Eddie Loftus talks fast and as his words fly they paint a picture of a man who is passionate about community and council.
He knows the intimacy and impact of local government on the lives of ratepayers, it is so much more than roads, rates and rubbish, it connects and creates community and the former Greater Taree City Council mayor is sounding a call for candidates to stand for election to MidCoast Council.
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A butcher by trade, Eddie is a self-described “man of the people … brought up in the school of hard knocks.”
For more than a decade he ran his business, Eddie’s Chickens in Taree and “worked hard to serve the people as a councillor and mayor.”
I don’t want to sound like a saint because I am not, but if you have a passion for people, and a passion for the area you live in then you will have a passion for serving on council and making good decisions.
- Eddie Loftus
“You will get an enormous wealth of mind, that’s it, because there is no financial gain or glory, but wealth of mind, and it is a very good feeling. It’s only petty cash. You can’t afford to give up your day job to be a councillor, which is sad.”
Eddie believes “we need young, energetic, business tradies – they are all hard workers” and is quick to rule out standing for election, “as he is not young and is keen to avoid divorce”.
“I’ve been married to Narelle for 38 years and she says that if I run again it’ll be as a single man!”
The appeal for a new generation to step forward is earnest and aspirational and he seeks to counter the perception that politics is not for working class people.
“Most of our mayors have been tradies, working class people. Councillors are no better than anybody else, we are just people doing what we can do for the people.”
He is unhappy the new council will not be led by a mayor elected by the people and says “it’s another part of democracy that’s been absolutely crushed in our area because of the amalgamation.”
“We’ve had a popularly elected mayor since 1995 and that was Les Brown. The front page of the Manning River Times said, ‘It’s not a landslide, it’s a Brown-slide’ - sometimes I can’t remember what I had for breakfast yesterday but I remember that!”
