Donna Lawson receives overwhelming support as new council ushered in for Liverpool Plains

With more than 67 per cent of the votes having been counted she has already been declared elected, and will be joined by fellow newcomers Jason Allan and Terry Cohen, and the experienced Doug Hawkins.

Born and raised in Quirindi, Cr Lawson worked as an accountant for 10 years before leaving to help manage her family's building company, which is a role she has been in for the past six years.

She has taken on a number of volunteering roles in that time with organisations such as the Quirindi Public School parents and carers committee, pony club and rescue association.

In that time she has lobbied the council and higher levels of government for funding on a number of projects, and believes now is the right time to jump to the other side of the fence.

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"The council has secured quite a few grants in regards to the showground and also the Quipolly Water Project, so seeing all that spent wisely and to budget, is a concern of mine," the 39-year-old said.

"Also there's been a bit of a disconnect between council and the community, so having already been quite involved in things I just thought I'd put my hand up and have more of an input in some of these issues."

Given the commitments of having a job and young children, Cr Lawson said she will pull back from some of her other roles in order to put sufficient energy into being a councillor.

Other long term issues she would like to tackle include the lack of housing in the region, increasing the shire's population, improving community engagement and shining more light on the area's smaller communities.

Helping her achieve those goals will, for the first time in more than 12 months, be six other councillors, with the resignation of Rob Webster and former mayor Andrew Hope having left council understaffed during the last term.

The final three spots are yet to be officially decided, but Ken Cudmore, Paul Moules and Ian Lobsey - who are all seeking another term - are in the box seat.

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