In 2015 Kyle celebrated the presentation of an Order of Australia Medal to his father, Graham Brown; a nod for 30 years of investing skills, time and money to improve the economic, social and community identity of the Manning Valley. Three decades of learning by example has embedded community service into Kyle’s character and now it sees him stepping up to take on the challenge of the MidCoast Council election. He is not standing for election - he is adamant it’s not an option, very adamant - but what he does want is for the community to consider who should stand for election.  

The election is slated for September and Kyle recently created a Facebook page, ‘Manning for MidCoast’ to focus community discussion about candidates. The page will host a poll of potential candidates – names offered up by the community – and Kyle says people will be encouraged and able to vote to indicate support.

“The poll will be created by the community. People add the name of a person who they believe would serve well on council. It’s about finding people, encouraging people and getting people to think about the election. It’s important,” Kyle said.

Facebook is a powerful, widely used forum for discussion and Kyle is confident the poll and page will engage the diversity of people in our community.

“It may be a way to get figures of support from the community in front of someone who may never have considered standing for council,” Kyle said. “A tangible way to show someone the community thinks they would be good at this.”

Kyle considers community-mindedness as the number one quality required in the character of a candidate.

“We don’t want someone on council who is there with an agenda for themselves, their business or developer friends. Give me someone who generally wants to make a difference and wants to make the area better.”

Like the Facebook page ‘Manning for MidCoast’ to add a person to the poll and to vote.