Episode Seven - The Mayor

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Transcript

0:00:23 - (Nicole): It's time to Bring Your Kid to Work. Hey, everyone. It's time to bring your kid to work. It's the family podcast that explores the world of work through the eyes of parents and their kids. Each week, we interview one parent and their child to chat about what they do for work, what they like, what they don't like and how they've got there in the first place. Let's find out who we're talking to today.

0:00:48 - (Nicole): In a first for Bring Your Kid to Work, our guests today are Matt and his grown up daughter, Jessi. Councillor Matt Burnett is the mayor of the Gladstone Regional Council, the local government that looks after the whole of the Gladstone region in Central Queensland. Matt has been on council for 24 years and he loves working with the whole council team. Born and raised in the Gladstone region, Matt's family's connections to the region extends five generations, as you'll hear in this interview. He loves his community and he's keen to be elected mayor again next year to keep working to make it an even better place to live, work and play.

0:01:24 - (Nicole): It was a bit intimidating interviewing Matt and Jessi because Matt is a qualified journalist. He even started his own newspaper, the Port Curtis Post, when he was just 19. Starting your own business young seems to have rubbed off on his daughter Jessi, as she has her own beauty company, Jessi Jayne. These two have a special bond which you'll definitely hear in this chat. So let's get on with the show.

0:01:49 - (Nicole): Hello, and welcome to Bring your kid to work. I'm very excited today because today's episode is our very first Bring Your Big Kid to Work. Welcome to our special guests. This episode is called The Mayor. Can I have my special guests introduce themselves, please?

0:02:04 - (Mayor Matt): Hi, Nicole. It's Matt Burnett here. I'm the mayor of the Gladstone region in Central Queensland and it's my daughter, Jessi.

0:02:10 - (Jessi): Hello, I'm Jessi Burnett. I don't know what else you want to know about me.

0:02:14 - (Nicole): I'm going to ask lots of questions. Now, Jessi, your dad's job is the mayor of Gladstone, a whole town. What does that involve?

0:02:23 - (Jessi): Well, I guess it's a massive role and it just means, I guess, services the whole of Gladstone region. So that could be anything to do with the roads that you drive your car on, the parklands that you take your kids to, the facilities that we have, like the halls, the entertainment centre, the library, the art gallery, pretty much everything in Gladstone region has to do with the Mayor. And if you have any requests, I guess you can send them through to him and he can see what he can make happen.

0:02:54 - (Jessi): If you want a road upgraded or whatnot if someone forgot to pick up your bin or you forgot to put it out

0:03:02 - (Mayor Matt): Yeah, that happens.

0:03:04 - (Jessi): But yeah, I guess everything and anything, really. A massive job. And how long has he been doing that job for? I can think right off the top of my head. It's been like 21 years.

0:03:19 - (Mayor Matt): 24.

0:03:19 - (Jessi): 24 years.

0:03:21 - (Mayor Matt): Yeah, nearly 24 years in March.

0:03:25 - (Nicole): 24 years.

0:03:26 - (Mayor Matt): So most of Jessi's life, she was a baby.

0:03:28 - (Nicole): Wow.

0:03:28 - (Mayor Matt): And her brothers were not born.

0:03:31 - (Nicole): Yeah. You don't know anything different than your dad being the mayor?

0:03:34 - (Jessi): Not really, no.

0:03:36 - (Mayor Matt): Yeah. Sorry. I was a Councillor first, so I was a Councillor for a lot of years, and that'd be mayor for five. And then the mayor, I guess, just being in council.

0:03:46 - (Jessi): He's been in council my whole life pretty much, so it's very normal for me. I do remember him when he owned the newspaper and worked on the council. I remember that briefly when I was younger, when I was like, five. That's all I really remember, him having any other job.

0:04:05 - (Nicole): Yeah. And so, Matt, being a mayor isn't a normal job application that you have to do. What do you have to do to become a mayor of a town?

