Melissa Anderson has swooped in to take the final seat on Launceston City Council and the title of Tasmania’s youngest councillor from Clarence’s Zac Morrisby.
The 22-year-old was elected when the Tasmanian Electoral Commission finalised the Launceston count at 10:45am today.
Zac Morrisby had held the title for less than a day after being elected to Clarence City Council on Monday evening at 23 years old.
“I feel bad for our Clarence councillor for just beating him out,” Anderson told Pulse.
“It’s been looking good for a few days, but I’m still really shocked at the results and really honoured honestly.”
Anderson, who has previously stood as a Labor candidate for Bass, said she was inspired to run after going to the polls for the first time and “feeling unrepresented”.
She said retaining young people in Northern Tasmania depended on parliaments and councils that reflected the community and she wanted “a voice at the table”.
“I absolutely think that we need councillors of all ages to be at the table,” she said.
“It’s so exciting to be able to share that different perspective, what it’s like to kind of grow up in such a different world we have today.”
Accessibility was at the heart of her campaign. Her own mobility issues worsened after she broke her ankle last year and spent time in a wheelchair.
She said the experience was “very eye-opening” about how hard it could be to get around the city for anyone who was not “100% able-bodied” and she has since worked with disability advocates across the state.
“We have a large disabled population here. We have a large elderly population here,” she said.
She said accessibility needed to be “at the forefront of discussion” in city planning and maintenance and voters had told her they wanted essential services and infrastructure looked after.
Anderson has spent her working life in the public service, specialising in administration and finance. She has worked at the Public Trustee and the Department of Premier and Cabinet and trained at the Department of Justice.
She credited her volunteers, mostly friends and family, with helping her knock on thousands of doors during the campaign.
Anderson said she would focus on her councillor training in the coming weeks and had already been speaking with unions and staff.
“There are so many young people in Launceston that I now get to represent in that way,” she said.
Launceston City Council has been cut from 12 councillors to nine, with Mayor Matthew Garwood re-elected last week with 48.3% of the vote.
