Northern Midlands councillor Janet Lambert will apply for a leave of absence at next week’s council meeting.
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Cr Lambert will apply for leave after being chosen as the Labor candidate for the Legislative Council seat of Prosser at the May 5 election.
This will be the second leave of absence she has taken in 2018, after excusing herself from the council throughout an unsuccessful run for the seat of Lyons in the state election.
“I was approached to see if I would be interested in standing after coming very close in Lyons,” Cr Lambert said.
“It’s the right thing to do to take a leave of absence and the same protocols will apply as when I took a leave of absence for the state election.”
Cr Lambert missed out on a seat at the state election by just 347 votes, despite gaining more first-preference votes than fellow Labor candidate, and seat winner, Jen Butler.
If her bid for the seat of Prosser is successful she will resign from the council.
Cr Lambert said she was still committed to local politics, despite a second leave of absence within the first three months of the year.
“I’ve had almost two terms now in local government and I think my commitment remains strong,” she said.
“Even if you move to state politics, you still have a close connection to the local council and local community.”
Northern Midlands mayor David Downie gave the green light to Cr Lambert’s election candidacy.
”She’s trying to further her political career and we wish her luck,” he said.
“If she wants to take a leave of absence I have no problem with that.”
Cr Lambert commented she was “fairly confident” of her chances in the election.
“My profile is good – I’ve had really positive comments and feedback from people in the community about the election” she said.
“I’ll be campaigning every day and making sure people know I’m around and running for the Legislative Council.”
The seat of Prosser was created in 2017 and will be contested for the first time this year.
It is made up of parts of the Northern Midlands, Southern Midlands, Sorell and Glamorgan Spring Bay regions.