Category: Blog

🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺Australia Day Activities🎳🏊🎇 Three things you can consider for tomorrow’s public holiday.

1. Barefoot Bowls at West Pymble Bicentennial Club. Call 9498 3135 for more info.

2. Pool Party at the Ku-ring-gai Fitness and Aquatic Centre. Gold Coin Entry.

3. Summer Fair at the St Ives Showgrounds. $2 Entry for food trucks, animal farms, carnival games, movie night, circus and fireworks.

School holiday lunch at Dukes Green Cafe, right before the rain. ⛈️

🇦🇺New Australian Citizens🇦🇺 We look forward to meeting over 200 new Australian Citizens next week at our Australia Day Citizenship Ceremony.

Pictured here are Kai and Lana, dressed in traditional wear from their home country of Kazakhstan. I wish I had brought my girls because I think they would have enjoyed playing together with their (grand)children. We’ll be glad to celebrate their special day.

🩸Blood donations save lives🩸 I’ve donated whole blood over twenty times and today I agreed to donate plasma instead. Plasma is basically blood without the red blood cells.

Plasma is more complex to get because it takes a while to filter out the blood cells and replace the plasma with saline, but it has a range of life saving purposes. Because the blood cells aren’t taken, donors can typically donate again after two weeks instead of the usual three months.

The process wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be, and I wish I had done it earlier. The main issue is just having 1.5 hours to follow through the entire process.

Before and after the blood donation they feed and hydrate you nice and well to ensure that you can pick up and get back to your other activities.

If you have any questions about the process please feel free to reach out. Perhaps we can donate blood together next time at Australian Red Cross Lifeblood Chatswood.

The holiday break has been a great time to hang out locally and chill with family. It’s such a contrast to November and December when I spent most nights out and was unable to see the children or put them to bed.

Earlier this week, we spent an evening cycling and playing at Queen Elizabeth Reserve before watching the friendly team at Pizza Master West Lindfield create our pizzas.

🔻🌳❓ Yesterday an SMH article stated that Ku-ring-gai had an 8.20% reduction in urban canopy over three years from 2019 (52.01%) to 2022 (43.81%). Some people have asked me to comment, so I will say the following.

𝟭. 𝗪𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸 𝗶𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁.

I wouldn’t be surprised by a small decrease but an 8.20% reduction over three years is a LOT and I have not seen this scale of loss on the ground. Remember that these statistics are estimates so if there are changes to underlying assumptions or data sources, or an error in modelling, then it can lead to a wild swing. Our council staff are looking into the details to further understand what has driven the swing.

Though even if the 2022 statistics are correct, Ku-ring-gai still has the greatest coverage out of the Sydney Metro councils with Hornsby as a close #2 at 42.47%.

𝟮. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗰𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱.

And there is scope to improve.

In November 2023 Council resolved to increase resourcing on education, establish a hotline, and provide 7-day week coverage of tree investigations. But having more people on the ground can only go so far, in part because the on-the-spot fines of $3,000 for individuals and $6,000 for corporations are hardly a deterrent. Councils have lobbied the State Government to update Schedule 5 of its Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation to support greater on-the-spot penalties, but to date there has been no change.

Councils also have the option to commence legal proceedings against an offender which in theory acts as a greater deterrent with fines of up to $1.1m for corporations and up to $220,000 for individuals. But in reality, this rarely occurs because there is a higher burden of proof and most councils do not have the extensive resources to investigate and litigate. A tree may be poisoned but unless council is able to prove who poisoned it, there’s nobody to pursue.

𝟯. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝘀𝗰𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘃𝗲𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗼𝗿 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱.

The owner may have obtained a tree permit from council (refer to Part 13 of Council’s Development Control Plans). Part 13 also provides exemptions for tree and vegetation works, such as when removing dead wood, removing tree branches within 0.5m of electrical wires, removing branches overhanging a residence, and the removal of weed species.

The owner may also have exemption from the State Government under its 10/50 Vegetation Clearing Scheme, which allows people living in bushfire prone areas to clear trees within 10m of their homes and vegetation within 50m of their homes.

