Greens announce paid placements for health workers in training
15 March 2023
Cath Blakey, Greens Councillor and state candidate for Wollongong joined the Mothers and Midwives of the Illawarra community picnic to launch the Greens commitment to announce paid placements for nurses, midwives and paramedics in training.
Read moreNurse to Patient ratios essential for better patient care
Greens councillor and candidate for Wollongong Cath Blakey has reiterated that Nurse to Patient ratios is a key demand of her party in any minority government after March 25. This comes as the Nurses and Midwives Association lodge evidence in the supreme court showing that the NSW government’s current staffing model is resulting in understaffing and poor patient care.
Read moreIllawarra Greens candidates are looking to sure-up votes
From a housing crisis in the Northern suburbs to investing in school infrastructure in the South the party today making its priorities for the region, known. Story by Olivia Blunden at WIN News, 14 March 2023.
Read moreUnions, business line up to oppose submarine base in Port Kembla
Wollongong City councillor and Greens candidate for Wollongong Cath Blakey said the people of Wollongong would say no to a submarine base.
Story by Connor Pearce in the Illawarra Mercury, 14 March 2023.
Nuclear subs deal should 'send a shiver through Illawarra', Greens say
The people of the Illawarra were being "treated like mugs" by the lack of open information about a potential nuclear submarine base at Port Kembla, the Greens say.
The Greens said the submarines would force deep cuts to expenditure on essential services, while making the city a nuclear target.
"Wollongong is a city with 100 years of peace activism," Wollongong Greens councillor Cath Blakey said.
"We have stood up to pig-headed prime ministers in the past, and we will do so again to say we want a peaceful city, that we say no to nuclearisation of our Port. I'm dismayed that the Labor government is leaking information about the preferred location of the nuclear submarine base. It shows not only how much they take the Illawarra for granted, but also outright contempt for our community.
"They're refusing to provide any information about how the floating nuclear power plants would be managed, overseen or their reactive waste managed."
Greens Senator David Shoebridge blasted the Government for not being open with the population.
"This leaking of the Defence Department's preferred submarine base treats the people of the Illawarra like mugs," he said. "Locating a nuclear submarine base in Port Kembla makes the Illawarra a potential target for nuclear attack, all with zero public consultation around the risks to the community. With this one decision, Labor is mortgaging our future in order to stoke regional tensions with a dangerous escalation in regional defence spending."
Story by Ben Langford at the Illawarra Mercury, 14 March 2023.
Story by Ben Langford at the South Coast Register, 14 March 2023.
Aukus deal: US, UK and Australia agree on nuclear submarine project
No decision has been made on a future east coast submarine base, although Port Kembla near Wollongong, 100km (62 miles) south of Sydney, is thought to be a likely location.
A local official there said her community was worried by the possibility of a nuclear submarine base close by.
"It's causing alarm that it could make us a potential military target," Greens party councillor Cath Blakey told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
"I think it's a potential sovereign risk to Australia to be hitching ourselves to the US and the UK."
$368+ billion on submarines puts Illawarra at risk of nuclear attack while forcing funding cuts to the regions
Today’s $368+ billion submarine announcement should send a shiver through the Illawarra, with Port Kembla earmarked as the preferred base for the new nuclear-powered submarines.
Read moreConcerns Port Kembla could be a military target if it becomes an Australian nuclear submarine base
Wollongong councillor Cath Blakey said her community is alarmed by the prospect of a nuclear submarine base being built on its doorstep.
"It's causing alarm that it could make us a potential military target," Ms Blakey said.
"We want to see the focus on peacekeeping and public infrastructure, not nuclear proliferation. I think it's a potential sovereign risk to Australia to be hitching ourselves to the US and the UK."
Story by Jessica Clifford at ABC Illawarra, 13 March 2023.
Story by Matt Bamford on ABC's The World Today, 13 March 2023.
'No dicking around': Ryan Park's promise to nurses if he becomes health minister
"The Greens are fully backing the union's award claim, as well as campaigning for a 15 per cent pay rise for nurses to make the job more attractive for current and future staff."
"Voters should consider where they direct their preferences in the upper and lower house to give the Greens more power to negotiate."
Cr Cath Blakey, Greens candidate for Wollongong in the 2023 NSW state election.
Story by Kate Ilwain in the Illawarra Mercury, 9 March 2023.
Funding to provide affordable housing in Wollongong
Wollongong City Council has just adopted its new Housing Strategy, which specified that residential developments of more than 20 dwellings must have at least 3 per cent of floor space dedicated to affordable rental housing in 2026, increasing by 1 per cent annually to hit 10 per cent by 2033.
Cr Mithra Cox moved an amendment, supported by fellow Greens Cr Cath Blakey, to increase the eventual minimum to 30 per cent. She said a higher target would buffer against significant loss of affordable rentals when these properties moved back to private ownership. But the remaining councillors voted against it and the amendment was not passed.
Cr Blakey later said the target as passed was a "sad joke".
Story by Natalie Croxon at the Illawarra Mercury, 4 March 2023.