Fraser Coast councillor Jan Hegge: ‘Why I’ll run for Division 7 in 2024’

From a controversial plan to help tackle the housing crisis to the realities of rate rises, the Fraser Coast’s newest councillor has reflected on her two months in the job and why she’s determined to prove integrity and politics can go hand-in-hand.

Jan Hegge’s career has had her mixing with high-flyers to the homeless and everyone in between – often in the same 24-hours.

The recently appointed Division 7 councillor believes it’s this experience that makes her a unique fit not only for the council in its current form but also, the version she hopes to be part of come March 2024.

Reflecting on her two months in the role and officially confirming her intention to run again in next year’s Local Government election, Mrs Hegge said she brought 40 years of local knowledge, working with all levels of government and walks of life to a role in helping run the region about which she is not only passionate but also determined to make better for future generations.

While reintroduced to public life as Mrs Hegge, she’s likely better known to long term locals as Jan Carlson former owner of two successful business, Maryborough City Council Alderman of three years, Senior Regional Development Officer and Business Adviser for the Queensland Government Department of State Development for 13 years and most recently the face of Hervey Bay community support organisation We Care 2 for eight years.

Councillor Jan Hegge will run again for Division 7 in 2024.

For most of the early to mid 2000s she was a fixture on the Hervey Bay business and jazz scene alongside her late husband Bob Carlson, a well-known hairdresser and gifted musician until he received a devastating motor neurone disease diagnosis, plunging them into heartbreak and hardship where they had to sell everything to cover his medical needs before he eventually passed away of related complications.

Her life had since largely revolved around helping others in her role as Operations Manager for We Care 2 where the demand for the organisation’s discount supermarket and support services had skyrocketed with each passing year, peaking amid the latest cost of living crisis.

Romance was far from her mind but found again when she married We Care 2 Low Cost Food Centre manager Glenn Hegge in 2021.

Councillor Jan Hegge with her husband Glenn Hegge.

When popular councillor and former deputy mayor Darren Everard resigned in August, Mrs Hegge believed she had the skillset and passion to fill the vacancy.

The Division 7 position was hotly contested – with 25 putting their hands up but in the end the majority of councillors sided with someone who already understood the council code of conduct, how to relate to administrative officers, apply for government grants and would not have to spend the few months between now and March learning the basics of the job.

Interest in the Division 7 seat shows no sign of waning ahead of next year with several hats already in the ring including that of community worker John Weiland and former Victorian Nationals MP Andrew Broad who also put themselves forward in the September vote but were pipped by Mrs Hegge.

Five years on from the “sugar baby” scandal which led to his exit from federal politics and insisting he’s got the support of his wife, loves his new Queensland home city and is ready to re-enter public life, Mr Broad officially launched his campaign last month.

Mrs Hegge wished them and all other candidates nominating for the election all the best and congratulated them on “having the courage to put their hand up for public office”.

Still, speaking frankly about this and the “realities” of how likely anyone’s election promises have of ever being fulfilled is important to the councillor who says integrity and politics can go hand-in-hand.

Fraser Coast Council in September 2023 after the decision to appoint Jan Hegge to Division 7.

She believes it’s inevitable rates will continue to rise but thinks there’s work that can be done in how the burden is shared whether that means tweaking or extending the council’s existing hardship policy and also looking at whether it was fair that people in remote parts of the region were paying high rates despite not having access to basic council services.

“I know a lot of people stand and say ‘here’s my policies, I’m going to fix all of these things, reduce rates etc but I’m not planning on running that kind of campaign,” Mrs Hegge said

“I’ve got the insight now to know what’s actually coming up (and the council’s current financial situation) and what would be silly to promise.

“It can be disillusioning not being able to do everything but there’s still plenty of improvements that can be made”.

If she were to pick her platforms, there’s two “critical” areas of which she hopes to have influence.

A committed champion of helping ease the housing crisis of which she has been at the coalface for the better part of two decades, Mrs Hegge said freeing up more land could help but ultimately more drastic, controversial action was needed including considering whether supervised “tent cities” as seen in Brisbane and the Moreton Bay regions should be mirrored here.

Mrs Hegge formerly worked as We Care 2’s operations manager.

While she understood nobody wanted a “homeless hub bedside their house” dedicated, supervised areas where people could sleep and be safe were essential.

“We are not talking about people who want to live on the beach … these are families evicted from houses and who can’t afford the rent elsewhere,” she said

“I’ve seen countless down and out young families, one was living in a camper trailer with four kids in the bush in Mungar because there was no other option.

“It’s a national situation but the fix starts at the grassroots, and I’d like to think we can do something about that here.”

Having served breakfast on the beach countless times she believes somewhere like Apex Park at Pialba, the location of Hervey Bay’s Sleep Bus where the homeless already congregate, could be an option.

As the housing crisis deepens, Mrs Hegge believes there’s a chance to do something about it from a grassroots level - Photo Steve Pohlner

As the population continues to soar, she’s generally supportive of development going “up rather than out” but believes there’s still more considerations to be made and debates to be had over whether the largest project proposed so far – a 21-storey twin-tower resort at Torquay – “is too high”.

Her initial thought is that it possibly is but she’s open to being convinced otherwise just as she was for the new Hervey Bay Administration Centre and Library, dubbed the Taj Mahal by naysayers.

When she had spoken to her councillor colleagues and had the funding broken down and explained, she was satisfied the business case for building it now is sound.

She believes the business community wants to see high-rises, particularly one that has a convention centre and can host major events, go ahead and is hearing from a “a lot of people that we can’t live in the past forever”.

A landmark "twin towers" resort and residential development, the biggest of its kind ever to be proposed on the Hervey Bay Esplanade, is before the Fraser Coast Regional Council.

She’s also passionate about improving services and facilities for young people “not just because of youth crime” but because they “are the future”.

The need for young people to have “more things to do” not only in areas like River Heads and Booral but also other parts of the region has been a regularly raised issue during her intensive eight-week tour of the region and her electorate including K’gari (formerly Fraser Island) to hear from locals about what they wanted from their newest councillor.

While the reception had been largely positive she explained joining a council which was heading into election campaign mode so soon had been challenging given some were still suspicious about whether she was electioneering versus simply doing her job.

“It would have been easier to go along and attend council meetings and just do what was required and not put myself out there but that is not who I am.

“If some people see it as electioneering that’s a shame but I’m trying not to take much notice of the keyboard warriors … you can’t please everyone.

“I am embedded in this region, passionate about it and not planning to ever move and I believe it’s my realistic view and my reputation earned in my other roles over 40 years as being trustworthy, that sets me apart”.