The owner may have permission as part of a DA consent. Usually these come with requirements for replacement planting elsewhere on site but the replacement trees take time to grow.

Extreme weather events may also lead to reduction in tree canopy. In November 2019 we had extreme weather causing trees to fall and triggering multi-day blackouts. While new trees are planted to replace the old ones, these take time to grow.

𝟰. 𝗨𝗿𝗯𝗮𝗻 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗼𝗽𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝗽𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲.

If you look at Ku-ring-gai, many of the current low density residential homes sit on 800-1,200 sqm of land with the more established plots capable of supporting over a dozen trees of various sizes. But as the population increases, governments face the dilemma of building out (and clearing lots of trees in the process) or building up in established areas (which involves clearing a smaller number of trees per person).

In the coming months, the entire state will see changes in State law that allow more homes to be established on smaller plots of land. If you look at page 42 of the proposed changes (which includes more homes everywhere with dual occupancy as the minimum uplift), the tree canopy targets and tree planting rates are quite low compared to what we currently have in Ku-ring-gai.

https://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-12/eie-changes-to-create-low-and-mid-rise-housing.pdf#page=42

𝟱. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘄𝗲 𝗱𝗼 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝘁?

From a council perspective, we are increasing resources to improve education and investigate tree crimes, however this will not entirely prevent people from conducting illegal activity.

If you are dissatisfied with the situation, consider lobbying the State Government for change. To be effective deterrents, the penalties for on-the-spot fines need to increase. You may also want to provide the State Government with feedback on its proposed changes to the housing system (see page 5 of the link above). In the coming weeks and as residents return from holidays, council will provide more information on the proposed changes and public feedback process.

Great to see so many at council chambers to celebrate Chanukah – the most I’ve seen to date.

Chabad North Shore Alister Henskens MP Matt Cross – Member for Davidson Masada College The North Shore Synagogue Kehillat Masada

Santa asked me whether I had been naughty or nice this year.

Glad to join the community at the Thomas Carlyle Christmas party.

For Year 12 students receiving their results today, it’s important to remember that this one number doesn’t control the rest of your life. There are other ways to get where you need to go, and a rewarding career doesn’t necessarily have to come from attending university either. I’m happy to meet up and chat if you want someone to listen to you or to kick ideas around.

If you know a Year 12 student who is feeling down, please give them the support that they need.

It was great to attend the Ku-ring-gai High School Presentation Day to hear of the accomplishments of our local students. I was joined by Matt Cross – Member for Davidson in handing out the Student Representative Council Awards.

☀️🔥🌡️ 𝗪𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝟰𝟮°𝗖 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆!!! It’s a great opportunity to check out our 50m pool at the Ku-ring-gai Fitness and Aquatic Centre . After undergoing repairs, it reopens today with the addition of a mobility hoist to make it more accessible for all.

Congratulations to Isabella, McKayla, Mayurie, Romani, Nicolas, Liam, Meera and Katja for being our winners of the Speaking 4 the Planet initiative. Our local students created written and visual work advocating for sustainable practices, and I encouraged them to think about how they can make an effective but also equitable impact in the years ahead.

You can watch their amazing work here https://www.krg.nsw.gov.au/Environment/Sustainable-living/Smart-schools/Speaking-4-the-Planet

Glad to see Chanukah this year supported by all three levels of government. We had a fantastic night at the St Ives Village Green, well attended by an inclusive, welcoming and diverse community. My kids also enjoyed meeting the team at Community Health Support and taking part in the games, rides, face painting and fireworks.

Julian Leeser MP Matt Cross – Member for Davidson Deputy Mayor of Ku-ring-gai, Cr Christine Kay Councillor Martin Smith Councillor Kim Wheatley Cr Simon Lennon Cr Barbara Ward Councillor Robert Samuel – Willoughby Chabad North Shore

Visited the Roseville College Prize Giving Ceremonies yesterday. It was particularly cool to see those that I had previously taught at Sunday School and other local church programs get recognised for their achievements.

