opportunity to build on its reputation for high quality food, wine and eco-tourism. This new mix can increase employment.

If elected, I will encourage council to work with the community to find this new place in the world. I am already connected with multiple levels of community and government and will be able to “hit the ground running”.
Michael Higgins