November 30th, 2025New mayor and deputy elected for HSC

Cr Tony Clark’s professional background is vast. He has an honours degree in science and a masters in communication.
A large part of his career has been in the not-for-profi t sector with Vision Australia – he was deemed legally blind at the age of 20. As an executive he spent his years travelling up and down the eastern seaboard. More recently he worked with the state government, as director for Communications and Engagement for the Victorian Health Building Authority.
Tony is also an accredited trainer for the Australian Institute of Company Directors and on the board, as a non-executive director, with the State Trustees of Victoria. He is also on the board of the Engagement Institute, the peak body for community engagement, where he was chair for six years, ending in October this year. Away from work he has been a leader for more than 35 years in the Scout Association, dealing with Venturers and Rovers, the senior age groups. And now he is the Mayor of Hepburn Shire Council. “I’ve had an interesting life. And looking forward to more as I go,” he said.
Back in 2010, Tony stood for the federal seat of Higgins, Peter Costello’s old seat, and then Deakin in 2016 with the slogan ‘No sight, great vision’. It didn’t work.
Is council a stepping stone for another crack at a federal seat? “No, I’m past that. I have a view though. If you stop and think, since Federation
in 1901, there have been about 10 people elected to federal government with lived experience of disability. Just 10. And I think the only way things will actually change
and you can really aff ect some equity is you’re going to be at the table of decision. “I think that it is actually a mark of some of the progress that we still need to
make in Australia. We talk about equity and we talk about meaningful inclusion, yet at our base level in politics where decisions are made, there is still such a gap. “I think we need advocates inside politics to actually help change the machine that makes the decisions from the start. And one of the outcomes of my work was that the Victorian Labor Party is the only political party in Australia to have developed a disability action plan. “But that (standing for a federal seat) was a long time ago now. And now I think
I’m enjoying just being local. I have no desire to work 80-hour weeks, to be honest.” Tony said over the next 12 months he was looking forward to continuing to build community trust.

“I think there are some really good opportunities to improve and expand what happens. And having been the chair of the Australian peak body for community engagement, I’m really hoping to bring some of that experience into the shire. I think the shire actually does a reasonable job at it, but I think there’s some ways we can improve and uplift. “And once you start to do that engagement, you get a two-way opportunity to share information and community understanding, but also inform the decisions that we’re elected to do, to make and help in the whole process. Because change is never easy for anyone. And I think the more we talk, the more we can get some shared understanding.”

Tony says in terms of the shire’s fi nancial viability things are OK. “We were heading to a very diffi cult place and there is no doubt about that. And to the previous council’s credit, because this is where it started, they made some very tough decisions, and we’ve done that, and I actually think we have a reasonably solid foundation moving forward.
“We’ve got to be careful and I think what a lot of people don’t actually appreciate is this is an issue for the entire local government sector. Governments are cost shifting in a huge way. Costs are going up and councils have very limited and constrained revenue opportunities.

“We’re just going to have to make very sensible, well-considered decisions as we go forward, which won’t align to perhaps what people are hoping we’ll be able to spend.”
Tony said having a disability gave him a diff erent perspective.“We’re all a product of our own experience. Th ere’s no doubt there’s things that I miss in terms of a visual perspective, but there’s a whole lot of other stuff I will also pick up. And one of the great strengths of our democracy is that I am but one of seven decision makers. You know, it’s not all about me. “And everyone, all the council offi cers, all the councillors, and the whole community, I have found are embracing and positive.”
Tony said his top priorities for his term were listening to the community, working with councillors and council officers, and working out how to improve and build
community trust. He is also looking forward to working with the state government and funding bodies – “that’s a really important one”. “I am keen to work with local businesses and work out how we can, in the longer term, set things up for them to thrive and grow because they are in many ways the lifeblood of the really important things in our shire. “And I am excited to continue to work on the planning scheme amendments which the long-term future of our community depends on in terms of what we build, where we build and how we grow over the coming decade. “There’s economic, sustainability, diversity and planning, and there’s a whole lot of sub-areas that fall into that, whereas before you might have had tourism and local business. They actually should just be economic, because they all integrate one way or another.
“This is where the engagement stuff in my mind comes in, you know, how do we actually make sure that we’re developing appropriate plans and going to experts in the space to say what do you know and stress testing it. I’m not a fan of saying, ‘here’s a blue sky, what would you like?’ That just sets up a whole lot of expectations that you’re probably never going to be able to do. “If we can get some of that happening in the next six to nine months, I think that’ll be pretty good. The reality for council and businesses is things don’t happen fast. And I’d rather do it a little bit slower, but do it well.”
Tony said he was keen to have constructive, positive and respectful conversations. “I think there are some issues around safety and respect, which I really hope we work on together as a community. Because there are some individuals who have overstepped the line, particularly in the online space.”