Thanks to everyone who contributed food and gift items to the Mayor’s Christmas Appeal. Yesterday I joined Gordon Ward Councillors Simon Lennon and Barbara Ward in packing and distributing hampers for Lifeline Harbour to Hawkesbury Sydney at Gordon Baptist Church. The hampers went to a range of causes such as the Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Women’s Shelter .

Congratulations Sophia for being the 17th recipient of Abbotsleigh’s Mayor of Ku-ring-gai Award, recognising her excellence in leadership.

I attended Speech Day yesterday and it was great to see so many young people equipped to create a better future.

It was encouraging to visit the Barker College Junior School celebration today to hear of the children’s accomplishments as well as their contribution to providing education to indigenous groups through their Darkinjung, Ngarralingayil and Dhupuma Schools.

Popped into the Wahroonga Village Fair, organised by volunteers from the Rotary Club of Wahroonga . The event was opened by Bagpipe and Drums from Knox Grammar School and a welcome to country from Peter Kirkwood OAM. I visited the balloon stall organised by girls from Abbotsleigh as well as Melissa from the Tiamo Baby stall.

Thanks to all the volunteers from Rotary for organising this. Funds raised go towards Rotary Club projects. There’s a lot more going on and I’d encourage residents to check it out today. (I had to dash off to the next event.)

I was excited to attend the Kuringai Youth Orchestra Christmas concert, held at my old school St Ives Preparatory School. We heard Christmas classics such as The Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky and Anderson’s Christmas Festival. It was encouraging to see our young people make use of the facilities nearly thirty years after my time in the same hall playing in the school orchestra.

I was also invited to do the raffle draw with all funds going towards KYDS Youth Development Service.

Come visit the KYDS Youth Development Service fundraiser at Pymble Bunnings. The Barbeque and Christmas stall is open til 4pm.

If you can’t make it but want to support the cause, visit https://kyds.kindful.com/

Earlier this month I attended a range of events connected to Diwali, which is a South Asian festivity that celebrates the victory of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance, good over evil.

To be honest, I had limited knowledge about this tradition until quite recently and as far as I know many of the Ku-ring-gai celebrations connected to this event were first started in 2022.

I’m glad to have taken part and look forward to seeing each of these events (organised in chronological order by Ku-ring-gai Council, AASHA and SHARE SMR) scaling up in the future.

It’s the time of the year where we attend (and handout at) annual awards presentations. Yesterday I was at Brigidine College St Ives and it struck me how (compared to my own school in the 90’s) there was a very strong culture of nurturing each individual student as well as the promotion of social justice initiatives. It’s a great option for our local students here at Ku-ring-gai.

Something exciting is coming in the next 24 hours!

☔️It’s a bit wet right now but we have Australia’s largest obstacle course this weekend at St Ives Showgrounds. ☀️Sunny tomorrow!

https://www.tuffnutterz.com/tuffnutterznsw-act

🎉🇦🇺🦘Glad to meet 136 new Australian Citizens yesterday.

Congratulations to our Deputy Mayor of Ku-ring-gai, Cr Christine Kay for getting elected to the Board of Local Government NSW for a period of two years.

Christine has shown an eagerness to engage with Mayors, Councillors, and General Managers across the state to understand the challenges that the sector faces and bring lessons back to Ku-ring-gai. She has already performed a similar role at ALGWA NSW to promote diverse participation in Local Government and I am sure she will do a great job of advocating for our interests at our state industry body.

🌺 Lest We Forget Today our kids had their first experience of laying poppies. My wife and I explained the significance of these poppies, including the sacrifice that their great grandfathers and other Ku-ring-gai residents made to protect our peace.

Tomorrow we remember the actions of the many who served both at home and abroad to protect the freedoms that we enjoy here in Australia. I know that many of our children do not have a concept of war as we have been fortunate to enjoy a period of peace. However, I do want my children to know the sacrifices made by their two great grandparents, one of whom is featured here. Ken served in World War II as an anti-submariner and towards the end of the war he took command of the corvette HMAS Lismore before settling down in East Lindfield. I’ll be sharing more about Ken and others like him at our Remembrance Day ceremony tomorrow at Roseville Memorial Park, 10:40am. See you there, and Lest We Forget.

