Greens Candidate for Lord Mayor Jess Whittaker is calling on the State Labor Government to keep shark nets out of the water this summer.

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. 

Greens Candidate for Ward 2 Kit Docker is calling for a fairer deal on affordable housing from developers who capitalise from increased development throughout Wollongong.

Greens candidate for Ward 2 Kit Docker is calling on Wollongong City Council to provide greater support to services on the frontline of the worsening housing and cost of living crises.

Greens candidate for Ward 2 Kit Docker is calling on Wollongong City Council and the NSW State government to expand the Free Gong Shuttle, taking in the suburbs of Figtree and Unanderra.

Kit Docker, candidate for Ward 2

I’m proud to announce that I’ll be the Greens candidate for Ward 2 in this year's Wollongong City Council Local government election. 

I’m standing because I believe that we need Councillors who will talk with and listen to the community so together we can meet some great challenges coming our way–such as protecting our unique city from changes in our climate, making sure our villages are resilient to changes in our climate, expanding the Green Bus and ensuring that our Councils housing policy is affordable and community driven .  

The potential of our city is endless, the Greens have a plan to realise this potential and make our community a better place to live for all of us. 

The Greens are not powered by donations from large businesses or industry. We’re powered by people like you and me. These are people who care about their community, their neighbourhood and want to see thriving communities and plenty of fun stuff, such as art galleries, music venues and sporting events.

We also want to see a council which is ambitious when it comes to social and affordable housing throughout our city.. More of our communities are shaded by great street trees. 

I look forward to talking with you and listening to your ideas and thoughts during the next seven months. 

A little bit about Kit

Hi, I'm Kit, and I’ve lived in Wollongong for the past 10 years. I’ve worked in the finance industry and now love working in the disability sector. Wollongong is my home and I hope to call it home for the foreseeable future. 

I attended Kiama High School and graduated from the University of Wollongong with a major in International Economics in 2016. After leaving University, I secured a position with the IMB Bank where I worked in leadership positions including as a branch manager. Since leaving finance, I have dedicated much of my time to working with people living with disability, charity work with local organisations and grassroots democracy. 

I have the privilege of following in the footsteps of Councillor Cath Blakey who has consistently shown that a Greens councillor can deliver significant positive results for the community, such as FOGO and Verge Gardens. 

It’s disappointing that the majority of our Council seem more concerned about the interests of developers who are interested in building apartments as quickly as they can and without the interests of the community in mind. This is making shelter more unaffordable for everyday people, and especially vulnerable communities. I know that, I’m a renter.  

Our two Greens Councillors have a proven track record of making decisions for the community, working for sustainable villages as well as ensuring that we create places that our families and friends can enjoy. 

As a new Greens Councillor I will work for and support:  

• Community led sustainable development and affordable housing. 
• Protecting our unique environment from the coast to the escarpment. 
• Climate proofing our neighbourhoods by creating a green leafy and cool city
• A city with world class active and public transport solutions. 
• A city with world class artists and great local venues. 

If elected, I will work for more environmentally friendly and liveable villages in our city.

Follow Kit on Facebook, or send an email. 

I’m excited and proud to announce that I’ll be the Greens candidate for Lord Mayor and the candidate in Ward 1 at the Wollongong City Council elections this September.

This is where I’ve lived all my life. I grew up in Bulli. And I live in Port Kembla now with my husband and two children.

I decided to stand for Lord Mayor as I reckon our city can be better: we can become a leading city where we work on and produce the technology for Green renewables, where our city is cooler and safer with more street trees, and where we can get about on bikes or walk on safe, shady and easily accessible footpaths and cycleways.

We also need to do more so we can have people in all professions–such as teachers, police officers, paramedics, health care workers–live close to where they work. We need to tackle affordable housing head on. We need to commit to creating housing in our villages so people can connect and get to know their neighbours, where housing is not only affordable but also sustainable. We need to tackle this at the local government level as this will help us shift State policies. Wouldn’t it be great if our children could also afford to live in the city which provides fantastic beaches, national parks, reserves and all the other good stuff we have enjoyed.

We are at a point now where we can embrace change and see great industries in renewables, and the skilled workforce that comes with this, join us in this fabulous city. We need to embrace change now for a fresh, greener city. Wollongong has always been a crucial port for industry. Now we can become a vital city for renewable energy and the transition to a cleaner environment.

The actions of our local government have a significant impact on our lives and I want to see  our city grow. We can do more to build connected villages that are rich in culture and celebrate diversity. We must continue to build more footpaths, cycleways and shared paths, improve our bike network and make our pedestrian crossings safe for everyone. Imagine if every child could walk or cycle safely to their local school?

We need to invest in protecting and restoring our incredible beaches, waterways and forests as these are the reasons we all feel so connected to this beautiful Dharawal Land. 

The Greens have a plan for an even better Wollongong and I look forward to talking with you over the next seven months about these plans and your ideas so that come September we can make a change for a fresh, green city. 

A little bit about Jess

Hi, I’m Jess. I’m running because the decisions our council makes shape the future of our great city. Together, we can make our communities more connected and accessible to everyone and grow a vibrant arts and culture scene which will benefit the community and the great small businesses that are the backbone of our villages. 

