Mayor George Seymour voted Fraser Coast’s most influential 2024

The Fraser Coast Mayor has been voted our most influential person of the year in a landslide, and has opened up on his vision for the region and how he deals with not always getting his way when it comes to council votes.

Fraser Coast Mayor George Seymour

Fraser Coast Mayor George Seymour has been voted the most influential person on the Fraser Coast in 2024, after winning 23 per cent of the vote in a poll of Fraser Coast Chronicle readers.

Almost 500 people voted in the poll, after the call went out to nominate the local men and women the community thought deserved to be short-listed for the title.

Among them were social media influencers, politicians, teachers, coaches, business leaders and many more.

A delighted Mr Seymour said on Tuesday he had always wanted to be in public service and loved the role of mayor.

“People often ask me if I will ever run for parliament, and the answer is no,” he said.

Fraser Coast Mayor George Seymour has easily won the vote for the region’s most influential person of 2024.

“I enjoy the challenges and opportunities that go with local government. Every day, our team here is doing what we can to make our community a great place to live.

“I was first elected as mayor in May 2018 and really enjoy working with the team of councillors and staff.

“At the last election we had five existing councillors and five new councillors elected, which has made for a great team of experience and new perspectives.

“The discussions and debate we have is very healthy and conducive to good decision making.

“We are a democracy, I have one vote out of 11 and am not always on the winning side.

“When that happens, I respect the majority decision and work with the team to make sure we get the best possible outcome for our community.

Fraser Coast Mayor George Seymour

“I learn from everything, including when I am outvoted in the council chamber.”

Mr Seymour said that moving forward, he wanted to see the council meet its challenges through innovative solutions “whilst maintaining the support of the community we serve”.

“ We need to make sure that we don’t lose what is special and unique about our region,” he said.

“We want to increase participation in sports and are working with a range of groups to improve facilities.

“I think there is a real opportunity for us to be a training base for an Olympic team in the lead-up to the Olympics.

“Creating employment opportunities must be a priority for our community and we are working with other levels of government and companies to bring factories and other employment generating facilities here.

“I was first elected to the council as Division 10 councillor in 2012, and then mayor in 2018.

“In that time, we have undertaken a lot of major infrastructure works.

“We have worked well with other levels of government to get projects off the ground. For example, this Friday we are officially opening the Hervey Bay pump track, which we have built with funding from the state government, and on Sunday we are officially opening the Boundary Road extension, a $32 million project which is a collaboration between the federal government, the state government and the Fraser Coast Regional Council.

“I feel very grateful for the opportunity to serve our community in this role.”