Lead Wagga council election candidate for the Greens, Jenny McKinnon, says she wants to bring eco-tourism to Wagga via a new koala habitat and help the city adapt to climate change.
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Dr McKinnon, aged 62, is a retired Charles Sturt University academic
"I began my professional life as a social worker and I went to the uni as a lecturer and I ended up retiring about five years ago when I was executive Dean of the Faculty of Arts, which was subsequently restructured and doesn't exist on its own anymore," she said.
Dr McKinnon said she was running for council for "lots of reasons".
"One of them is because I love living in Wagga, it's such a great place and the community is fantastic, it's so diverse and there's always so much innovation and interesting things going on," she said.
"But at the same time I think there are some things that could be done better and I think council would operate better if it reflected the community better, so they need more women on council, so I have stood for that reason as well."
Dr McKinnon said one of the things she would do if elected to council was make progress towards a koala habitat.
"The big idea that the Greens have got, that I really want to move along, is having a koala sanctuary in the Wagga local government area," she said.
"We know that koalas were endemic in this area up to the 1890s but they died out for a whole lot of reasons.
"There is a very successful koala reserve at Narrandera; we could be part of an inland koala trail, which would be fantastic for koalas since they are so under threat on the coast, great for tourism and fantastic for Wagga."
There is a very successful koala reserve at Narrandera; we could be part of an inland koala trail, which would be fantastic for koalas since they are so under threat on the coast, great for tourism and fantastic for Wagga.
- Lead Wagga council election candidate for the Greens, Jenny McKinnon
Dr McKinnon said the Greens also wanted to help Wagga adapt to climate change.
"We really need to do a lot to cool this city down, so we really want to see a lot more shade trees on our streets, in our parks and playgrounds; we want to make sure there are shade sails in every playground," she said.
Dr McKinnon said the council had brought in a policy to have its corporate operations at net zero carbon emissions by 2040 and for the wider community to reach that point by 2050.
"I would really like to see both of those targets set to 2030. It's doable for Wagga as, first of all, the council is well on track to meet its targets but the community doesn't know much about what has to be done," she said.
"I think there has to be an education program."
Dr McKinnon said she supported more solar farms for Wagga, in general, if they were in a "sensible place".
In the lead up to this year's election, The Daily Advertiser has profiled the candidates looking to secure a spot on Wagga City Council.
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