Good to see so many people attend the Wahroonga Food + Wine Festival on Sunday, which is an event that council sponsors each year.

I was joined by Councillor Martin Smith, Councillor Kim Wheatley and Councillor Cedric Spencer (pictured in the top left image from left to right) at the Ku-ring-gai Council stall to meet the residents and answer their queries. Nearby at the rotunda we had local bands playing all day.

It was also good to meet the volunteers Antonia, Vanessa and Darius (pictured in the bottom left image from left to right) from St John’s Ambulance. At the midpoint of the day, they said that things had fortunately been non-eventful despite the heat.

It was a a privilege to have Captain Ben de Leon from the Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Support Rural Fire Brigade speak with our new citizens earlier this week. Ben migrated to Australia over fifty years ago. In his heartfelt speech he encouraged everyone to embrace our home and give back to the community.

This week I attended the launch of Greener for Business, a free and simple initiative aimed at helping businesses reduce their carbon footprint.

The event was a joint initiative between the Better Business Partnership (Ku-ring-gai Council, North Sydney Council and Willoughby City Council ) and the startup Greener (and its partners Origin Energy , National Australia Bank and the appliances retailer Winning Group).

It was encouraging to hear from a diverse range of likeminded people, each sharing ideas on how we can help businesses and the wider community meet our climate-related international obligations. Also speaking at the event was Kylea Tink for North Sydney .

For more information type “Green for Business” in any search engine.

Earlier this week I visited the Ku-ring-gai Philharmonic Orchestra along with Cr Simon Lennon at the Ku-ring-gai Town Hall. It was good to hear about their plans for the coming year while also forming an understanding of the benefits and space requirements of a community-run professional level orchestra. Their next performance will be at St Ives on Sunday 19th November. For more information, check out their website or social media.

Final day in the office (as I switch to becoming full time mayor). I’m going to miss everyone, though I know they have an exciting future ahead with leading the transition to renewables.

They were kind enough to give me an Octopus (named Constantine), and he will now live in Ku-ring-gai.

Yesterday I was glad to attend the 12th Annual Youth Mental Health Forum. Organised by Ku-ring-gai, Hornsby, Ryde and Hunters Hill Council, the mental health forum is an opportunity for school students and teachers from our four LGAs to brainstorm ideas on how to support our youth through a turbulent time in life, reduce the stigma, provide accessible preventative support.

I was joined by Sarkis Yedelian – Mayor (pictured here), Matt Kean MP and Nathan Tilbury – Councillor at Hornsby Shire Council. We also had a range of providers including headspace , KYDS Youth Development Service , Lifeline Harbour to Hawkesbury Sydney , batyr , Taldumande Youth Services, Mission Australia , NDIS Uniting, Safe Haven NSW and Gamble Aware.

More photos to come.

It’s hard to find soft foods in public (as part of wisdom tooth recovery). On this occasion, I’m having a bowl of congee at The Cockatoo Bar & Restaurant in Gordon.

🇦🇺 Today Ku-ring-gai will have 160 new Australian Citizens. I had the privilege yesterday of signing their certificates. I look forward to meeting them all on this day of joy, and am keen to see what contribution each of them will make to our diverse society.

I took a nap at a hospital and woke up with two wisdom teeth removed. So far so good although I’ll be Mr Puffy face for the next few days, with the next speaking engagement on Tuesday. Ice cream, mashed potatoes and other soft foods are my friend.

I’m really thankful for the care shown by hospital staff; we are very blessed here in some parts of Australia. In the bigger picture, there is still work to be done in bringing comparable services to other parts of our nation, especially with remote and indigenous communities.

I also take confidence that Ku-ring-gai is in good hands. If I am ever out of action, we have a very capable Deputy Mayor who is here to serve our people, and the others councillors are capable of stepping up as well. They’re all great.

