Port Kembla's nuclear base debate reignited
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 Wollongong City Council election results are in - meet your new councillors
"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.
Meet Wollongong's new Lord Mayor - Cr Tania Brown claims the win
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.
Meet the Wollongong City Council candidates
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.
EPA asked for feedback on Illawarra coal mine regulation - and they got it
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.
Greens call for a circular economy to reduce our waste
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.
Read moreBig opportunity for a progressive and energetic Council
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.
Read moreIndependent makes a consolation call to missing Liberal Lord Mayoral rival
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.
Call for a ban on gas to new residential and commercial buildings
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.
Read moreTaller buildings in Wollongong are no affordable housing answer: Greens
Allowing developers to build taller apartment blocks in return for some affordable housing is a step in the wrong direction, according to Greens Wollongong City Council candidate Kit Docker.
Mr Docker opposed the changes, in part because the affordable housing it offered wasn't permanent - there is no obligation to retain it after 15 years.
"It isn't a step in the right direction in terms of giving concessions to developers," Mr Docker said.
"I don't really understand where the benefit is for the community in providing those concessions like allowing for increased density or increased height limits and the pressures that are placed on the city and on infrastructure that [see] the aesthetic of the city change.
"At the end of the day, they can sell those homes off. We need to remember developers, the first chance they will get, they have taken all those concessions from us and they will sell it off for profit."
"Our plan is from 2026, we're going to increase that 3 per cent of floor space to 10 per cent of floor space on large developments to be set aside for affordable housing," Mr Docker said.
"This will increase by 3 per cent year on year until it reaches 30 per cent by 2033. "That's aligning with the current policy but with more ambitious targets. They're still phased in to give developers an opportunity to adapt."
"Wollongong LGA has the second highest demand for homeless services in the entire state," Mr Docker said.
"That is not a title that we should have in a regional city, especially given all of the developments that we are seeing going up, but none are being put aside for the community. "That's why on council under a Greens-led council, we will be pushing for far more ambitious affordable housing targets which will actually match the crisis which we are facing."
Ms Whittaker said there was the chance to have both a vibrant city and one people in the future could afford to live in.
"Part of that is providing affordable housing and making housing accessible to everyone and keeping our communities together," Ms Whittaker said.
"We have a massive opportunity. There's a lot of development that's going to be in the pipeline in the next 10 years in Wollongong.
"If we get this right and we get the targets right, when up-zoning happens, we can do those things and we can keep our communities together."
Story by Glen Humphries in the Illawarra Mercury, 24 July 2024.