Trina Vaughan to run for North Burnett Regional Council

A Mundubbera manager with a wealth of experience in outback Queensland says she has what it takes to bring a local perspective to the North Burnett Regional Council. This is her pitch:

Trina Vaughan will run for Division 2 of the North Burnett Regional Council.

A former stockwoman and educator turned Mundubbera business manager has announced her intention to run for the North Burnett Regional Council at the March 2024 local government election.

Trina Vaughan has put her hand up to run for Division 2 of the council after initially broaching the idea with her husband Kevin.

Mrs Vaughan said the idea was initially a joke, after a customer told her she had the listening and communication skills to make a good councillor.

Despite a diverse working background, Mrs Vaughan said she initially thought being councillor wasn’t her “cup of tea,” but that all changed when she considered her current position in the community.

With three decades of experience on cattle properties across Queensland and the Burnett alongside years of experience as a contract musterer, Mrs Vaughan said droughts initially bought her family to Blackwater for a role as educator with Queensland Agricultural Training Colleges. 

When Covid hit, she looked closer to home, running her own small Burnett business before taking on a position at the Mundubbera Price Busters, where she is now manager.

She said in her time at the shop, she had become a “talking post” and listening point for the community, with dozens of people sharing their concerns weekly.

Trina Vaughan will run for Division 2 of the North Burnett Regional Council.

“I have really been enjoying that, I enjoying being a venting post for people,” she said.

“But I have also picked up the things happening in the community that are affecting not just one person, but a wider community of people.”

Mrs Vaughan said she was not bringing any one goal or election promise to her campaign, but will represent the concerns as presented to her by the community.

“Throughout my conversation that’s what I’ve been hearing the most,” she said.

“People are dissatisfied because they don’t feel as though they are being listened too.”

Since announcing her plan to run, a number of people have approached her with their own concerns, she said.

“I’m not playing around, I’m not using this for a stepping stone,” she said.

“I am one of those ratepayers, I am one of the community, and what people have been telling me, it’s real.”

“I know because I have seen it too.”