South West Ward: Cr Christine Richards

E-mail:  crrichards@frankston.vic.gov.au
Phone:  (03) 9783 6068
Fax:  (03) 9783 6087

Cr Chris Richards hold degrees in Arts and Law from Melbourne University. She has enjoyed two careers to date - one in law; the second in media. Advocacy for social justice has been at the heart of both careers.

As a lawyer she has worked both inside and outside courts and tribunals as a barrister and solicitor in criminal, tenancy, and consumer credit casework. The bulk of her twelve year legal career has been spent in working towards making the law more responsive to the needs of the person in the street. She has been a Law Reform Commissioner in both Victoria and Queensland, and has been a sitting member of three Victorian authorities responsible for regulating both motor car traders and providers of consumer credit.

As a journalist, she started her career with ABC's 4 Corners. The following twelve years in radio, TV and magazine production has continuously focused on the 'big issues' in both Australian and the world politics and society. From working alone in conflict zones to working co-operatively with a range of talented people, Chris has produced and presented radio shows and documentaries across a broad range of ABC Radio National programs and won the Best Radio Report in the Law Reporting Awards in 2001 whilst presenting and producing The Law Report. For the last eight years, she has been the Australasian editor of New Internationalist magazine, run by a well-established international co-operative based in Oxford, England. She recently developed, produced and presented a weekly hour-long international radio program called Radio New Internationalist, showcasing progressive thinkers across the globe, and winning the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia award for Excellence in Spoken Word Programming in 2007.

After working in Asia, England, four Australian capitals, Alice Springs, and rural and remote areas in Queensland, Chris returned to Victoria in 2002 when her father and friend, well-respected Frankston businessman Alan Richards, was dying. Since his death over five years ago, she has been actively involved in her family's business affairs in Frankston. Now living in the South-West ward, she has been wonderfully surprised by how right 'coming home' has felt. She is passionate about Frankston and is working hard to see it realize its full potential.

Chris was elected to the Frankston City Council in the 2008 elections: the first candidate to cross the line in her Ward after gaining the most first preference votes.