President Ben Stennett
Behind the Badge
Ben was born in Kew in 1982, and lived and grew up in Ringwood / Croydon.His dad worked for Holden, and a promotion prompted a family move to Adelaide where Ben completed his secondary school education.
While at school in Adelaide
- he joined the Air Force Cadets, as a result of which he has a private pilot’s licence.
- he got involved in Youth Parliament – possibly laying the foundations for his political engagement in the years to come.
His tertiary qualifications include a B App Sc (I.T, Econ) Swinburne, Grad. Dip. Ed ACU and Grad Cert (E Learning) UNE.
In 2005, while still at Swinburne, Ben ran for Council. Although he was not elected at that time, when Councillor Pauline Richards resigned in 2007, Ben was elected on a countback.
He is still the youngest councillor in the City of Whitehorse, and was mayor in 2012.
Ben's presentation was frank, engaging and and laced with his characteristic brand of humour . He used lots of interesting photographs- some of which I have reproduced in the 'read more ' section .
He was re-elected in his own right in 2008, but his victory was bitter-sweet, as his mother lost her battle with Cancer in the same year.
Since his election in 2007, he has served continuously as a Councillor (14 years), and was Mayor at the time he joined Rotary.
He met Susan at the Boxing Day Test in Dec 2014 and they were married in Jan 2017. Several of us attended the wedding ceremony and reception.
They bought their home in Mitcham about a year ago.
Volunteering and other interests
He also told us of his involvement with
- Scouts
- Rotary. He was inducted into RC Nunawading in November 2012, and has served as a director for several years.
- Army Reserve- enlisted in 2014
- Playing cricket for Mitcham
Ben had developed an interest in Japan when he visited with a scout group.
He returned to Japan in 2012 representing Whitehorse City Council to celebrate its sister city relationship with Matsudo.
Ben is employed as a teacher at St. Francis Xavier College Berwick.
His employment history is varied and includes work as a school bus driver as well as that of Regional Operations Coordinator for OSHClub – an out of school hours program provider.
Ben is considering a career in Local Govt and to this end, he is studying online for a Grad certificate in Development and Planning at Curtin as an entry point to Masters in Urban and Regional Planning.
