In a candid conversation, we sat down with Launceston’s new mayor, Matthew Garwood, to get a glimpse into his life, his vision for the city, and his journey into politics.
Many people in Launceston know you mostly for your music, and as a radio personality. When you strip that away, who is Matthew Garwood?
“I always do try and be really upfront with who I am, and I try to let that shine through. From my personality traits to speaking about my sort of upbringings, but if I was to be at home on a Sunday afternoon with no one else around, it’s Matt in his Oodie. He’s watching the football, or bingeing the Office for the 12th time, I really am actually quite a quiet person.”
During the interview, Matthew described a unique self-perception, referring to himself as an introverted extrovert. He explained that in public settings, he projects a strong sense of confidence and extroversion, while internally, he retains a genuine shyness and quiet nature. He attributed this aspect to the opportunities he’s encountered, which have helped shape his distinct persona. Despite his outward projection, Matthew emphasized his inherent humility and quiet disposition, finding comfort both within his home environment and in diverse settings like operas, Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift concerts, and even Slipknot concerts.
If you had to pick 3 words to describe yourself, what would those be?
“It’s always a tough question to self-evaluate yourself in words, so I would like to think that I am quite a thoughtful person and being thoughtful not just in the way of thinking of others and their feelings, and how to approach the situations but just in general, how to approach life. I’d like to put a lot of thought into it so thoughtful.”
Matthew also describes himself as being humble.
“Not just humble through experiences that I’ve had, but humble in a way that I feel that people can approach me. Without using the word approachable, but humble in that general sense if someone come up, have a general conversation regardless of what my experiences or my titles or my role is, humble in the way that I approach people and myself.”
A third characteristic Matthew identifies with is a sense of humour. He finds amusement in various aspects, such as his own appearance and his ability to find himself amusing even when he’s the only one laughing. He acknowledges that while his role demands maturity, he still maintains a playful and light-hearted side, occasionally embracing a hint of immaturity.
Coming in as mayor, what are your priorities and what are your plans?
“Great questions that have come up ever since even deputy mayor and then acting mayor and now so the first priority, it has to be as simple as refocus. Refocusing the Council back to people, back to the Community because for the last couple of months, to be really honest, there has been individual focuses on campaigning, on running, on putting the hand up and thinking what do I want to do if I get in the position, or what do I want to do as a candidate.”
“Now for me that that candidate time, the election time is over, it’s about refocusing, focusing on the community again. That’s number one, in terms of the big visionary mayoral kind of campaigning, I do think that we get a little caught up in big picture questions, we see through the media and we see through campaigns people talking about homelessness, they talk about traffic, they talk about vision as a whole, but I think it gets a bit lost in that contrast.”
Within a mere two months, Matthew immersed himself in discussions with various mayors about reforms and LGAT (Local Government Association Tasmania) changes concerning the Presidency. Engaging in these conversations allowed him to raise questions and converse with fellow mayors, leading to a particularly impactful insight from a mayor in the southern region.
“One that really resonated with me was from down south where the mayor was saying that their vision is a vision of connectedness. I would like to think that I’ve resonated with that, and I would like to see a connected Council.”
“That connection as a vision that comes through infrastructure, it comes through transport, it comes through a connected vision around arts, culture and recreation. That’s my overall vision or mantra or vision statement is a connected council through all of those and then through that vision comes the subheadings of, well, how do we get connected through infrastructure and transport? Well, we start to look at our public transport systems. We look at traffic calming and ensuring that people on bikes, on footpaths, on scooters feel safe.”
“We’re connected through our Cultural advisory committee going well, this is where we see our strengths artistically. We have such an incredible arts and culture based community. We’re connected through our food and our wine through our city of gastronomy so that’s my overall vision.”
However, Matthew maintains a pragmatic perspective, recognizing that the mayor holds one of twelve positions within the Council. While the mayor’s ambitious vision may take shape, its realization hinges on the collaborative efforts of the Council members alongside the community. This understanding underscores the significance of community engagement, translating the vision from mere words into meaningful action. Matthew emphasizes the need to establish a strong connection with the community, ensuring that this connection is rooted in the community’s desires. This involves discerning the community’s priorities, whether they involve altering the Launceston flag or addressing matters of importance to the community. Matthew underscores the importance of aligning their vision with the trajectory of the city, ensuring a harmonious direction that resonates with the community’s aspirations.
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