AUSTRALIA’S television viewers may know her as ‘Shaz’ but the ballot nomination form says ‘Sharon Sellings’.
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Mrs Sellings says there is more to her identity than just being a 2015 My Kitchen Rules finalist and that she was qualified in becoming a Mount Isa City Councillor.
The Mount Isa local has worked locally for the Justice Department for 26 years. In fact, in her former position in the Mount Isa Magistrate’s Courthouse – a job she left in December – she frequently sent this reporter the daily magistrates court lists.
In the 2012 local government election she was Mount Isa’s returning officer, meaning she coordinated the local government election and trained staff in making sure it was organised.
I was ingrained in the community forever and I’ve got a business head. I’m not just a cook. That for me I need people to see."
- Sharon Sellings
She says these experiences makes her qualified to know the bureaucratic processes that do limit government decision making.
“I certainly have got a thorough understanding of working in the state government,” Mrs Sellings said.
“I’m used to complying to legislation and guidelines that surround you in all levels of government – it’s got to put me in good stead.
“It’s not open slather do what you want.
“I think you need to have a good understanding of those things if you’re going to put your hand up as councillor.”
Mrs Sellings was born in Mount Isa, studied at Barkly Highway State School and the formerly known Mount Isa State High, and has a husband and three teenagers.
She also ran a Thermomix business.
“I’m not a cook. Sure, that’s how suddenly the whole of Mount Isa knows of me because I was on MKR,” Mrs Sellings said.
“But I was ingrained in the community forever and I’ve got a business head.
“I’m not just a cook. That for me I need people to see.”
She wanted to rebuilt the sense of community lost in Mount Isa in recent years.
That local loss of community spirit is a subject occasionally reflected on by outgoing councillor Anne Seymour.
Mrs Sellings said the sense of community needed to be built by developing and appreciating existing facilities to get “everybody out of their houses”.
“Mount Isa has really had a rough time and people are afraid to stand up and say Mount Isa is still a great community,” Mrs Sellings said.
The community would have an impact on Mrs Sellings’ decision making.
“If you want someone on the ground listening at ground level what residents want and need, I’m your girl.
“I am a very passionate person and a very determined person.
“Once I set my mind to something I will do it really well. I’m not afraid to speak up and be heard, that’s for sure.”
A four year term might seem hindering for a cooking show celebrity aired on television last year – but she said otherwise.
“I’m clearly not going anywhere. If I was going anywhere I would be gone because we had plenty of MKR offers,” Mrs Sellings said.
“I don’t want to keep referring back to MKR, it’s a very small part of who I am.”
Mrs Sellings is one of the six candidates campaigning under ‘Team Coghlan’.
