A 23-year-old tradie has become Tasmania’s youngest councillor after winning a seat on Clarence City Council at his first attempt.
Zac Morrisby was elected fourth of nine councillors when the Tasmanian Electoral Commission finalised the count this evening.
He received 2,413 first preferences, or 6.5% of the vote, in a field of 23 candidates – putting him ahead of longstanding incumbents Tony Mulder and Wendy Kennedy.
Sitting councillors James Walker and Heather Chong were among those who missed out.
Speaking to Pulse shortly after the count was finalised, Morrisby said he was “so happy” with the result.
“I’ve worked extremely hard for this,” he said.
“I thank the whole community for, for putting their trust in me to represent them.”
Morrisby said he was proud to be the state’s youngest councillor.
He said he hoped to “lead the way for the youth” and “show them a path in politics”.
He said young people were under-represented in local government.
Morrisby said voters may have been drawn to “a 23-year-old tradie” running for office.
He said family members helped with letterboxing and door-knocking and at one point his mother was walking 25,000 steps a day for his campaign.
He ran as an independent and said political parties should stay out of local government.
“We don’t need it in local government. We’re community first,” he said.
He said he would “assess it on its merits, not with any left-wing, right-wing background at all”.
His priorities include parking in Bellerive and better links between ferries and other transport. He also wants more housing supply, saying the council should “keep adding to the housing supply and making it easier for people to add to the housing supply”.
Last week, first-time candidate Drew Jenner was elected Clarence mayor, defeating sitting mayor Brendan Blomeley on preferences.
Greens candidate Carly Allen was also elected with 6.9% of the vote.
