James Walker has served on Clarence Council since 2012. He is a podiatrist with experience in health-service management and workforce planning, and he was a Liberal candidate for Franklin at the 2021 Tasmanian state election.

Candidate for Mayor and Councillor

James is not a fresh face. He has served on Clarence Council since 2012, so voters are
entitled to judge him on what he has actually done, not simply what appears on an election brochure. And there are parts of his record that I believe deserve recognition.

WHO IS JAMES WALKER?
James Walker is a long-serving Clarence councillor and local podiatrist who was first elected to Council in 2012. He also stood for Deputy Mayor in 2022.

During his time on Council he has served across a range of committees and currently has roles including the Active Living Advisory Committee, Sustainability Advisory Committee, Community Wellbeing Advisory Committee and chairing the Clarence Positive Ageing Working Group. Consumer Council Tasmania

Experience alone, however, isn’t enough for me.
What matters is what a councillor does when the difficult decisions arrive.

ROSNY PARKLANDS AND THE HIGH PERFORMANCE CENTRE
This is one of the major reasons I have James Walker in my YES column.
During our fight to protect Rosny Parklands and Charles Hand Memorial Park, James
was one of the councillors who was prepared to question the direction Council was taking. He did not simply accept that the HPC had to consume our public open space.
James advocated other possibilities in Clarence and supported keeping the Parklands out of the development.

That doesn’t mean Save Rosny’s Parks agreed with every suggestion he made along the way, we didn’t. At one stage James proposed alternatives involving Charles Hand Park that I certainly wasn’t happy with. My view then was essentially that he had voted the right way, but for the wrong reason.

But as the battle developed, he continued looking for alternatives rather than accepting the argument that Rosny’s parks were the only answer. That distinction matters.

In June 2024, Walker moved that if an elector poll were held, Council should hold off
finalising any Heads of Agreement with the State Government until the poll results
were reported back to Council. His motion was defeated 6–3.

And the elector poll itself showed something politicians should remember: while 51.39% supported locating the HPC entirely within Rosny Parklands, 64.83% opposed an option using both Rosny Parklands and Charles Hand Park. (Consumer Council Tasmania)

When the State Government eventually chose Kingston instead, James didn’t simply blame the Government. He publicly said: “Ultimately, I feel the blame rests with council.”

He argued that Clarence had failed to properly explore alternatives such as Cambridge,
Kangaroo Bay Oval and the Bayview High School site. He also used a phrase which has now become central to his mayoral campaign: “We are the council where bold ideas come to die.” (ABC News).

For those of us who spent months fighting to save Rosny’s parks, that willingness to
acknowledge that Council itself got things wrong is significant.

HIS MAYORAL CAMPAIGN — SEPTEMBER 2026
On 7 September, James announced he would challenge for Mayor.
His campaign is clearly being framed as a challenge to the way Clarence Council has been operating during the present term.

His message is essentially: change the culture, restore accountability, concentrate on basic services and be more honest with the community. He says: “A Mayor’s first job is to hold the chamber together… That means treating every elected member as a partner.”

He has also pointed to the decision of younger councillors not to recontest as a warning sign, arguing that capable people should want to remain on Council and saying that a toxic culture can drive people away. That is James Walker’s assessment, and voters will make their own judgement about the culture inside Clarence Council.
But anyone who has followed this Council closely knows that questions about relationships within the chamber, treatment of councillors and the way disagreement has been handled have become a significant issue during this term.
That makes the temperament of the next Mayor extremely important.

“LEARN FROM THE HPC MESS”
One of Walker’s explicit mayoral commitments is: “Learn from the HPC mess. Consult early, consider real alternatives, be upfront with stakeholders.” That is a commitment I particularly welcome.

The HPC saga damaged trust between Council and sections of the Clarence community. More than 500 people attended the May 2024 public meeting after Save Rosny’s Parks successfully petitioned Council, and the meeting carried all six community motions put forward that evening. One specifically stated that Council’s consultation had been insufficient for such a significant issue. (Consumer Council Tasmania)

A future Mayor should understand why that happened and ensure it is not repeated.