0:04:14 - (Mayor Matt): Well, first, as I said, I was a Councillor first, so I was on the Gladstone City Council. I was elected in the year 2000. So I did eight years as a Councillor. And then we amalgamated with Calliope Shire and Miriamvale Shire with Gladstone City and was a Councillor on the amalgamated Council for a couple of years. Sadly, our mayor passed away and the deputy mayor was elected mayor and I became her deputy. And so then for five years, I was her deputy mayor.

0:04:41 - (Mayor Matt): So I guess it's almost like an apprenticeship, like any trade, you want to be a boiler maker, you just don't go into the job and start welding. You got to learn. Same with any role, really. And so I guess I did. You could pull an apprenticeship as a councillor for a number of years and then deputy for five, and then I've been the mayor for the last eight other mayors get elected who have never served a day on council before.

0:05:07 - (Mayor Matt): Personally, I don't think that's the right way to do it. I actually kind of grinds my gears a bit when I see people who have never turned up to a council meeting and all of a sudden think they can be mayor. And I think you haven't got a clue what you're even getting yourself into. And more often than not, they realise that if they are elected, they're like, oh, wow, this is not what I thought it was. You can't pull the the crew up on the side of the road that are grading the road and say, oh, by the way, can you do this street when you finish? It's not how it works.

0:05:30 - (Mayor Matt): There's lots of things that they think the mayor can do that you can't. It's mostly about creating policy and delivering our budget. They're the two highest priority projects for a mayor. Yeah, I get asked that a bit. And so I did A Day in the Life of a Mayor on my Facebook a couple of months ago. In the morning, I'll try and remember that day. I got up, I did a couple of radio interviews. So usually between six and eight you'll do radio interviews because that's when people are listening to morning radio.

0:06:03 - (Mayor Matt): So we've got half a dozen radio stations that will call me, mostly the three local ones, but others as well. Then you'll probably go straight to might be a community meeting somewhere. So I think that day I went to the university. We welcomed the new chancellor for our local university. Then we stopped in at the Phillips Street Communities precinct and met with the team from Orange Sky who are bringing their facilities to Gladstone, which is they provide a laundry service for those people who don't have access to laundry services.

0:06:31 - (Mayor Matt): Then I had a local Disaster Management Group meeting where I chaired that as the mayor, and we meet with stakeholders police, fire, Ambos, etc. And then I went and met with another community group, which is not for profit. House did some media for TV and then that was probably lunchtime. I don't remember really what happened for the rest of the day after that was a few months ago, but like last week, I guess I've had the library board of Queensland and Gladstone. I've also had the Gladstone Ports Corporation board here as well, so you catch up with them. But at the same time you're dealing with companies like Sumatomo and Rio Tinto and Mitsui and Konico Phillips, big international companies, about getting them to either continue their operations in Gladstone or to reinvest or invest in new infrastructure and new industries in town.

0:07:16 - (Nicole): That's a very busy day. Lots of busy days all at once.

0:07:20 - (Mayor Matt): Yeah.

0:07:20 - (Nicole): Jessi, your dad is the mayor and he's been on council for all that time, all your life, pretty much. But you're not interested in being on the council by the sounds of things. You've got your own business, haven't you?

0:07:31 - (Jessi): Yes, I definitely have my own business. Being on council is something that does, I guess, come to mind sometimes because I've been around it so much. But at this current point, I work for the council, actually, in Gladstone, which is funny because I kind of work for the mayor. And then I have my own business where I ask dad for advice all the time. And I categorise him as my business advisor, as a bit of a joke, because I go through all of my ideas through him first before they come and actually happen.

0:08:06 - (Jessi): But, yeah, it's funny that.

0:08:09 - (Nicole): What is your business? What have you decided to make your path?

0:08:13 - (Jessi): So I have an online hair, beauty, wellness and lifestyle business, so it's very boutique style, so it's products that I guess you can't get in. Gladstone was really my idea for it, but I am online, so anyone in Australia can buy the products online and I'll ship them to them. But I do host pop up shops throughout the Gladstone region and I have for about two years now.