Anyway I’ll see you all out and about in the community as soon as I’m fully recovered. See you soon.

Fence. It was setup by council a year ago to block public access to a site which contained asbestos. Since then, council has arranged for some asbestos to be removed and there is a proposal at this Tuesday’s council meeting to make some of the open space available for recreation again.

Come check out some of the Spring Exhibition artwork by our local artists from the Ku ring gai Art Society, now on at St Ives Shopping Village.

Gingerbread Men and Pies at the Roseville Bakehouse. Which part of the Gingerbread Man would you eat first?

A few weeks ago I tripped over my daughter’s scooter and fractured my toe. The restricted movement hasn’t been fun but it has helped me develop greater empathy for design and accessibility issues in the public domain, as well as greater appreciation for online interactions. I’m hoping to be back to normal in a few more weeks / months.

I was looking for a bite to eat when I came across the new 24 hour meat vending machine at CHOP Butchery St Ives, opposite Woolworths.

Interesting concept for anyone wanting some late night ingredients.

𝗛𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗹 𝗗𝗮𝘆 Earlier today, we joined the Korean Community in celebrating Hangul Day. Hangul is the ‘Alphabet’ of the Korean Language invented almost 600 years ago by King Sejong the Great. We had singing, dancing, drums, and talks celebrating the Korean culture and the opportunities we have together here for a multicultural life here in Australia.

As a person of Chinese decent, I genuinely appreciate Hangul because the alphabet is so easy to pickup (whereas Chinese is difficult to learn with over 50,000 words). It is this simple means of communication, along with its community-driven self-sufficiency and education program (called the 𝘚𝘢𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘶𝘭 𝘜𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘨) which helped the Koreans develop from a struggling agricultural country back in the 1960’s to the extremely advanced industrialised nation that it is today.

In Ku-ring-gai, 2.5% of our population is made up of residents of Korean decent. We welcome people of all nationalities to contribute to our multicultural society today, and look forward to further opportunities where we can share and learn from each other.

We thank the Korean Deputy Consul General Ms Deuk Shin along with the support of Ms Kim who came to support the event. We also give thanks to Deputy Mayor of Ku-ring-gai, Cr Christine Kay , Councillor Barbara Ward, and Cr Simon Lennon for their support.

We stopped by at St John the Evangelist Gordon for their annual Spring Fair. We enjoyed the kids activities and games, talking to members of the community, and also won a few books as part of spin the wheel.

It was also good to bump into Cr Simon Lennon, a regular member of the church.

The people at St John’s are a friendly lot so if you live nearby it’s worth dropping in. There’s more information about their activities on the website.

https://stjohnsgordon.org.au/

If you are not in the area on Saturday 14 October or you have another valid reason for voting early, some of our local options include: 🗳️ 2nd Gordon Scout Hall (pictured here); 🗳️ Shop 5, 165-177 Mona Vale Road St Ives; 🗳️ Northside Church North Turramurra; 🗳️ 52 Gibbes Street Chatswood; and 🗳️ Morling College Macquarie Park

For more information visit https://www.aec.gov.au/referendums/voting.htm?division=Bradfield&state=NSW&suburb=Gordon&selection=early&votenow=no&interstate=no&where=Gordon+NSW+2072&postcode=2072#pollList

𝗦𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆, 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 Special thanks to our 50+ volunteers, community groups and staff for making our first Sustainable Futures Day a big success. 💪🥳🎉

When I think about Sustainability, there are the big headlines that the media likes to focus attention on such as rising temperatures and sea levels and our 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 via Solar and Batteries, Electric Vehicles, and Net Zero targets. These were definitely featured at our event.

But another important aspect to sustainability is our 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝗘𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗵’𝘀 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀. Did you know that humans are currently using the Earth’s natural resources (biocapacity) at 1.7 times faster than our planet can regenerate? Focussing on our own lifestyle as Australians, if everyone on the planet lived like an Australian then we would require 3.8 Earths to meet their needs 🌏🌎🌍🌏. Drawing closer to home, 𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝘆𝗱𝗻𝗲𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝘂𝗻 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘁 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗯𝘆 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟴, making it all the more important for us to reduce the waste that we generate.

