I have called Far North Queensland my home for the past twenty-three years. I was born and raised in Melbourne to Presbyterian parents who immigrated from the United Kingdom as part of the 10-pound pom era.

My father, an electrician by day and a self-taught musician by night, playing keyboard with his band alongside lead singer and long-standing LNP politician Russel Broadbent.

My mother was a practised homemaker and devoted wife right up until the passing of my father three years ago.

I am the second-born of three children, and we were taught through experience the value of money, the ethics of working hard and a strong sense of community.

At the age of 9 I joined the St John Ambulance Brigade and by 16 had completed over 1000 hours of voluntary first aid service, competed in numerous state competitions and was awarded The Grand Prior’s Badge from the Governor of Victoria.

I have lived with my husband in the region since 2002 and immensely enjoyed my work in the community being involved with various organisations such as Low Isles Preservation Society, the Douglas Theatre Arts Group and The Homeless Animal Society and Boarding Kennels in board positions and broader involvement in our fantastic local community. I am still heavily involved with the Douglas Theatre Arts Group Inc. and the Homeless Animal Society and Boarding Kennels Inc. My husband and I have two small businesses in Port Douglas and are very much a part of our community. 

Running for council felt like a natural progression and successfully gained a councillor role in the 2016 election. This gave me a good grounding of what local government was. Although I intended running for council earlier than my first run in 2014, I was persuaded to hold off when the shire was amalgamated with Cairns. Following de-amalgamation, I ran in the 2013 election and was in that attempt unsuccessful, but undeterred and realising there was much more to be done I successfully ran in the 2016 election and remained a councillor until successfully running as Mayor of Douglas in the 2020 election.

It is an honour that I will cherish having represented this community four the last term. In October 2020 I also accepted the nomination for Chair of the FNQROC, Far North Queensland Organisation of Councils representing 12 local Councils in the Far North and in November 2020 I accepted a position on the board of the newly formed Regional Queensland Council of Mayors.

I am a member of The Port Douglas Community Service Network, Port Douglas District Combined Clubs Inc., Douglas FM, the Cairns Animal Welfare Group Inc. and the LNP.

I have for the most part enjoyed the challenges involved in the position of Mayor over the past term and successfully brought the community through the Covid years, a council budget now in surplus and the disaster that Cyclone Jasper brought about us.