0:08:43 - (Mayor Matt): Sorry, that's my son home now. Feel free to include it in the podcast. And Jesse's website is Jessijayne.com

0:08:54 - (Nicole): We'll definitely put that in the show notes. Jessie, is that what you thought when you were little you were going to do? You were going to look up, you were going to sell products for hair and beauty and get in that wellness space? Or what is it you wanted to do when you were little?

0:09:07 - (Jessi): So, when I was younger, I actually did a hairdressing apprenticeship when I was in school. So from year ten I had a school based apprenticeship and graduated in Year twelve with my Year Twelve certificate. And then I went on to do my hairdressing after that and finished that in Gladstone at our private college in Gladstone, Rashaw College. And then I also started doing some beauty courses, so I did lashes and brows and I learnt some beauty stuff as well because I've always been interested in that space and I've continued doing that just on the side.

0:09:46 - (Jessi): Sometimes I'll do my friends brows and haircuts or makeup if they want.

0:09:52 - (Nicole): That was something you've always loved since you were little?

0:09:55 - (Jessi): Yeah, definitely. And then, so I guess when I wasn't working in the hairdressing beauty industry, I was thinking, how can I still be involved in it? And everyone would ask me, oh, what shampoo should I use? Or what this should I use rah rah? And I was always throwing out recommendations and then I was like, why don't I just put it all on one website? And then I can just say, this is what I recommend and then it's just easier for me, easier for everyone.

0:10:26 - (Jessi): And that's kind of what I did.

0:10:28 - (Nicole): I love that. And Matt, being a mayor is not something lots of little kids think that they want to do when they grow up. What was it that you wanted to do when you were a kid?

0:10:37 - (Mayor Matt): Well, apparently, according to my Year Twelve yearbook, I did want to be the mayor, but I don't remember that. I wanted to be a journalist and that's what I was. So I went, started a cadet ship at The Observer and then finished it at my own newspaper. I started my own newspaper, was called the Port Curtis Post, finished it there and I worked for a number of newspapers and radio stations over the years as well. So I actually wanted to be a journalist, but according to my yearbook, I did want to be mayor. But, I mean, my granddaughter's a 6th generation Gladstone local.

0:11:08 - (Mayor Matt): We've been here for a very long time. Jessie's great great granddad was also mayor on her mother's side of the family and her uncle, or great great uncle on my side, was a councillor as well. So our family have had a lot to do with this community for a long time. My granddad started the taxi company, my grandmother was first District Governor for Girl Guides. And on their mum's side of the family, they've got a long connection to the community as well. So we love the place. We wouldn't live anywhere else. So it makes sense if you're part of the team that decides how the future is going to look. And I mentioned before some of those international companies.

0:11:42 - (Mayor Matt): We want to make sure that those companies are investing in lodging, so there's good employment opportunities and good economic development for our community for many years to come. We'll be a big community for a long time because of our port. Everything else just can work around it.

0:11:54 - (Nicole): Yeah, well, Gladstone is a beautiful place and you guys are obviously part of making that happen. What is it about your job that you love the most, Matt?

0:12:04 - (Mayor Matt): Well, I really do enjoy attracting new businesses and supporting existing businesses, and I've talked about that a bit. But my actual favorite part of the job, absolutely no doubt in my mind, is the citizenship ceremony. We had one just recently on National Citizenship Day. 25 new Australians. There is nothing better than making someone an Aussie that wants to make not only Australia home and Queensland have a Gladstone region home. So that's my favourite part of the job. And we've got Anna A. Massey, a local singer who sings I Am Australian and the national anthem. And it's just a beautiful ceremony and you just can't help but feeling every bit Australian and very every bit Gladstone at the same time.

0:12:45 - (Jessi): I love it.

0:12:46 - (Nicole): Yeah, those are very special ceremonies. I remember going to my mum's when she did hers and, yeah, it was a very proud moment for sure. Jessi, in your work and in your business, so you've got two things. You've got a job that you do full time and then you've got your business as well. What are the favourite things that you have about both of those jobs? What do you love most about both of them?

