Councillors Bob Kirk and Andrew Banfield were joined by local government hopefuls Caron Casey, Peter Finkle, Leah Ferrara, Barry McDonald, Rufina Prichard and Alisa Stephens upstairs at the Astor for a night organisers themed “community minded”. Candidates Peter Oliver, Peter Walker and Cr Alfie Walker sent apologies.

Each took a turn to make a personal statement of their vision for the city and greater Goulburn Mulwaree district villages.

Ms Casey was keen for a greater say in democracy coming from the outlying towns; Ms Ferrara spruiked a “buy local” campaign to generate local revenue and jobs. Cr Banfield and Mr Finkle both predicted “great things” along the Sydney-Canberra corridor, while Cr Kirk spoke to the need for councillor teamwork. Mr McDonald saw a bright future through local improvements, while Mrs Prichard hoped to be “the people’s voice” in the chamber. Ms Stephens wanted to be a force for young families.

Questions coming from the floor iterated the need for more consultation and communication for the electorate outside the centre of Goulburn; sought out ideas for pet projects; queried better disability access planning; debated the idea of removing CBD building height restrictions; dug deep for thinking around renewable energies and free wifi access for all; and closed out the evening with each candidate’s vision of tourism.

Climate change was challenged as a youth-only movement, so Banfield, Kirk and McDonald were singled out for comment.

Cr Banfield said he believes human activities effected holes in the ozone layer, but that the climate is cyclical. Still, “coal will run out eventually, so wind, sun … that’s for the future,” he said. Cr Kirk said the “jury’s out” on climate science, but was “happy for alternative energy”. Mr McDonald said is climate change was caused by humans, it was only parallel to population growth.