Greens mayoral candidate and paramedic Jess Whittaker was also feeling positive and shared similar sentiments. "Whatever the people decide then that's what I'm happy with," Ms Whittaker said.

"We've had a really good campaign and when all that happened with the Liberals, we just kept doing what we were doing and putting our positive vision for the city out there."

Story by Joel Ehsman and Grace Crivellaro in the Illawarra Mercury, 14 September 2024.

"The Greens will recharge the local food economy with our plan to fund a dedicated position on Council to act as a mediator for local food production and swaps. This role will be the point of contact for people wanting to start a community garden, a crop swap or other event based on local food production."

Jess Whittaker, Greens mayoral candidate for Wollongong

Story by Kate McIlwain in the Illawarra Mercury, 11 September 2024.

Story by Kate McIlwain in the South Coast Register, 11 September 2024.

Greens candidate for lord mayor and Ward 1 at the Wollongong local government elections in September Jess Whittaker says a Council appointed food coordinator would be the point of contact to help residents start a crop swap and establish a community garden.

“Remember that time when you had plenty of neighbours swapping their extra lemons, tomatoes, basil, parsley, or even sharing a few eggs,” Ms Whittaker said.

“People are finding it harder to buy good quality produce. They’re frustrated by the two large supermarket chains who have a stranglehold on our weekly shop. On top of that, growing quality produce is being affected by climate change. And I’m also finding that people are looking for small events like a crop swap or a community garden so they have more opportunities for connections in their local community.”

“Everywhere I go, while talking to the community, access to affordable, local food keeps coming up as an issue,” she said.

Ms Whittaker said one example of the power of local food projects is the Woonona Community Garden.

“In just over three years, Woonona Community Garden has built a thriving community garden where local residents from diverse backgrounds and gardening abilities work together to grow food, share the harvest, and build new friendships,” she said.

“The Greens will recharge the local food economy with our plan to fund a dedicated position on Council to act as a mediator for local food production and swaps. This role will be the point of contact for people wanting to start a community garden, a crop swap or other event based on local food production. It will also assist existing community gardens to build membership and look for new funding opportunities.

“We don’t want a situation where people are turned off starting a project because getting through Council’s red tape and bureaucracy is too hard. Greens councillors will be more supportive of people wanting to get involved in community building food projects.

“As a city, we should be actively looking at land that may be available for small-scale local food production. While talking with people another idea has been looking at developing resources that could help small urban farms on private land. We are seeing a few pop up. However these enterprises generally don’t receive support or encouragement from any level of government.

“A Council appointed local food coordinator could be the point of contact on council to help people wanting to start a crop swap to find a spot to host it, providing information on weeds that probably shouldn’t be swapped, access to tables and assistance with promoting the events. It’s important that the community leads when it comes to local food, but there is a lot that the council can do to give them encouragement. Sometimes people just need help to build their confidence to host an event like this, but after the first few runs they can be self-sustaining. At the moment the local food scene doesn’t get much attention and our new Greens on council will be committed to changing that.”

Story by Mick Roberts in the Bulli & Clifton Times, 28 August 2024.

Greens candidate for Lord Mayor Jess Whittaker said there currently wasn't a lot of support for the creation of community gardens.

"It's very hard to get through bureaucracy, especially in the initial phase when you're setting up," Ms Whittaker said.

"That's the hardest phase, to actually get these projects off the ground. So we want to support people who want to do local food projects in the Illawarra, and that's going to help us build our climate, resilience, cost of living relief, and building community.

"There's so many benefits that local food can bring to an area."

Ms Whittaker said the part-time role would cost around $60,000 a year, which she hoped could be funded from the next council budget.

"We already have a lot of staff doing amazing work in natural areas, such as restoring habitat. We'd hope that we can expand that to include local food," she said.

"There's so many things already happening that are really grassroots and being led by community. We just want to show that government can support that grassroots energy."

Story by Glen Humphries in the Illawarra Mercury, 26 August 2024.

Greens candidate for Lord Mayor and Ward 1 Jess Whittaker is calling for a dedicated position in Council to encourage community gardens, crop swaps and urban farms to boost Wollongong’s resilience and development of local food systems.

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.

Story in The Illawarra Flame, 6 August 2024.