0:13:08 - (Jessi): My favourite part about my job on council is I work in community events, which I guess is very fitting, pretty much aligns with everything that Dad said earlier with making the region better, more liveable. Way is putting on the major events that we have in the Gladstone region and bring some fun to the community, I guess. So we've got like a light and art festival, Luminous, which attracts over 30,000 people which are local and from out of town.

0:13:39 - (Jessi): Australia Day, New Year's Eve, I guess just making fun for everyone, for the community, for the people that live here. It's funny, I remember in my interview when I was a trainee, actually, when I applied to be a trainee at the council, they were like, Why do you want this job? And I said, Because I'm sick of people saying there's nothing to do when there is. And I want to make those things happen and promote those things.

0:14:05 - (Jessi): And then they're like, all right. And then I got the job and I was like, There you go. Which was pretty cool. And then with my business, there's lots of aspects that I love about it, but I guess I am a little bit shopping addicted, so I guess having a guilt free way of spending my money is fun. Finding new products and showing them to friends, family and whoever wants to buy them is exciting. Yeah.

0:14:34 - (Nicole): And so the hairdressing apprenticeship you did my mum's a hairdresser, so I love hairdressers. Was that your first job or did you have a different job first?

0:14:43 - (Jessi): No, that was my first job. Well, I was a tea and tidy at the hairdressing salon first. And that's just tea and tidy and that's it. You don't get to do anything else. Sorry. You have to learn to make cup of tea. You were soaking up hair and making people's cup of tea. Yeah, and that was honestly hard enough because I was like 14 and I didn't know how to make tea because I didn't drink tea. So, yeah, you learn the ropes pretty fast.

0:15:11 - (Mayor Matt): Now she sells tea.

0:15:12 - (Jessi): Yeah, then I became an apprentice. And then you come a senior stylist and then yeah, I remember when I was a teen tidy, I obviously didn't realise how expensive the scissors were that the hairdressers use, and I was like, trying to clean up. And so I grabbed someone's scissors because they were the tiniest, sharpest ones I could find to get the hair out of the wheels of the trolley. And I'm just jabbing these like $200 scissors, maybe more. They could have been like $600, I don't know, into this trolley. And they're like, oh, Jesse, stop that right now.

0:15:49 - (Jessi): I can't believe I did that.

0:15:52 - (Mayor Matt): Yeah, not the ones you get at the news agent. I remember when she had to buy them, they were like $700.

0:15:57 - (Jessi): I'm like what?

0:15:58 - (Mayor Matt): Yeah, just use these ones with the blue handle.

0:16:01 - (Nicole): Yeah, they don't cut it. What was your first job as a kid?

0:16:07 - (Mayor Matt): Well, my first job actually was holding boxes in the butcher shop, so I would have been probably maybe twelve. So that was a dad's friend's butcher shop. And I'm sure that was just to give us a job and it took us work ethic, that's for sure. We used to fold the boxes that the meat was delivered in. You'd think that's not much of a job that took all day. It took all morning on a Saturday morning because she went to school and so we would get there at probably 07:00 maybe, I think on a Saturday morning, work till twelve. I think I was paid $5 going to show my age. I feel like my granddad now, but I had enough money with that to buy lunch and still have change so we're go down the fish and chip shop and buy a hamburger and maybe some chips and a drink.

0:16:47 - (Mayor Matt): Now I'm showing my age. And you would still have change out of your $5? I don't know how that's possible, I can't think of how that's possible, but it was yeah, I did that for a number of years then I guess remember what the next job was. I worked at petrol stations, the 24 Hours petrol station and the Mobile Pin Cora petrol station for a number of years. So you do shift work there as well? Being a 24 hours, so I usually got the 09:00 p.m. To 05:00 a.m. Shift, so on Friday and Saturday nights it wasn't always pleasant, people coming in. The only place in Gladstone open for a feed after they've been to the nightclub all night.

0:17:20 - (Mayor Matt): Always fun. Then I worked on the railway and then I've been on council other than owning newspapers and so in all of.