I grew up in Bulli and have spent most of my life in the northern suburbs. And I love this city and the diversity we have. In the next seven months I look forward to talking to many local citizens and listening to your ideas on how we can make Wollongong an even better place to live and work. Wollongong can be a great place to have fun, a place to enjoy the relaxed beach lifestyle and also a place to work and where we change the nation. Most of all it’s a great place that I call home.

I work as a paramedic, so I know how important it is to have kindness and community at the core of everything we do. Connected communities are strong communities. The Greens are built on a foundation of grassroots democracy–we want to create a better world for our children with peace and non violence, ecological sustainability, and social justice. I will listen to the community and you can be assured that I will make decisions based on these principles. 

I want our children to have safe, accessible routes to school, not be fenced in by congested unsafe roads. 

I’d love to see small changes, such as keeping our libraries open seven days a week  and public toilets open all year round.

Wouldn’t it be great if affordable housing was an integral part of development in Wollongong and the other transport hubs in the city–Thirroul, Corrimal, North Wollongong, Coniston and Port Kembla. 

And wouldn’t it be great if we have a decent skate park in Port Kembla, as well as Thirroul. It’s disappointing there hasn't been a single skatepark built in the city in the last 10 years. Our young people are missing out on spaces they love. 

We have a plan that will revitalize our villages with investment in arts and culture.

Most of all we need a greener city - an urban rainforest of local native species that cools the streets and provides habitat and shade. 

I believe a fresh, greener Wollongong is possible if we are brave enough.

If you want to get in touch, follow Jess on Facebook or send her an email.

Deidre Stuart, candidate for Ward 3

I’m proud to be the Greens candidate for Ward 3 in the Wollongong City Council elections in September.

I am a candidate because I want to bring citizens together to work on ways to improve our villages, and bring more meaning, joy and connection into our lives.

As a Greens councillor I would endeavour to bring Greens core principles of ecological sustainability, grassroots participatory democracy, social justice and peace and non-violence, to Wollongong City Council decision-making.

Our community faces some urgent problems, including climate change, a lack of affordable housing and a cost of living crisis. 

As a city, we need to urgently transition from using fossil-fuel energy and fossil-fuel energy technologies to generating renewable energy and using renewable energy technologies.

Wollongong also has a role to play in transitioning Australia’s economy from a linear materials flow to a circular materials flow economy.

There are opportunities that come with these transitions towards sustainability. Our city could benefit from the shift to new energy systems, and could also contribute new materials, manufacturing and refurbishing industries over the coming decades. Wollongong has been an incredible mining and industrial city for many years. But we cannot keep mining coal and shipping it to other nations, and contributing to climate destruction that threatens us all.

Now is the time for us all to work together and design, plan and implement systems, processes and services that benefit both humans and our wonderful natural environment. 

We need to invest in people and support reskilling to support our transition.

Wollongong has already signed the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy. Across the world 12,500 cities in total have signed, so Wollongong is not alone. Rather, we can learn and contribute alongside other cities who also want to be part of the solution to our climate and wider environmental crisis.

We also need to adapt to our changing climate and to develop support systems that will be useful to our citizens under challenging weather conditions. We need to ensure that our most disadvantaged citizens are not further disadvantaged.

These are significant challenges that we need to face as a city. Yet, even with these great challenges on the horizon, we also need to celebrate this wonderful city, Wollongong / Woolyungah and our people. And remember that we can solve these challenges and be creative and productive, together.

I look forward to talking to you and listening to your ideas. Contact me if you have any questions and I look forward to talking and listening to our community over the next months.

A little bit about Deidre

I came to live in Wollongong/ Woolyungah in 2011 with my partner and two children.

I work part-time and casually at Western Sydney University, providing mathematics/statistics support to students or doing research project work. By training, I’m a scientist, but I am now also a part-time TAFE visual-arts student, and I’m thoroughly loving trying to make art.

As someone who moved with young children several times before arriving here, I understand the difference that footpaths, libraries, parks, and good public transport can make to city living.

Life has been difficult and uncertain over recent times with COVID, extreme weather events, lack of affordable housing and rising living costs. It seems like many of us feel exhausted, as if we have lost time, health or work, and maybe worse, family or friends, through the COVID pandemic.

Over the past few years, extreme weather events (Black Summer 2019/2020 bushfires, numerous floods, heatwaves) have battered Australia. Now with inflation, many Wollongong citizens are struggling with housing affordability and the cost of living crisis.

Right now I believe we can continue to work to limit the heating of our city from climate change, and at the same time we can develop resilience and our ability to keep our villages safer, shadier, and easier to access.

I look forward to hearing from you and talking with you over the next seven months. 

If you want to chat with Deidre, send an email.

Wollongong Greens Councillors Mithra Cox and Cath Blakey will be standing down at the September 2024 council election. The Illawarra Greens will announce their candidates for the election this coming Thursday 15 February, 10am at Market Square Wollongong.

How You Can Help

In the meantime, there's always plenty of stuff to do and help with, so if you would like to be involved in the campaign for a fairer and just society, why not volunteer with the Greens.

We'll always listen to you

If you have any questions about the candidates or campaign, email us and we'll get back to you.