Unfortunately, I find that 𝗥𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗪𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲 gets far less media coverage than Climate Change despite its critical role in leading us to a Sustainable Future. Reducing our waste means changes in the way that we purchase🛍️, changes in the way that we generate and dispose of rubbish♻️, changes to our travel habits✈️ and and even changes to our choice of food🍎. Our stalls on Saturday did cover this theme, though there’s so much more education to be provided in the coming years.

Anyway we did have a fantastic first year and I look forward to even brighter events in the future! Well done to all involved.

#netzerokuringgai

𝗧𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗜𝘀𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱 🏴‍☠️ I was glad to support our youth from the Marian Street Theatre for Young People as they performed this adaptation of a Robert Louis Stevenson classic at the Ku-ring-gai Town Hall. Additional sessions extend through the rest of the school holidays. For more information visit

https://events.humanitix.com/treasure-island

We were checking out some of the issues across Ku-ring-gai on Monday and stopped by at Twenty74 at the North Turramurra shops for lunch. They have friendly service and a good range of food.

Congratulations to Roseville Golf Club for 100 years. It’s a great place for the community to come together.

Awesome pizza and pasta at Rosso Cavallino St Ives. The lasagne especially is the best I’ve had on the North Shore and the kids loved the gelato.

This morning I was joined by Councillor Barbara Ward and Councillor Martin Smith at the Turramurra Lookout Community Garden for the grand opening of a community shelter.

It was an encouragement to meet all the volunteers and hear that the garden not only provides apartment dwellers with recreation space, but also provides them with a community network for social support.

We also witnessed the ribbon cutting of the Community Shelter funded by a State Government grant, and supported by Alister Henskens MP.

For more information on the garden and opportunities to volunteer, visit https://www.tlcgarden.org.au

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗱𝗮𝘆? We are hosting a Sustainable Futures Day at the St Ives Village Green from 10am to 4pm, with educational stalls covering solar and batteries, multiple electric vehicles on display, waste reduction, native plants, and the role that youth can play. There will also be live entertainment and the opportunity to meet our Net Zero Champion volunteers who can share more about getting involved.

I hope to see you there!

For more information refer to https://www.krg.nsw.gov.au/Things-to-do/Whats-on/Eco-Festival-Sustainable-Futures-Day

We had the privilege of meeting the awesome Volunteers from the Ku-ring-gai SES Unit last night. As volunteers, each of them have dedicated years of their life to train and serve, ensuring that regular Australians like you and I can recover from extreme weather situations.

In my speech I shared about our personal experience four years ago when a mini cyclone felled multiple trees across East Lindfield, including a large one on top of our house. In my heartfelt message I thanked the volunteers for responding to our situation close to midnight, forgoing a warm dinner and time with family in order to serve the community. It is these volunteers who should be recognised for their contributions to the community, and I was proud to present to them their Long Service awards for serving 5, 10 and 20 years with the SES.

After the ceremony we had the opportunity to mingle with volunteers, hear about their challenges and how Council can potentially help, as well as tour the facilities. Did you know that almost a quarter or third of their callouts are in relation to non-native Liquidambar obstructions? It’s a beautiful tree but it causes so many problems that it takes away our volunteers from serving the community in other ways.

𝗥𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘁 𝗣𝘆𝗺𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 Earlier this year our council upgraded this playground in Pymble, with theming based on a fruit farm that used to be in the area. The playground includes a cycle track, soft fall, nature play, picnic area, fenced in area and other farm elements.

Our kids enjoyed it and we recommend that you check it out.

Date night without the kids.

