As a born and raised Shepparton man, he said he wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
“I had the experience to go off to Melbourne, and I was split between Melbourne and Shepparton to study at university, and I think that’s when I really started to notice how lucky we are to live in Greater Shepparton,” Mr Saxton said.
“I rushed back to Shepparton during the floods and seeing how Shepparton handled it, how we all came together, the number of volunteers filling sandbags, working out days and nights, it makes you truly appreciate what we’ve got here.”
He said he was fit to be a councillor due to his experience and education, as well as being a young person of the area.
“My background is in advocacy and research, and I’ve studied policy for several years now, so I think as a young person, I’m a bit unique coming into this with not only the community experience that a lot of young people naturally have, but also a lot of the technical experience that you’d expect from a councillor.”
In terms of issues, he said the cost-of-living crisis was a top concern.
“I'm seeing issues in Greater Shepparton and quite frankly, I think affordability and the cost-of-living is the top issue that’s impacting and hurting many families,” he said.
“We can’t control the prices that Aldi, your Coles, your Woolworths charge for goods and food but what we can do is control our rates.”
He said he was passionate about making council decisions transparent and explaining the reasoning behind agenda items.
“If I get elected I’m going to be making sure that any time I make a council decision or a vote I will be making publicly available, freely available, the reasoning for my decision.
“I’m going to be going on a bit of a campaign going to the other candidates to try and make sure that they commit to this as well publicly.
“Even if I lose the election, if the councillors are committed to publicly explaining their reasoning, it’s still a win for Greater Shepparton.”
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