Ever since my early days growing up within the Illawarra, I have always had a strong sense of community. I believe in standing up for what is right and advocating for those that need me. Through my years of community service, Shellharbour City Alliance, and volunteer work, I have seen the many benefits that come when community and Council work in partnership. Unfortunately, I have also seen how the relationship between community and council can be damaged and how the most vulnerable in the community can suffer by poor decisions.

 

I am proud to call Tullimbar home and am very passionate about this community (Ward A). I am also one of many residents, who has been directly impacted by poor planning decisions and lack of community consultation. I found increasingly, my neighbours and people within the community were looking to me for leadership and representation on community issues. In 2016, I started a Facebook group to be known today as ‘Tullimbar Community Notice Board’. This created a safe space for the community to come together, to encourage collaboration on issues that residents felt were being ignored. The group continued to grow in numbers as more residents echoed the same concerns of lack of services, basic infrastructure, and safe roads.

 

In 2017, I created another community group called today as ‘Tullimbar Action Group’. The group was created for community to fight against the developer of Tullimbar estate. The developer wanted to change the original town centre plan from shops and business to wanting to develop housing only. Through this group, I have experience:

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• representing residents by advocating on items including roads, footpaths, DAs

• attending and speaking on behalf of residents at Council meetings, including determinations

• media spokesperson for the community

• meeting with key stakeholders across the various levels of Government

• forming strong partnerships and working relationships with Shellharbour City Council and its administrators

 

In 2019, the community came together to fight the Tullimbar developer with their own money and personal commitment.  Many felt this campaign was unsuccessful as we lacked support from most councillors except for Councillor Kellie Marsh and Councillor Peter Moran. This led to community frustrations as people did not feel they had a voice in council. This motivated me to run as an independent candidate.

 

Appointed administration for the following Facebook Community groups:

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• Kellie Marsh Independents

• Tullimbar Community Notice Board

• Tullimbar Action Group

• Calderwood Valley Notice Board

• Calderwood Valley Residents

• Shellharbour LGA Crime Group

• Shellharbour Missing Persons

• Shellharbour City Alliance

• Illawarra Community Notice Board and Local Business Directory