0:17:29 - (Nicole): Those jobs that you've done, apart from mayor of course, what was your favourite?

0:17:34 - (Mayor Matt): I really enjoyed working the railway. My dad was in the signal cabin and he'd worked at the railway for 40 years and I was a car driver, so I was driving the train drivers around. So basically you jump in the car. I was a porter as well. So you did put the bags on the passenger trains but mostly bloodstone is coal and freight train mostly coal. So I would drive to Blackwater Bluff, Mara and Biloela mostly, and pick up train drivers that were changing crews and bring them back to Gladstone. Or take a train crew out and drop them off to wherever they were. So they usually meet a crew on the way and swap train drivers over so that they're not driving for too long. And you just have a chat on the way out there all the time. It was good, loved it.

0:18:13 - (Nicole): That obviously sparked some journalism thoughts too, if you were having a chat and liking people's stories.

0:18:18 - (Mayor Matt): Yeah, yeah, I could remember some of the stories and to be honest, I think that's what helped me get elected. Gladstone has probably the largest depot of Queensland Rail outside Brisbane and they all knew me as Matt's car driver, so when it comes time to running for council, I had a fairly big supporter base in the railway.

0:18:36 - (Nicole): There you go. And Jessi, what's the worst job you've ever had?

0:18:41 - (Jessi): oh, that's actually hard.

0:18:44 - (Nicole): Or are you really lucky and haven't had bad work experiences?.

0:18:45 - (Jessi): Yeah, I haven't really had a bad job. I've only had a few jobs. I've done the tea and tidy, if you count that hairdressing. And then I was like a barista, bartender, barber, and my traineeship with the council. And then I was a casual at the council, and then I'm full time at the council now, so I haven't really had a bad job, which is really nice, I guess.

0:19:16 - (Nicole): That's fantastic.

0:19:17 - (Mayor Matt): Very lucky.

0:19:18 - (Nicole): What about you, Matt?

0:19:22 - (Jessi): What was your worst job?

0:19:23 - (Mayor Matt): I didn't mention one before because I try to forget that for a very brief period in time, I worked in real estate. And that's only because not because I wanted to sell houses. An older lady who'd been in real estate for many years, the legislation had changed, and she couldn't keep up with the new way of listing properties and selling properties, so she asked me to help her. And it went from basically a DL size form that you ticked and flicked to list a property to about 20 pages or more that everyone had to sign an initial and understand and all the rest of it. So I went and did a course so that I could help her keep her real estate going.

0:19:58 - (Mayor Matt): I didn't like that at all. And I end up resigning and saying, thanks, I've helped you. You now understand the new legislation. And I sold a couple of houses for her, but I wasn't very good at that because you're supposed to work for the people selling the house. And I probably was better off working for the people buying the house because I was trying to get them a good deal. That's not how it works. You're supposed to get a good deal for the people.

0:20:20 - (Mayor Matt): So I probably failed as a real estate agent.

0:20:26 - (Nicole): Yeah, but it's good to have those Experiences so that you know what a good job looks like. Jessi, for you, what makes a good job?

0:20:33 - (Jessi): I think a good job is for me because I'm a creative, a job that is inspiring and gives you fulfilment. I guess when I do the community events, it's very fulfilling. We're always changing them every year, even if they are an annual event. We're always seeing how we can change things and keep them relevant or bring new people or expand the event or make it better. So I think that, for me, is probably what makes a good job.

0:21:08 - (Nicole): And do you get to sit inside all the time? Do you get to go out and about? Do you work by yourself or do you work with a team? What do you like as far as jobs go?

0:21:18 - (Jessi): Well, it's funny that because I was always hairdressing, I was really like, you're kind of like a one man show. Unless you have an apprentice that you can lean on, you don't really or don't really work with other people. You don't need to, I guess. You've got your client and you work for them at that time and then moving into events. I started then working as a team, which is I guess something that was good for me to learn as well and adjust with.

