Margaret Strelow, DipTeach CIAE, BA UCQ, BECEd UniSA, GradDipAppHist NE, Med UniSA is the Chair of the Capricorn Regional Electricity Council, a group that provides a forum for regional Queenslanders to comment on the State's electricity system, for the attention of the State Minister for Mines and Energy.

Margaret served as a Councillor on the Rockhampton City Council for three years, before her election to the position of Mayor of the City of Rockhampton in 2000.

During her eight year term as Mayor, she identified many opportunities that are likely to deliver long lasting benefits to the region. She worked to attract a number of major industrial developments to the area and, in 2007, played a major role in guiding the inaugural Queensland Resource Sector Expo and Conference (QREX), in partnership with CQUniversity. Consequently QREX is poised to become a regular fixture in Central Queensland's event calendar.

Throughout her term in local government, Margaret advocated employment security for Council's workers, contributed to the development, adoption and implementation of the City's Planning Scheme and demonstrated strategic leadership as she positioned the region as a major shareholder in a regional water joint venture, which will integrate all current and future water storage in the Fitzroy River. In addition, she was Chair of the Local Disaster Management Committee, where she pursued improvements to Council's disaster planning and preparedness, including the allocation of resources, resulting in a more reliable and robust disaster management program.

In 2004, she rallied support amongst business, government and community leaders to place the region in a position to take advantage of the economic opportunities associated with the rapid growth of coal mining in the Bowen Basin.

Margaret was elected to serve as the Chairperson of the Local Transition Committee during the recent amalgamation process and has been an active member of the Queensland Heritage Council.

She is a strong supporter of higher education and served on CQUniversity's Rockhampton Advisory Committee, where she worked to maintain a positive relationship between the University and the Central Queensland community.