Dawn Crichlow turns back on retirement plans to prepare run for a record ninth council term

EVERGREEN Southport councillor Dawn Crichlow will make a run for a record ninth term on the Gold Coast City Council.

On weekends Councillor Dawn Crichlow gets up at the crack of dawn to go walking around Southport.

SOUTHPORT councillor Dawn Crichlow is to stand for a record ninth term on the Gold Coast City Council.

Cr Crichlow, who has been the face of Southport for a quarter of a century, has confirmed she would contest Division 6 in next year’s local government elections.

The decision comes more than three years after swearing her political career would finish in 2016.

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Gold Coast City Council meeting at the council chambers as seen through the glass of the media box. Cr Dawn Crichlow. Picture by Scott Fletcher

The day after the 2012 election she told the Bulletin, “This will definitely, 100 per cent, be the last time I run” but all that has changed.

The 73-year-old defended her change of mind, saying she has unfinished business ahead of the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

“I am running again because there is a lot of unfinished business — Chinatown for example will not be completed to my satisfaction for at least two years and we have the Commonwealth Games coming up,” she said.

“It is tough out there and a lot of people really need help and I am both physically fit and have the contacts to give aid to those in need.

“I made the decision to run again while sitting with my dog, Princess Pookie, and realised I still can help people and that next year is the wrong time to pull the plug.

“It would be greedy of me to leave when there are people who still need help.”

NOVEMBER 9, 2000 : Councillor Dawn Crichlow sits in revamped Nerang Street Southport on the Gold Coast, 09/11/00. Pic Paul Riley.

The Chinatown precinct opened in February but its three traditional Chinese Paifang gates are yet to arrive in Australia or be built.

Griffith University political expert Dr Paul Williams said Cr Crichlow faced a relatively easy run back to council.

“Incumbency is massive in local government and she has obviously built a huge personal profile,” he said.

“There is no reason to think Dawn won’t win based on those credentials.

“The chance of someone taking the seat from her comes if there is effectively a younger version of her — a kind of Howard/Rudd situation.”

Cr Crichlow was first elected to the old Gold Coast council in 1991 alongside fellow incumbent councillor Daphne McDonald who is also recontesting the 2016 poll.

28-7-96.. DAWN CRICHLOW AT VOTING OFFICE.. 1996 headshot alone deamalgamation referendum

She was returned following the 1995 amalgamation which formed the modern-day Gold Coast City Council.

After running on a platform to have the Southport Mall in Nerang St demolished, Cr Crichlow said she would this time campaign to fix Southport’s transport infrastructure issues ahead of the 2018 Games.

“I came in to get the mall removed because it was driving shopkeepers broke and now we are looking at the Commonwealth Games and all the confusion around the roads and getting people around in the lead-up,” she said.

“The traders have had it really tough over the past few years and I see my role as helping them get through this so they get the most out of the Games.”

Gold Coast City councillor Dawn Crichlow is planning ion running again in the next council elections. Pics Tim Marsden

Cr Crichlow also called on Surfers Paradise’s Lex Bell to run again. Cr Bell says he remains undecided.

The council elections in 2016 will be held on March 26.