, <\/strong>but my advice was to always start locally,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\u201cSome politics students were interested in government roles and I said, big things happen in the State and Federal governments, but some of the most important changes need to be made in local government for the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
With issues like climate change and the rights of working people front of mind, one day Ms Simpson was \u201cdespairing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her husband suggested she take the advice she had given to others, and jump at the opportunity to become a candidate in the upcoming City of Ballarat council elections.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought, I\u2019ll throw my hat in the ring and see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Labor endorsed option for Central Ward voters, Ms Simpson wants to be an advocate for publicly owned services.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really need to make sure that the City of Ballarat continue to deliver the services that the community needs, and that we don\u2019t start to cut things when there\u2019s an economic downturn.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we lose those services, it\u2019s very hard to get them back,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
As the municipality recovers from the economic impacts of COVID-19, Ms Simpson wants the focus to be on working people.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to make sure we support those facing disadvantage and doing it tough, through a whole range of measures. Councils have a lot of tools to think creatively about how they support the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
She will aim to push for more transparency in local government, and find new ways to speak affectively with ratepayers so their voices are reflected in the actions of councillors.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a constant two-way conversation. I just want people to have a voice, including people who don\u2019t normally feel that they are represented,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a lot of people who get missed, so if I\u2019m lucky enough to get elected, I want to work with the next set of councillors collaboratively and speak to everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
A university academic for more than 10 years, Ms Simpson ventured into public policy advising in the natural resource management sector last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI work for the Federation of Victorian Traditional Owner Corporations. We work with Traditional Owner groups to advocate for tradition owners\u2019 rights in policy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m particularly involved in water policy at the moment, and my passion is for using policy to achieve tangible outcomes on the ground for communities,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Recently developing a love of nature photography, Ms Simpson is a \u201cnew twitcher\u201d that gets out in the morning to snap shots of birds in lake and wetland areas.<\/p>\n
Moving to Ballarat three years ago, she loves the city\u2019s history and has two children; a four-year-old and a high schooler.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
AS an academic and policy advisor, Kumuda Simpson has worked behind the scenes, supporting students to make a difference to their world. \u201cOver my years teaching, we\u2019d discuss climate change, global war and poverty. Students would want to go off and work for the UN, but my advice was to always start locally,\u201d she said. […]<\/p>\n
Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":71477,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-71476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWorkers a priority for Central Ward\u2019s Simpson - Ballarat Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/kumuda-simpson\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Workers a priority for Central Ward\u2019s Simpson - Ballarat Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"AS an academic and policy advisor, Kumuda Simpson has worked behind the scenes, supporting students to make a difference to their world. \u201cOver my years teaching, we\u2019d discuss climate change, global war and poverty. Students would want to go off and work for the UN, but my advice was to always start locally,\u201d she said. [...]Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/kumuda-simpson\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ballarat Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-09-24T18:55:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/09\/1W5A4410-scaled-e1600691490873.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"667\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Edwina Williams\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Edwina Williams\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/kumuda-simpson\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/kumuda-simpson\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Edwina Williams\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1679afe19d0c5817f387b660e66f07e9\"},\"headline\":\"Workers a priority for Central Ward\u2019s Simpson\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-09-24T18:55:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/kumuda-simpson\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":503,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/kumuda-simpson\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/1W5A4410-scaled-e1600691490873.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/kumuda-simpson\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/kumuda-simpson\\\/\",\"name\":\"Workers a priority for Central Ward\u2019s Simpson - Ballarat Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/kumuda-simpson\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/kumuda-simpson\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/1W5A4410-scaled-e1600691490873.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-09-24T18:55:26+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/kumuda-simpson\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/kumuda-simpson\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/kumuda-simpson\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/1W5A4410-scaled-e1600691490873.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/1W5A4410-scaled-e1600691490873.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":667,\"caption\":\"Kumuda Simpson. Photo: CHIPPY RIVERA\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/kumuda-simpson\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Workers a priority for Central Ward\u2019s Simpson\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ballarat Times\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Ballarat Times\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2021\\\/10\\\/BALT.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2021\\\/10\\\/BALT.png\",\"width\":739,\"height\":98,\"caption\":\"Ballarat Times\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1679afe19d0c5817f387b660e66f07e9\",\"name\":\"Edwina Williams\",\"description\":\"Edwina Williams is the Times News Group's Northern Victoria editor covering the Ballarat Times News Group, Golden Plains Times, Moorabool News, Bendigo Times, and McIvor Times.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/emwilliamsjourno\\\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/author\\\/edwina\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Workers a priority for Central Ward\u2019s Simpson - Ballarat Times","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/kumuda-simpson\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Workers a priority for Central Ward\u2019s Simpson - Ballarat Times","og_description":"AS an academic and policy advisor, Kumuda Simpson has worked behind the scenes, supporting students to make a difference to their world. \u201cOver my years teaching, we\u2019d discuss climate change, global war and poverty. Students would want to go off and work for the UN, but my advice was to always start locally,\u201d she said. [...]Read More...","og_url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/kumuda-simpson\/","og_site_name":"Ballarat Times","article_published_time":"2020-09-24T18:55:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":667,"url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/09\/1W5A4410-scaled-e1600691490873.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Edwina Williams","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Edwina Williams","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/kumuda-simpson\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/kumuda-simpson\/"},"author":{"name":"Edwina Williams","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#\/schema\/person\/1679afe19d0c5817f387b660e66f07e9"},"headline":"Workers a priority for Central Ward\u2019s Simpson","datePublished":"2020-09-24T18:55:26+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/kumuda-simpson\/"},"wordCount":503,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/kumuda-simpson\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/09\/1W5A4410-scaled-e1600691490873.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/kumuda-simpson\/","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/kumuda-simpson\/","name":"Workers a priority for Central Ward\u2019s Simpson - Ballarat Times","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/kumuda-simpson\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/kumuda-simpson\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/09\/1W5A4410-scaled-e1600691490873.jpg","datePublished":"2020-09-24T18:55:26+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/kumuda-simpson\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/kumuda-simpson\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/kumuda-simpson\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/09\/1W5A4410-scaled-e1600691490873.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/09\/1W5A4410-scaled-e1600691490873.jpg","width":1000,"height":667,"caption":"Kumuda Simpson. Photo: CHIPPY RIVERA"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/kumuda-simpson\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Workers a priority for Central Ward\u2019s Simpson"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#website","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/","name":"Ballarat Times","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#organization","name":"Ballarat Times","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2021\/10\/BALT.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2021\/10\/BALT.png","width":739,"height":98,"caption":"Ballarat Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#\/schema\/person\/1679afe19d0c5817f387b660e66f07e9","name":"Edwina Williams","description":"Edwina Williams is the Times News Group's Northern Victoria editor covering the Ballarat Times News Group, Golden Plains Times, Moorabool News, Bendigo Times, and McIvor Times.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/emwilliamsjourno\/"],"url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/author\/edwina\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71476"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=71476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}