2015 has been a huge year for our Electorate Office in Newtown. We couldn’t have done it without your support and enthusiasm, so thank you!
Since the election in March it’s been my privilege to represent you in Parliament and to work side by side with you on local issues.
Our office has resolved over 450 individual constituent cases and we’ve met with over 100 of the impressive organisations doing outstanding work in our local area and across NSW.
Here’s just some of what’s we’ve achieved!
Thanks to everyone involved in our campaign, we had an historic win in the Seat of Newtown at the State Election in March.
Three Greens MPs now sit in the NSW Lower House, working closely with our five Upper House Greens.
Strong community campaigns have fought to protect our neighbourhoods from bad planning decisions and developer greed. Alice St residents won their battle in the Land and Environment Court. Residents in Darlington, Alexandria, Lewisham and Petersham have joined together to oppose Urban Growth over-development. And while the Alex Hotel has sadly shut its doors for now, the treasured heritage building is still on track to be protected.
We’ve worked and met with many local organisations, public housing tenants and the services that support them. From RedLink to the Newtown Neighbourhood Centre to the Northcott Community Centre and so many more, those organisations and the people who represent them are a constant inspiration.
Thanks to a huge effort from residents, community activists, local business and many of you, our petition to Stop WestConnex was signed by more than 10,000 people across NSW. There were many other impressive community actions against the dirty tollroad too – from snap rallies to tree-wrapping to actual WestConnex jam (a lot more tasty than the tollroad could ever be).
Ten thousands signatures earned us a parliamentary debate. The chamber was filled with around 100 residents making sure their opposition to the WestConnex tollroad was heard loud and clear.
Sydney remains one of the most expensive cities in the world due, in a large part to housing costs. Our campaign to protect renters’ rights is more important than ever and will continue in 2016 with the review of the Residential Tenancies Act. If you're a renter make sure you complete our renters' survey to help us put together our submission.
I made over 50 speeches in parliament representing our strong, progressive community on a range of issues including renters’ rights, primary school ethics classes, train station accessibility, protecting our environment, unfair strata laws, LGBTIQ rights and more.
It was great to see so many of you at Marrickville, Surry Hills and Newtown Festivals. Those events are a great showcase of our vibrant, creative and active communities.
Residents deserve independent, truly local Councils that can provide localised services and advocacy. While the Baird Government continues to push ahead with its unpopular forced amalgamations, our communities will not stay silent.
The Newtown community united this year to make sure Newtown and surrounds remained the weird, wonderful, respectful and vibrant place that we love.
We're taking a short break over summer - and the office will re-open on January 11th so we can get started on our plans for 2016!
