In 2021 Wollongong became the only Australian city with a  prestigious UCI Bike City label. While this title recognises a commitment to funding cycling at all levels, the issue of cycle parking or “end of trip facilities” has been sadly overlooked.

More weekend soccer games have been cancelled than played this season, said Wollongong Councillor Mithra Cox, who has called for the 2024 winter sporting season to be extended.

Councillor Cox, herself a keen soccer player, will move at Monday's meeting of Wollongong City Council that the season be extended, and that the city develop a longer-term climate adaptation plan which would include better drainage and shade at council grounds.

"This is the second season in three years to have severely restricted community sports through ongoing wet weather," Cr Cox said.

"Many teams have played less than five games since April, with more games being cancelled than have been played," she said.

"This is incredibly frustrating, especially for the hundreds of new football players who have registered off the back of the Matildas' success at the World Cup.

"To keep those players engaged, we need a way to ensure they can actually play."

Cr Cox said alternative venues, including schools, could be explored for use on weekends.

"While some solutions will need time and money and planning, there are some quick fixes that could be employed to extend the season this year.

"With the simple addition of line markings and temporary goals, some unused fields could be freed up to enable the season to overlap with the cricket season, or we could work with schools to access some of their grounds."

Greens candidate for Wollongong Lord Mayor Jess Whittaker said solutions would take time to they should be planned now.

"We are already seeing climate impacts significantly impacting community sport, and we know that these impacts are only forecast to get worse," she said.

"It's important to start planning now so that our community members of all ages can continue to play sport in the summer or winter seasons. Facilities like all weather multi-use sports venues are big and expensive and take many years to fund, so the work needs to start now if we are to have these sportsgrounds in the future."

Story by Ben Langford in the Illawarra Mercury, 5 July 2024.

Greens council candidate for Ward 2 Kit Docker called it "a win for
safety."

"Me personally, I think when it comes to crossing roads, we should
be protecting the most vulnerable," Mr Docker said.

"And there's been way too many close calls along here and, and even
one injury is far too much."

Story by Glen Humphries in the Illawarra Mercury, 20 June 2024.

Greens candidate for Ward 2 Kit Docker and candidate for Lord Mayor and Ward 1 Jess Whittaker joined local residents in Figtree to celebrate a new priority pedestrian crossing at Uralba street Figtree.

Greens State MLC Cate Faehrmann will speak at the award winning documentary, Envoy: Shark Cull, with guest speakers Laura Wells and Dr Rob Brander.

Greens Candidate for Wollongong lord mayor Jess Whittaker said the people of the Illawarra were horrified earlier this year when drone footage showed a bottlenose dolphin fatally entangled in a shark net off Thirroul beach.

“The NSW Labor government is responsible for this silent slaughter of marine life in shark nets because they have refused to take action since winning government and replace this old and cruel technology with evidence-based, environmentally sensitive strategies of shark management,” she said.

“I’ve been concerned about shark nets for a while now, because this approach to management forces us to fight against the environment,” Ms Whittaker said.

“We can’t afford to keep relying on old ways of managing sharks when we know it is harmful and these have been shown to cause a great amount of suffering to native animals.”

Story by Mick Roberts in The Bulli & Clifton Times, 19 June 2024.

Greens Candidate for Lord Mayor Jess Whittaker is ramping up calls for the State Government to remove shark nets from all Wollongong beaches before the 2024-2025 swimming season.

Wollongong Greens candidate for Lord Mayor Jess Whittaker is calling for shark nets to be removed from Wollongong City Beaches following the fatal entanglement of a bottlenose dolphin at Thirroul last week.