Meet Greens candidate for mayor Jess Whittaker

Hi! I’m Jess and I was born and grew up in Bulli & I now live in a great little village, Port Kembla, with my husband and two wonderful daughters. I work as a paramedic in the Illawarra and volunteer as a dunecare coordinator at Port Kembla Beach and as the Vice President of the Port Kembla Chamber of Commerce. Besides bike riding, surfing, bushcare, and live music [you’ve got to love the talented musicians and performers we have in the city] I spend most of my time with my family & friends. As a working mum, you might understand how hectic life can get.

Why are you the best person to be Wollongong’s next Lord Mayor?

Our city is, simply, wonderful with beautiful beaches, majestic escarpment and strong communities. If I’m elected Lord Mayor I would bring fresh green ideas and a bold vision for a welcoming, fun city with interesting and exciting things to do and see, a city that looks after its community and its environment, and is easy to get around. I also want to see Wollongong refresh its once thriving nightlife. Wollongong can also become a region that embraces new industries in the renewable energy industry and the jobs that will come as we make the transition to a Net Zero nation.

What would be your top priorities if elected to the city’s top job?

As a new Lord Mayor I’d work to:

• Build footpaths, pedestrian crossings and cycleways

• Revitalize our nightlife by creating a dedicated position for Night Time Mayor.

• Provide secure bike parking and push for Opal-activated bike sheds.

• Encourage urban farming and community gardens to increase our local food security and build communities that say hi to their neighbours. 

• Support new housing developments with affordable housing

• Push the State government to give us more trains, more buses on the weekend and broaden free public transport options like the Gong Shuttle.

• Invest in skateparks and spaces for young people.

• Open our Libraries and Art Gallery all weekend.

If you could deliver one key project in your first term, what would it be?

I’d like to continue the work of our previous two Greens councillors and see the budget for walking and cycling in the city increased again by funding new footpaths, shared pathways, pedestrian crossings and cycleways. We need to increase the pace of roll out of the safe routes to school program so our kids can walk and cycle safely and cross roads at well designed pedestrian crossings. There are so many benefits from improving participation in walking and cycling, and by helping people with low mobility move about easily in our city. 

Why do you want the job?

I just love Wollongong. It’s a fantastic city and we are lucky to call it our home. Wollongong is at a crossroads and we need people with fresh ideas and new energy so we can make our city an easy place to get around with lots of fun and interesting things to do. I think we can do more to look after our community and the environment and we also need to build enough affordable housing so our kids can live and work here in the future.

I want to be Mayor so we can achieve these things together in the next term of council.

Story by Genevieve Swart in The Illawarra Flame, 3 August 2024.

“I really want to see our city reach its full potential, and for our children and grandchildren to be able to stay in the city we all love and value,” she said.

“When there is upzoning, I think we can get a better deal from developers with affordable housing in new developments, and those projects can make a really big difference in people’s lives.

“The Greens’ policy is to see if there’s any council land available for affordable housing projects in partnership with not-for-profits like the Housing Trust.

“Building more community gardens and fun things for young people to do, like skate parks and pump tracks, really helps with cost-of-living pressures too – having things you can do for free makes a massive difference to the family budget.”

Jess said one of the strengths of the current council was the diversity of backgrounds and opinions, and she hoped the next council had the same level of representation.

“No one party has a bloc, so they’ve had to work together, that’s made it collegial and collaborative, and they’ve got some really good outcomes,” she said.

“We’ve had great events, FOGO implemented, more investment in cycleways, and the footpath budget doubled.

“If one party has a deciding vote on all decisions, I think that would be a very different Wollongong and it does concern me if that’s the make-up of the next council.

“Sometimes to have that you have to step up and do it instead of sitting back and complaining, so I’m going to go for it and put myself out there.”

Long term, Jess said she wanted to push the council to do all it could to fight climate change and take better care of our natural environment.

She said it was more important than ever that councils looked at ways to make their communities more resilient in the face of climate disasters.

“I think there is a lot we can do,” she said.

“Small actions can have a big positive impact – I would love to see our creeks cleared up and the escarpment better managed, it’s an undervalued asset.

“I want to see us realise all the benefits of renewable energy and be on a better path to a stable climate, with all the jobs and community benefit schemes that come from renewable energy.”

Story by Zoe Cartwright in Region Illawarra, 3 August 2024.

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