TRANSPARENCY — THE COMMUNITY PERCEPTIONS REPORT
Another issue in Walker’s favour is his attempt to have the 2025 Clarence Sentiment and Community Perceptions report released publicly. Council had paid for research into what residents thought about the organisation. Walker moved for its release.

The CEO Ian Nelson, recommended against publication, saying the work had been
commissioned for internal use.
Walker argued: “Council should take pride in what it does well. Acknowledging any shortcomings with the community is a first step on the road to improving them.” (Pulse Tasmania)

I agree with that principle. If ratepayers paid for research measuring community perceptions of their Council, there needs to be a very good reason for keeping those results from them.

Walker now says that, as Mayor, he would push for the deidentified results to be
published. That is the type of transparency I want to see.

RATES, BUREAUCRACY AND BASIC SERVICES
Walker is also campaigning on containing rate rises and questioning what he describes as bureaucratic growth. His argument is that residents want Council concentrating on things such as:

• roads;
• stormwater;
• infrastructure;
• parks and community facilities; and
• reliable basic council services.

He is also questioning whether Council has become too focused on communications and “telling the story” rather than delivering services. That is a legitimate debate to have. Clarence residents are paying increasing rates, and every candidate seeking the mayoralty should be prepared to explain what ratepayers are receiving for that money.

HIS MAYORAL COMMITMENTS
James Walker has nominated six major priorities:

• Work with all councillors, respect around the table.
• Fix the culture — restore accountability and stop driving capable people away.
• Learn from the HPC experience — consult earlier and genuinely consider alternatives.
• Cut what he calls bureaucratic bloat — prioritise frontline services and infrastructure.
• Constrain rate rises — remember every additional dollar comes from households and
  businesses.
• Level with the community — including releasing the deidentified 2025 community
  perceptions results.

Those are substantial commitments.
If elected Mayor, I would expect the community to hold him to every one of them.

BUT EXPERIENCE MUST ALSO BE SCRUTINISED
James has been on Clarence Council for around 14 years.
That is both a strength and something voters should consider carefully.
I have consistently said during this election that we should not automatically return people simply because they are familiar names.

James has been part of Council for a long time. He therefore shares responsibility for
Council’s record during that period — the good and the bad.
The question is whether he has demonstrated sufficient independence to challenge
decisions when he believes Council is heading in the wrong direction.
On one of the biggest issues I have been involved with — Rosny Parklands and the HPC
— I believe he did.

MY ASSESSMENT
COUNCILLOR — YES
MAYOR — WORTH SERIOUS CONSIDERATION – YES

James Walker brings something to this election that very few candidates can claim:
experience combined with a demonstrated willingness to disagree with the prevailing
Council position.

For me, his actions during the Rosny Parklands fight carry considerably more weight than election promises made several weeks before voting papers arrive.
He was prepared to look at alternatives.
He was prepared to challenge the handling of the HPC.
He was prepared to say publicly that Council itself bore responsibility when the project was ultimately lost to Clarence.And he has challenged Council’s reluctance to release information about how the community actually perceives it.

I won’t agree with James Walker on every issue, and I haven’t in the past.
But I don’t expect councillors to agree with me on everything.
I expect them to think independently, listen to the community, question the
bureaucracy, protect our public assets and have the courage to speak up when they
believe Council is getting something wrong.
During our fight to save Rosny’s parks, James Walker did that.
Experienced, but importantly, one of the councillors who stood with Save Rosny’s
Parks when our parks needed protecting.

For Councillor, he remains a YES from me.
For Mayor, his entry into the race gives Clarence voters another serious choice, and I will be looking very closely at all mayoral candidates before making my final assessment, but on the whole, I think YES

Research every candidate. Look at their history. Look at their votes. Look beyond the
glossy brochures. Then decide who you trust to represent you.

My assessment: This candidate profile contains factual information drawn from publicly available material, council records and public statements, together with my own opinions and assessment of the candidate’s record and suitability for Clarence City Council. Readers are encouraged to consider the information, do their own research and make their own decision.

Responsible person: Janice Overett, 10 Jennings Crt, Nubeena 7185