0:21:46 - (Jessi): But now I love working in a team, not that I didn't before that, but I never needed to really. I guess I like working in a team now because you have so many people that you can go to with ideas or bounce ideas off and all understand the one goal, I guess.

0:22:03 - (Nicole): Yeah, there's something really cool about having a goal towards that you can all drive towards and working as that team. I like that idea. Matt, what do you think makes a good job?

0:22:13 - (Mayor Matt): It's certainly got a lot to do with who you work with. You've got to love it. So if you don't love what you're doing, don't do it. And I love what yeah, and I loved working in the railway and that's why I stayed there too. And the only reason I left really is because it was probably time to be full time councillor because at amalgamation it became a full time job so for a period of time I could do both. And I certainly remember working in the newspaper industry and the radio when I was on council, so that was interesting times.

0:22:38 - (Mayor Matt): But I've always had good workmates, I've got a fantastic council now over the years we've had some great councillors and mayors as well that I've worked with too. So that helps you have a good senior executive team though, because as I said, we set the policy, they're the operations and if you're not working together in harmony with senior executive team, there will be disconnect and that's no good for anybody.

0:22:59 - (Mayor Matt): Ours is great, hopefully it stays that way and I can't see it changing because as I said, we had a good team. I've been on council for now 24 years so it's been a long time since I can remember where else, but I wouldn't hang around if I didn't get along with anyone or if I didn't enjoy what I did. So I've always as I said, I started work when I was twelve. Jessi started work when she was 14. My boys have done the same. We've always worked and I've just said you got to love it.

0:23:22 - (Mayor Matt): My sons are one is an apprentice boiler maker, the other is an apprentice cabinet maker. They love their job. If they didn't, I said go do something else because they did try other things and you're going to spend a lot of your life working. No good being miserable.

0:23:35 - (Nicole): Yeah, that's very true, but sometimes work is hard and as a mayor I think there will be some days that are really hard. What are the hardest days? Like citizenship ceremonies being the peak as fun and obviously lots of things in between. But what are the really hard days like, Matt?

0:23:52 - (Mayor Matt): Sometimes, obviously, when you put the budget out and put the rates out, people get disappointed because they don't necessarily understand the differential rating system. And no matter how hard you try, it's going to be very difficult to explain it to everybody that wants to even understand it. Why is my rates higher in Gladstone than my property in Brisbane? There is over a million people in Brisbane to share the cost across.

0:24:14 - (Mayor Matt): We've got 10,000 residents, not that many ratepayers. So when you've got that much road network and that many kilometres of water and sewerage networks and that distance to travel to pick up the bins and not the sheer number of people to help spread the cost, it's going to cost more to live in a smaller community every single time. That's why a lot of councils in Queensland are not financially viable or not sustainable. At the moment.

0:24:40 - (Mayor Matt): We are, we're a sustainable council and that's good for us. But that's obviously a tough time. When you put the rates down, people might say, oh, you're grub, you put our rates up and you think, yeah, I'm not a grub. Actually doing my damn best to make sure that we can have everything we have here, make the place great with these great events that Jesse's team put out, and attract major industries and make it a liveable community.

0:25:02 - (Mayor Matt): In order to do that, it costs money. That means people have to pay for their services. One of the main things I try and do as a councillor and as mayor is at the other levels, at local government Queensland and local government Australian level, is to try and get more money back from the state and federal governments. And to be fair, we've done pretty good of that over the last eight years. We've got a lot of money back from the state and Fed. So there's 537 councils in the country and if we can get a little think, just 1% of what the federal government collects in taxation back to councils makes a huge difference on your rates.

0:25:36 - (Nicole): And that's what that affects people's bills. That's another bill that families have to pay, so anything that helps them with their bills is a good thing.

0:25:43 - (Mayor Matt): They don't see the tax coming out of their pay every week, but they see the rates going to turn up in the mail once a year.

0:25:47 - (Nicole): Yeah, that's very true. What about when there's you were talking before on your day in the life of the mayor, one of the things you do is chair the local disaster management group. How does that work as a mayor when there's a big disaster that might happen in your city?

