Councillor, City of Sydney

During my six and a half years as a City of Sydney Councillor, and my three years as Deputy Lord Mayor, I had the privilege of taking action on some of the key issues facing our community, and opportunities to make Sydney the most inclusive, sustainable and creative city it can be. A number of my contributions are outlined in this Lord Mayoral Minute of April 3, 2023.

Some of my proudest achievements, and most successful community campaigns, included:

Establishing Abbie House transitional housing with Women’s Community Shelters (WCS) in 2021: securing 20 studio apartments, available at low rent for a year, provided by SCAPE student housing, to be managed by City West Community Housing Provider with case management and support from WCS. I have received very moving feedback which demonstrates just how critical this safe, affordable housing has been to support women escaping violence and experiencing some of the most difficult times in their lives.

Championing new models to combat housing unaffordability with the Alternative Housing Ideas Challenge: we don’t just need more housing in Sydney, we need more housing models to choose from to overcome the structural barriers to building and accessing affordable housing. This competition drew ideas in from innovators around the world, and supported the development of a model which could be applied in Sydney to deliver prototypes which could include Community Land Trusts, co-housing and cross-subsidy models to unlock new ways of solving a chronic problem.

Securing free access to early childhood care and education for families seeking asylum from July 2022. In May 2022, I tabled a Notice of Motion asking Council to provide access to free early childhood care and education for families seeking asylum. It was unanimously supported, as of 1 July 2022, the City began providing free childcare services to families seeking asylum. This is an area very close to my heart, and I’m grateful that we’ve been able to provide this meaningful and practical gesture of support to people who’ve come into our community in need of care and healing.

While their cases are being assessed, people seeking asylum are unable to access early childhood subsidies.  The average cost of childcare in Australia is $118 per day but it’s much higher in the inner city - between $150-200 a day (as at June 2022). For Australian citizens and permanent residents, the cost can be reduced by up to 85 per cent through government subsidies. This subsidy is not available to people on bridging visas, pricing many out of the market, and in turn, English classes or employment. These families are among the most vulnerable in Australia.

Advocating for the “map of fun” approach to streamlining and extending our Late Night Trading DCP in 2018, including the establishment of the North Alexandria Entertainment Precinct, and generating a huge level of community participation (including 10,000 submissions) in support of Sydney’s nightlife and entertainment future.

Asking the City to reframe our economic development and social justice work around a Community Wealth Building model with local and purpose-led procurement, which so far has resulted in the City’s Community Wealth Building discussion paper and a new mindset in our Economic Strategy.

Challenging Sydney to become a fossil fuel ad free zone:

1. Demanding state-wide standards for pedestrian and child safety around childcare centres, including slowing speeds across the City of Sydney LGA to 40kmph to save lives on our streets.

2. Advocating for the nightlife, entertainment and creative sector post lockouts and lockdowns as the co-chair of the City’s Nightlife and Creative Advisory Panel, giving evidence to the NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into the music and arts economy in New South Wales, and speaking to crowds at Keep Sydney Open and Don’t Kill Live Music rallies.

3. Asking the City to establish an AIDS Memorial in Green Park, supporting a community campaign which generated over 1200 signatures in support of a lasting memorial to a tragic period in Sydney’s history.

4. Advocating for a “Cities for Play” framework to be incorporated into our long term strategic work, to make the City more welcoming to families with kids, to create more opportunities for play and to build dwellings which accommodate family life.

5. Championing the Laneway Commons and community-led greening of our city, asking the City to develop a dedicated laneway gardens guideline to enable more citizen-led greening initiatives, turning grey laneways into green oases.

6. Working with the Australian Parents for Climate Action (AP4CA) network on their Solar Our Schools campaign, to identify the barriers faced by schools in implementing renewables

7. Successfully advocating for musicians and roadies to be able to use loading zones when bumping in or out of gigs - no matter what car they’re driving.

8. Encouraging the City of Sydney to use participatory democracy models to draw in a more diverse range of voices as we shaped the future vision for Sydney, leading to the establishment of the Citizen’s Jury process ahead of Sustainable Sydney 2050

9. Advocating for age appropriate housing and priority social housing for older people in support of the Housing for the Aged Action Group.

10. Enabling sustainable and energy efficient infrastructure in Heritage Conservation Areas through a motion which asked the City to remove planning control restrictions on solar panels, water tanks and other house-level modifications for sustainability.

11. Calling on the state government to fund Aerial Bundled Cabling for councils across NSW, reducing the over-pruning of trees around powerlines, making our streets cooler and our electricity infrastructure more resilient against fires and storms.