We are only six months out from the 2020 local government elections and over the coming months we will start to hear who is running again and who isn't.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Last month, while I was away for a few days we had the first announcement of someone who wasn't going to run.
Belinda Murphy announced she would not be running again as mayor of McKinlay Shire after two terms of office.
It's sad news for the shire which despite having a tiny population has thrived under her leadership since 2012.
Cr Murphy has led McKinlay though good times and bad though none worse than the floods that cut a swathe through the shire in February this year.
A week of monsoonal heavy rain filled the creeks then merged them to become a massive 80km wide lake visible from space.
The epicentre of the crisis was between Julia Creek and Richmond, and Cr Murphy had no option but to take the lead as outsiders struggled to get in and get a sense of the scale of the crisis.
Federal member Bob Katter was scathing about local mayors in his famous interview with the North West Star ahead of the election but in this respect he was badly mistaken.
The leadership the mayors of the region provided was extraordinarily and none excelled more than Cr Murphy.
Her calm demeanour must have hidden a deep concern for the future of her region and her ability to communicate was crucial in subsequent meetings with the prime minister and the premier which led to large-scale recovery grants.
With two young kids to look after, Cr Murphy says family was the main reason she decided not to stand again.
She will not totally disappear from view.
Cr Murphy will continue with her floral business and she was appointed to the Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility board and said she will contribute to the north at a higher level.
I wish her well in this endeavour and hope that when her children are older she will consider a return to civic life in a bigger way.
We need people of Cr Murphy's talent in our public life.
Derek Barry