Melissa Maguire - Winning Work Champion

09/09/2025

Pot calling the kettle black?
Gaslighting 101 right here considering her own social media posts were the very ones disrespecting candidates.

Especially when I know the mayor trolled me on the one and only comversation i had with her almost 3 years ago.

Mind boggling.

Athina Pascoe-Bell said online abuse and bullying was becoming a problem in Australia’s democracy and elections as seen in the recent council elections in Palmerston and Darwin. STORY 👉 https://bit.ly/4mb0ZdZ

09/09/2025

Honoured to be invited to the City of Palmerston inauguration of elected members to council last night.

Congratulations to all councillors I wish you all a productive and successful term over the next 4 years. .

———
Side note: I question why wasn’t the event catered by a Palmerston business?

📷 - City of Palmerston

09/09/2025

Wheres the thanks and apology

In 2021, the City of Palmerston Mayor walked back into office with a landslide. 74% of Palmerston voters backed her on the primary vote. It was clear, decisive, and left little room for debate. But 2025 tells a very different story. This time, City of Palmerston Mayor, Athina Pascoe-Bell’s primar

05/09/2025

The Mayor retains her inner beauty (her words) for another 4 years.

And you cant spin away a One-Third Collapse in support

In 2021, Palmerston’s mayor Athina Pascoe-Bell claimed a landslide - more than 74% of the primary vote.

Four years later, her support has crashed to 48.8%.

That’s a loss of over 3,900 votes more than a third of her primary support gone.

Bring on 2029 as some of the same “quality” candidates will be back again to bring fresh voices and perspectives to council.

29/08/2025

Anyone listen to current Mayor of City of Palmerston radio interview with Katie Woolf on Mix 104.9 the other day? Well heres a snippet:

When the Mayor openly referred to candidates as “lesser quality”, what message does that send to our community?

Everyday people put their hand up to serve Palmerston because they care - not because they think they’re better than others. Belittling residents and candidates in this way discourages civic participation and undermines respect in local government.

Our city deserves leadership that values every voice, not one that divides people into categories of “better” and “lesser” quality. Besides who is she to judge and belittle people??

If the vote counts are anything to go by, losing almost 18% support from the previous election says a lot whether you win or not.

25/08/2025

Just reiterating here - and yes I'll likely be back with my face plastered everywhere so everyone knows who I am.

🌿 Thank You, Palmerston 🌿 Firstly, thank you to everyone who came out and voted in this election. It looks likely I won’t get over the line this time. That’s okay. I put my hand up for the right reasons, and this journey has taught me so much about our city, our people, and—yes—our pol...

25/08/2025

Big thank you to NT Electoral Commission for taking on board my feedback to include number of councillor seats on each page.

The count has officially started!

An initial count of ballot papers is underway. Early, mobile and election day votes are being counted tonight.

Transparency and accuracy is at the heart of this process – every vote counts.

To follow the live results, visit https://ntec.nt.gov.au/elections/current-elections/2025-local-government-elections/results

24/08/2025

On Friday arvo City of Palmerston announced profiling 8 businesses.

Okay for what purpose?
Who’s paying for this?
What about the remaining 1492 businesses or so?
How were they chosen?
If chosen by council what was the process?
How were and how many businsses were approached?
Do the owners/workers live in Palmerston?

From limited information I’ve been told there was a budget (paid for by us ratepayers) and the idea to profile 8 local businesses to encourage ppl to buy local. Meanwhile the mayor printed all her campaign material interstate and insulted all local printing companies in the process for her reasons why.

Absolute madness.

I also want to know the amount of money spent on this campaign.
How is the return on investment being documented and reported and what against.

This is one of the reasons I wanted to run for council. To ensure that benefits to whole of community outweigh the optics.

Edit to add - I’d have no problems with this campaign if it was used to launch something useful like a free business directory that benefits all businesses and not just 8.

21/08/2025

For the remaining people that haven't voted yet - here's a picture of the City of Palmerston elections and the how-to-vote cards and what this means for the community.

I was undecided about whether or not to release this information. After seeking approval from the Northern Territory Electoral Commission (NTEC), I have carefully and thoughtfully considered how best to communicate it in a respectful and diplomatic way.
This isn’t about personal grievances (I already know I'm the long shot opportunity) it’s about transparency as residents deserve to see how preference flows are being directed, and what that means for representation in our city.

Local government should be the most democratic level of representation — where everyday residents put their hand up to contribute, and the community decides who they want speaking for them. But the current Palmerston election shows a very different picture. The Mayor has publicly endorsed certain ...

21/08/2025

Running for council has been an absolute Sh*tshow - not gonna lie about it one bit. The current mayor set the tone from her initial post endorsing a group of people and slandering the rest (myself included)

LINK IN COMMENTS

Don't believe me, have a read of my balanced and independent view of the current City of Palmerston birds eye view of the how-to-vote cards.

If you want independent voices on council then you need to vote for it. I didn't issue how-to-vote cards as I believe the community can make up their own minds. I've been running a 100% digital campaign as I'm self employed and restricted by budget, and time and I also dont have the convenience of being backed by a political party.

Here's your chance to vote for independent voice - we're all shaded in light purple.

Local government should be the most democratic level of representation — where everyday residents put their hand up to contribute, and the community decides who they want speaking for them. But the current Palmerston election shows a very different picture. The Mayor has publicly endorsed certain ...