0:26:02 - (Mayor Matt): So we have regular meetings, so we've prepared these events and we've had some we've had our fair share of rain events and floods and bushfires. We had the massive big bushfires in Deepwater National Park, around Bapt Creek, Agnes Water area in Low, Mead and Roseville, and then further up to the north in Mount Larkham. And so you work with the emergency services very closely and I know them very well and we've got a great relationship. While I'm the chair of the LDMG, I don't make all decisions, we make them collectively and that's how it works again, that trust relationship.

0:26:33 - (Mayor Matt): So we've got a great relationship with police, so we needed to get the police into a certain area to get some people out or the SES to move trees off the road or the fire is put out, a fire or whatever it might be. Amber was to go in and rescue. We've got a great team. We've also got a lot of ancillary organisations in there like Ergon, Energy and Education and the Health Department and the Gladstone Area Water Board that are referral agencies that give us advice as well because we meet so often and we do exercises as well. So prepare for what might happen, prepare for another disaster that isn't happening at the time so you be ready when the scenario does happen.

0:27:09 - (Mayor Matt): I guess the key thing is to get what needs to be done when it's done by who needs to do it and then start preparing for recovery. We have recovery groups and quite often we're already preparing for recovery while we're still in an event that makes sense. So you could still be flooding but you're already getting ready and standing up. It's called standing up your recovery group so that they're all getting ready to recover after the water goes down or after the fire goes out.

0:27:33 - (Mayor Matt): So it's a bit of a two pronged approach and the main job of the chair is to communicate and make sure that the communication is right. And I'm very particular about making sure that we take our time and get the information out that's factual rather than rush to give people incorrect information because they rely on that. When the mayor says a road safe to use, it should be safe to use. We say you need to leave your community now, you should leave now. But when we say leave immediately, I would like to think people know that they can trust that information and they do.

0:28:04 - (Nicole): Yeah. And that's really important, obviously, to keep people safe.

0:28:08 - (Mayor Matt): Yeah.

0:28:08 - (Nicole): Jessi, in a whole different world where you weren't a hairdressing apprentice who went on to be a hairdresser, who went into event management and into this amazing business that you have, what would another job be that you would think that might be something I'd like to give a go?

0:28:25 - (Jessi): I think for me would probably be community development. There was a comment recently at Council where I did some time in community development that was amazing. I think, like I said before about good jobs being jobs that inspire you and are fulfilling, that definitely was. I was working with the Youth council, which was really cool. So learning about all of these awesome young people that I guess are leaders in our community and how amazing they are and how inspired they are and they just have so much to give and so much to learn was just unreal, I reckon.

0:29:08 - (Jessi): I loved being with them at their meetings and just listening to them discuss what they think are the issues that we have in our community and then how they want to solve them. And then we were working through an action plan from our youth summit that we had last year and how they were going to address all these issues that they came up with that the youth said were the issues in the Gladstone region.

0:29:33 - (Jessi): And then how they were going to maybe put them on event to connect people with other people that they need to connect with or maybe host like, I don't know, a networking session or whatever they came up with. And it was just really cool. So I love that. I think maybe in another life that could have been the track that I went down. Or still could be. Still could be, who knows?

0:29:57 - (Nicole): Well, maybe it's the next track.

0:29:58 - (Jessi): Yeah.

0:30:00 - (Nicole): It sounds to me like the two of you both feed off community energy quite well.

0:30:05 - (Jessi): Yeah, I think it's probably inbuilt in My brain, definitely

0:30:07 - (Nicole): it comes through very, very strongly. Jessi, your dad is obviously a busy guy. Does he like his job?

0:30:16 - (Jessi): I think so. I think he loves his job or he wouldn't be doing it because I think it's very hard for sure.

0:30:23 - (Nicole): And unlike a regular job that you apply for and you have to wait for someone to call you and tell you that you got the job, matt, you have to wait for election night. Hopefully it happens on election night rather than taking too long. What's that feel like when you've applied for this job, to be mayor still and you ask everybody in Gladstone, put your faith in me. How does that feel on election night for you while you're waiting to find out if they did?

