Councillor Chris Cherry was elected to Tweed Shire Council in 2016 as an independent. She served 3 years as Deputy Mayor from 2016 and was elected Mayor in 2020, a position she has held since.
This was a difficult period for the community and businesses as they dealt with the unprecedented challenges of COVID-19 and border closures, followed by the devasting floods in the region in 2022.
A Tweed resident in the Wooyung area for nearly 50 years, Cr Cherry now owns a Davidson Plum farm at Mooball. She has been married for 23 years and has 3 children “who keep me grounded and remind me why what we do is so important”.
After attending high school in Mullumbimby, she studied at the University of Sydney from the age of 17 and then began a post graduate degree in Biophysics at the University of NSW (UNSW). Following this, she worked in dryland salinity research at UNSW and University of Adelaide.
Cr Cherry’s vision: “I believe our biggest challenge is to grow the Shire to ensure our children and grandchildren have genuinely safe, affordable housing options into the future while ensuring we do all we can to reduce our impact on the climate and our incredible world heritage listed environment.
I am the middle child of 9 so I bring with me to Council a willingness to work with all Councillors and the belief that we have all been elected to represent different interests in the community; but we share the common goal of protecting where we live and helping to make sure the Tweed is the best it can be.”