After moving to Busselton in 1999 and raising her family here, resident Lorrae Loud felt the time was right to run for a seat on the City of Busselton council.
Ms Loud said the region had a lot to offer and she was passionate about the city growing, bringing with it new development and change.
“We need that for our young people and families in the future but I do not want us to lose sight of who and what we are,” she said.
“Running for council will give me an opportunity to voice that for myself, the people who live here and the people who come here.”
Ms Loud said she did not want the region to fall into the trap of just building houses and that it was also important to have sustainable and quality infrastructure.
“We need infrastructure that will benefit the majority not the minority within our region, for me it has to be infrastructure that promises employment and training for future generations to come.”
The saddest story for Ms Loud was what happened in Mandurah and the northern corridor of Perth where there had been an endless build of houses.
She said while people poured into Mandurah, hardly anything was invested back into the community or infrastructure leaving people without job opportunities.
“Because of that people have nothing to do and we see the crime rate go up and the whole place seems to lose its shine,” she said.
“Building good infrastructure and creating job opportunities is important.”
She believes once the airport was completed there would be opportunities for people to run bus tours, car hire, hotels and expand on the hospitality industry.
“From there you could look at rolling out small businesses with new and boutique attractions in town.
“I feel businesses in the CBD would be motivated to follow the foreshore and have a face lift.”