0:30:47 - (Mayor Matt): Yeah, that's interesting. I don't know how to explain the bit of nervousness. I guess it's different from the very first time you run. Well, the first time I ran, I lost by nine votes, so that was brutal. But I was a teenager, so it was okay. When I ran for mayor the first time in 2016, I guess that was interesting to see. Had to take that gamble of that. It was either mayor or nothing. And fortunately I've got about 74% of the vote, so it was very nice. And we knew very early in the night. So you go in, you scrutiny the ballot. So when they open them out, there's always a trend and you can see the trend and that's how it works. I don't know how it is or why it is, but there is always a trend. And the trend was coming in where I was getting 70 plus 74% of the vote in every booth. So that flowed through to the night. So I knew that very early on election night and then the last time, very similar vote at the last election too, and the next election is in March.

0:31:38 - (Nicole): But that feeling on the night, that relief, I can imagine is quite a big thing.

0:31:42 - (Mayor Matt): Absolutely. When the doors close, it's fine throughout the whole day but at 06:00, when they close the doors and then they don't actually tip the ballot papers out for about 15 minutes or something. That bit is the worst bit because, you know, everyone voted, there's nothing more you can do. The adrenaline from the day, that's what it's called, it's gone because you're ready now and you got to wait there for the returning officer to say, yeah, that bit, that nervous bit, then. But then after that, once they tip them out and you can look, you know, whether it's going to be close.

0:32:09 - (Nicole): Or not anyway, it's a funny feeling, that's for sure. Different to a job interview. When you're waiting for that phone call, you're actually watching all those ballots come out of the box.

0:32:17 - (Mayor Matt): Yeah. And honestly, the next election is in March 2024 and I am running again, obviously. But if the community determined that they want someone else at that point in time, that's okay, I'm fine with that. Obviously I want to stay in the role because we're in the middle of an economic transition. Like, Gladstone is going through a massive energy transition, so is the nation and the world, to be fair, but we're like ground zero when it comes to that sort of thing. We have all these industries I mentioned before, we have probably five of the top ten energy users in the state and the biggest single energy user in Boyne Smelter. So for Rio Tinto to commit to net zero means that they, which they have done, probably the biggest employer in town. For them to now invest in renewable energy means that they're staying. So we've got that investment that they're investing in. Plus we also have the renewable energies that are coming as well. So the hydrogen and the solar and the wind and other projects. So, yeah, pretty exciting times. So hopefully the community put me back in for another four years and they'll see where we go.

0:33:13 - (Nicole): That sounds amazing. Well, guys, I am going to wrap It up there so that you can have family time, because you don't get that very often. But I just wanted to say thank you so much, both of you.

0:33:21 - (Jessi): Thank you. See you later. See ya.

0:33:25 - (Nicole): Coming up next week, we're going to meet Sam and her kids, Toby and Georgia. Your mum writes books and she has a job and I know she also does other things. Georgia, what else does your mum do?

0:33:37 - (Georgia): She teaches my tap class.

0:33:40 - (Nicole): Unbelievable. So, hang on, how many jobs are we up to right now? We've got author, we've got principal scientist, and then you've got dance teacher as well. I'm exhausted. How do you keep up with your mum?

0:33:51 - (Toby): I do not know.

0:33:54 - (Nicole): You don't want to miss this one. Talk to you then.

Bring your Kid to Work is a Lioness Media production. This episode was produced and edited by me, Nicole Lessio. Our music is composed by Rakkuo, with graphics and design from Anastasia Makhuka. Subscribe to Bring your Kid to Work, wherever you're listening right now to hear all our episodes, and you can also share with your friends. We hope they enjoy listening too. You can follow us on Instagram at BringYourKidToWork, and on Facebook at BringYourKidToWork, the podcast, and you can follow me on TikTok, Nicole Lessio. Visit www.BringYourKidToWork.com to see bonus content, transcripts from our episodes and to sign up to our newsletter for the latest updates. Thanks for listening.