10 February 2026

Greens Councillor Deidre Stuart will call on Wollongong City Council to support the Companion Animals Amendment (Control of Cats) Bill 2025, which is to be debated in the NSW Parliament later this year.

Senator Shoebridge declared Port Kembla to be in the cross hairs for a naval base and a naval waste dump site thanks to the Australian Naval Nuclear Power Safety Bill 2024 which passed parliament on October 10.

"We're here because a fortnight ago, the Commonwealth Parliament in an ugly deal between Labor and the Coalition passed legislation that enables either this defense minister or the next Defence Minister to declare Port Kembla a naval nuclear facility, a naval base and a naval waste dump simply by regulation without having to speak to the council, without having to speak to traditional owners without having to speak to the community," Sen Shoebridge said.

"... with the flick of a pen make Port Kembla, a nuclear submarine base and a future coalition government has now been given the power to turn Port Kembla into a nuclear submarine base."

Story by Janine Graham in the Illawarra Mercury, 23 October 2024.

"The Greens had a strong showing with one candidate making it onto each ward, and the positions were rounded out with two independent candidates."

Story by Zoe Cartwright in Region Illawarra, 2 October 2024.

Greens' Ms Whittaker contacted Cr Brown on Saturday night to congratulate her on the Lord Mayoral win.

Ms Whittaker said she knew it would be a battle for the Greens to win, but on the figures so far, the party's Lord Mayoral vote has jumped from the 13 per cent in 2021.

"We're stoked," she said of the party's efforts.

"It was a very different election, with everything that went on. But we're really happy with how the campaign went.

"We left it all out there. We did as much as we could do to put a progressive vision to the community and we've gotten a bigger vote for the Greens than we've ever done before."

"It's really exciting," she said.

"We've got a great team in the Illawarra Greens and we all help each other. So I'm not scared because anything that seems hard, we collaborate on and work together to get through it.

"So it's not like I feel like I'm doing it alone. I'm looking forward to meeting people and getting to know all the local issues in depth and getting our policy platform implemented.

"I'm so excited for Deidre and for Ward 3," Ms Whittaker said.

"We've been trying to get a councillor in Ward 3 for almost a decade. It's awesome that people in Ward 3 will have the Greens down there now to represent them.

"Kit's gotten a good vote. So we're hopeful that comes through in pre-poll as well.

"Kit will be an amazing councillor. He's a young renter, he's got heaps of lived experience of how it can be hard for people to live in Wollongong and he's going to bring that to the table for young people and for renters."

Story by Glen Humphries in the Illawarra Mercury, 15 September 2024.

Jess Whittaker – The Greens

Jess is a paramedic and previously ran in the 2021 local government elections. She is a community representative on the Lake Illawarra Coastal Management Plan Implementation Committee.

If elected, she wants to increase investment in footpaths, cycleways and pedestrian crossings, build dedicated youth spaces like skateparks and pump tracks, and revitalise the night-time economy with a position on the council for a Night-Time Mayor.

On Jess’s ticket are candidates Matin Cubby, Stephen Young and Kathryn Broadfoot.

To learn more about Jess and the other Greens members on her ticket, head to: https://www.illawarragreens.org.au/
Instagram – @jesswhitt.

Kit Docker – The Greens

Kit is a policy research assistant for Dr Amanda Cohn MP in NSW Parliament and a support worker for people with disabilities.

If elected, he wants to increase the affordable housing supply by placing fairer mandates on big property developers; increase and bring forward investments that improve accessibility for people living with mobility, including footpaths, pedestrian crossings and active transport solutions; and protect nature and wildlife by investing in initiatives that bring nature back into the city and suburbs.

The other candidates on Kit’s ticket are Harris Cheung, Ali Gerritsen and Theresa Huxtable.

To learn more about Kit, head to: https://www.illawarragreens.org.au/kit_docker_candidate_for_wollongong_city_council_ward_2

Find him on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kitdockergreens/

Or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KitforWollongongcitycouncil/.

Dr Deidre Stuart – The Greens

Deirdre is a university mathematics support tutor, community climate activist and TAFE visual arts student.

She has previously undertaken contract research work for various local governments in environmental science and engineering contexts, as an academic at QUT and later as a senior environmental scientist with Opus International Consultants.

If elected, she will advocate for improved climate resilience for the city, including improved stormwater function, shadier streets and community batteries; safer, cheaper homes and improved community connectivity via a free public bus service for southern suburb and better footpaths, cycleways and public transport services; and work towards a circular economy.

The three other candidates on her ticket are Jamie Dixon, Elena Martinez and George Takacs.

To learn more about Dr Stuart or the other candidates on her ticket, head to:

www.linkedin.com/in/deidre-stuart-a45b5339

Instagram: @deidrestuart_au2500

https://www.illawarragreens.org.au/

Instagram: @illawarra_greens

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IllawarraGreens/

Story by Zoe Cartwright in Region Illawarra, 9 September 2024.

Wollongong Greens councillor Cath Blakey said the EPA needed to better monitor mining operations to protect the drinking water catchment. "The community wants to see the Illawarra escarpment and our drinking water catchment protected, and currently the EPA regulation is failing to do that," Cr Blakey said.

"So often it has come down to residents and volunteers raising the alarm, document creek pollution and collect water samples and send them off for independent testing.

"Too often mines are being approved with conditions that are not enforced or adhered to.

"Despite numerous end-of-panel reports that document seam to surface cracking, far beyond the mine subsidence forecast during the initial proposal assessment, the government has failed to halt longwall mining that damages the drinking water catchment of five million people."

Deidre Stuart, a member of the Protect Our Water Catchment group and Greens Wollongong City Council candidate, said laws were not applied equally. "If I park my car in the wrong place at the wrong time I am likely to get a parking ticket and fined," she said.

"If I am an indigenous person in this country then I might well also end up in prison for failure to pay a parking fine, and then dead.

"But if I am a coal company with friends in high places and with lots of money in my pocket, then it seems I can get away with making a mess and polluting our atmosphere with unabated methane for 30-plus years, and face no consequences."

Story by Ben Langford in the Illawarra Mercury, 22 August 2024.

Wollongong dumped more than 80,000 tonnes of domestic and commercial waste into our Whytes Gully tip in the 2022-2023 financial year. That’s the equivalent of 445 blue whales going to landfill.

Greens candidate for Lord Mayor and Ward 1 Jess Whittaker welcomed the unique opportunity to elect progressive leaders who are committed to their community, action on the climate crisis and tackling the cost of housing.

Deidre Stuart the Greens lead candidate for Ward 3 noted her party will appear on top of the ballot part for each of the three wards.

"From what I've read over the years, being in the first position rather than in the last position does make a difference in terms of people who vote in order that the names appear," Ms Stuart said. "So, from the Greens perspective, that's fortunate from what I understand, but that's not something I've been spending a lot of time studying.

"I've been more focused on what Wollongong needs, what people need and they definitely need a safe climate and they need safe housing."

She said she wasn't sure how the voting patterns would go without the Liberals in the race. "I feel very uncertain how it's going to pan out because I don't know how people who voted Liberal are going to vote," she said.

"I'm certainly concerned. I do not want a Labor majority council. I think it's better if there's diversity on council and no one group has their own way. So there has to be discussion and engagement with ideas to try and get the best outcomes."

Story by Glen Humphries in the Illawarra Mercury, 15 August 2024.

Greens candidate for Ward 3 Deidre Stuart is calling on Council to amend the Development Control Plan to ban all gas connections to new residential and commercial buildings.