About Cr Paul Smith
Cr Paul Smith is serving his second term on Council after being first elected in 2016.
Cr Smith was born and bred in the small country town of Matong where his parents owned and operated the local General Store and Post Office from the mid 1980’s up until he finished school in the early 2000’s.
Continuing on from his retail experience from a young age, he made the move to Leeton to broaden his skill set working in the Irrigation Industry and completed numerous courses in Irrigation Design & Technology, Office Administration and Urban Irrigation.
Cr Smith, through his current role with a local Co-Op, feels he is in touch with a lot of issues that concern our local community. He has always had an interest in local Government and was keen to give the younger generation a voice in the Local Government Area.
Paul’s great listening skills, communication and leadership are a trait that he endeavours to continue utilising throughout this term of Council. After having an extended term due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Paul is keen to continue building the strong foundations left by the previous Council and assist with the development of our towns. He is also a strong advocate for the smaller communities within our shire and is looking forward to continuing a great working relationship with the Whitton community as well as looking forward to assisting the newly revamped Yanco Town Improvement committee to get the ball rolling on a number of projects at the entrance to the MIA!
Paul is striving along with his fellow Councillors to make sure that Leeton Shire stays fit for the future, whilst maintaining and renewing assets for the whole community to enjoy. With another large Capital works program in the pipeline, we need to work together to ensure that the needs of all of our community members are met through strong advocacy at both State and Federal Government levels and prudent decision making and expenditure by Council is forthcoming.
Outside of Council, Cr Smith is a hard working Volunteer and is an Accredited Rescue Operator and President of the Leeton VRA Rescue Squad. He was awarded a 10 year Long Service medal in 2020 and continues to Volunteer his time to form part of the 10 member Primary Rescue Unit for the Leeton LGA. Paul also dedicates a lot of time to one of his other passions in the form of fishing and is President of the MIA OzFish Chapter and Leeton Bidgee Classic Fishing Competition. When he is not busy, Cr Smith likes to spend time with his wife and kids at the family farm and enjoys the truck and tractor driving during harvest!
Committee Membership:
- Whitton Community Hall Committee
- Community Grant Funding Working Group
- Infrastructure Working Group
- Leeton Flood Plain Management Committee
- Whitton Town Improvement Committee
- Yanco Town Improvement Committee
- Murray Darling Association (Voting)
- Narrandera-Leeton Airport Management Committee
- Executive Murrumbidgee Irrigation Strategic Liaison