A little sad as it’s my last night here at the UNSW CBD campus. This term we covered Renewable Energy Law, and it was a fantastic opportunity to hear from industry leaders about the policies that different countries have adopted to take on Net Zero. In particular for Australia, what is clear is that the biggest challenge isn’t simply about deploying solar and wind generation (as the politicians like to have us believe) but rather it is about ensuring that Australia has appropriately sufficient and stable transmission, distribution, and energy storage to support the future. I hope that what I learn will be of use at my workplace where we will, hopefully, deploy $30Bn of renewables and storage in the coming years.

I have one term left of daytime classes at uni and will be covering urban sustainability and (international) law of the sea.

Lest we forget

🐣🐥Come visit our church next week for Easter. St Barnabas Roseville East, corner William Street and Macquarie Street.

Set to dominate the media these next six months is the topic of whether Indigenous people should be mentioned in the Australian Constitution, and if so, how.

The Australian Constitution currently covers decisions made by the Parliament (Senate, House of Representatives, Scope of Powers) in Chapter One and the Executive Government (Governor General, Cabinet) in Chapter Two. Indigenous people such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have no formal input into the decision-making process, partly because of the history of colonists not recognising Australia as being owned by anybody (terra nullius) in the eighteenth century.

What is being proposed and put out to referendum later this year is the introduction of an extra chapter to Australia’s Constitution that recognises the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people as the ‘First Peoples of Australia’. It establishes a body of indigenous people called the ‘Voice’ that has the opportunity to provide input to the Parliament and the Executive Government on matters that relate to them, and it gives the Parliament further powers to make laws about how the Voice operates including who it is made up of, how it works, etc.

At a high level, I can see why lots of people will jump on board in support of it. Politically, it is “the thing to do” and I can see a groundswell within Australia of people who will strongly ‘encourage’ anyone else who does not yet understand or feel comfortable to support the wording in its current form (and encourage in such a way that it comes across as bullying or coercion). But in my five short years on council, I’ve also seen well-meaning ideas voted through and then implemented in ways that are contrary to what was originally expected due to a poor choice of wording or loopholes. I suspect that it may well be the case with the Voice here that despite the best of intentions, there may be unintended outcomes that emerge in the coming decades as a result of some judge interpreting the words in our constitution in ways that were not originally intended. In particular, the scope of the Voice in making representations on “matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples” is quite vague and open to interpretation either way.

In addition to the constitution, there are some ‘design principles’ for the Voice. Principles that will guide how the Parliament will implement the Voice if it ends up being supported by a referendum. Some of these principles include broad composition, not having veto power, etc. But the design principles are still somewhat somewhat vague, and they do not form part of the constitution or part of what Australians will be asked to vote on at the referendum.

In the media, there are people who say that the proposed wording is too strong, and there are others who say that the wording is not strong enough. I can see where they’re all coming from.

I do believe that recognition of indigenous Australians, respecting their ways, restoring their bonds and lifting their quality of life is an important thing. Something needs to be done, and it’s probably a case of better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing at all. We also have a stable government and what I believe is the mandate to explore the idea. But I personally have no intention to get involved in the pro or anti-voice camps in the next six months. And I do hope that in the next six months, the Australian people and our political leaders are mature enough to explore the implications in a mature manner and remain open to change, rather than politicising the matter and shooting down anybody who does not see things in exactly the same way that they do. Somehow though, I get a feeling that this is not how it will play out, and I’m actually somewhat disappointed in how our federal leaders (both sides) have led the conversation so far on such a serious matter. I want to be proud of our political leaders, and I expect more from both Albo and Dutton in the contest of ideas than just tearing each other down.

🎉 We had a fantastic day at Lindfield East Public School. I spent most of the time getting to know the booth volunteers, and we all got along pretty well, no unpleasantries.

It was also good to see so many people at the booth, helping to raise funds for our local school, preschool and girl guides. Thank you for your support.

Congratulations also to my friend Matt Cross – Liberal Candidate for Davidson. I first met him five years ago when I got onto council, and I enjoy our regular catchups at the Blood Donation centre every few months. Matt is a genuinely open relationship builder, very responsive to queries, and I hope the people of Davidson give him a chance.

Take care everyone. And as usual, if you have any questions feel free to reach out.