Cassandra Prigg wants to see Warrnambool City Council "give youth a go" and that is one of the reasons she is running for election.
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Ms Prigg, 25, said she wanted to see the city's high cost of pet registration looked at as well as the lack of public transport, road safety and homelessness addressed.
The part-time Deakin University marine biology student, who also works at the campus and is a coordinator for the student association, said she hoped to help stem the tide of young people moving away from the city when they finished school.
Ms Prigg grew up in Warrnambool and moved to Melbourne when she was 18 to complete an arts degree before returning to Warrnambool.
"It was a difficult decision but it has paid off, and I really want to give back to the community that has really welcomed me back with open arms and enriched my life so much," she said.
As a young person, Ms Prigg said it was important that there was diversity in representatives on the council - not just with age but race, background and gender.
"The community is better represented when we have a diversity of voices representing us," she said.
"I do want to see our council engage more with young people in the community."
Ms Prigg has worked with the Youth Affairs Council of Victoria in her role as a youth advocate, and recently spoke at the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into homelessness - something she wanted to make sure was a genuine election issue.
"Affordable housing is something I'm really passionate about," she said.
"House prices in Warrnambool have absolutely skyrocketed over the past 10 to 20 years which is great if you've invested in property but there's a lot who are being left out."
Ms Prigg said she had friends who had unsuccessfully applied for dozens of houses to rent.
"We are supposedly the most livable city in the world, and I think that's true for many residents but there are many who aren't seeing the benefits of that," she said.
Ms Prigg has also been helping to facilitate Beyond the Bell's Youth Conversation project which aimed to have 1000 conversations with young people about how we can make south-west Victoria a better place for them to live.
She said the $70 cost of registering a dog or cat each year was one of the most expensive in Australia.
"I question why that is," she said.
While she understood the argument about the cost of operating the RSPCA facility, Ms Prigg said it was "potentially quite unfair that responsible pet owners who do register their pets are basically footing that bill for that facility".
She wants to see the council do more to encourage people to register their pets, lower that cost and encourage people to keep cats inside because of the harm they cause to native wildlife.
Ms Prigg said she was also keen to focus on north Warrnambool and wanted to see the council commit to a timeframe for its planned upgrades to walking/bike paths along the Merri River.
"North of the highway often doesn't get much of a look in," she said.
She said she supported the council's advocacy work on upgrades to the Princes Highway. "Safety on our roads is such a big issue and it's something that's been ignored and under resourced by state and federal governments," she said.
Ms Prigg also wanted to advocate for better rail services to Warrnambool as well as public transport within the city.
She said being reliant on public transport was not an issue for people in Melbourne, but for those like her who do not drive a journey from home to uni in Warrnambool meant an hour-long trip on two buses.
"If you're lucky enough to have access to a car, that's great, but there's plenty of residents that don't," she said.
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