Charles Wooley is running for a spot on Sorell council

He’s graced our TV screens and papers for decades, now journalist Charles Wooley is ready to settle down after years of travelling and is eyeing off a political title. Find out where.

He spent years travelling as a journalist, and now Mercury columnist Charles Wooley hopes to set down more roots in Sorell as he runs for deputy mayor.

Mr Wooley said Sorell was a growing region, but he noticed there were gaps in certain services.

“We’ve got hundreds of new houses going in around Sorell,” Mr Wooley said.

“The trick is to try and remove the necessity to always travel into Hobart or across the causeway.

“Xrays imaging, that involves a trip into town.

“We don’t actually have a dry cleaners, I’d have to take it across a causeway.”

Charles Wooley is running for deputy mayor of Sorell council.

Mr Wooley said the issues on Sorell council were different to city councils.

“It’s not tearing down statues but it’s important,” Mr Wooley said.

“People really notice when the garbage isn’t collected.”

Mr Wooley said his election bid would not get in the way of his writing.

“My column doesn’t take awful long to write, I’ve been writing that sort of stuff all my life,” Mr Wooley said.

“It might make it harder for me to engage with my travelling life.

“Do I really want to be in Ukraine right now?”

He said his bid for deputy mayor was a sign of him settling down.

“I have settled after years of wandering the earth,” Mr Wooley said.

“It’s quite nice to wake up in the same place every morning and not in a hotel.

“I have settled and the posing question is how to make the best place even better without buggering it up.”

Mr Wooley said there was another reason he was tied down.

“I’ve got a dog, Dusty, a little over two years ago,” Mr Wooley said.

“We’re both co-dependent.

Charles Wooley and his dog Dusty. Pic: Supplied.

“I’m not sure how we’d get along if I went away six weeks of time.”

Mr Wooley also said he had no plans to use council as a launch pad to get into state or federal politics.

“I’m not using it to spring to the White House,” he said.

Mr Wooley had high praise for mayor Kerry Vincent, which is why he is running for deputy and not mayor.

“I’ve become a friend of the mayor over the last few years,” Mr Wooley said.

“We have the best mayor of the 29, he’s a bloke that’s over every detail.

“He can tell you the cost of having every hundred metres of sealing Wielangta Road.

“He just is on top of everything, which as a journo impresses me.”

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