As an active participant in the life of our community, I was approached to consider running for Council, which I did. So I was successfully elected as a Councillor for the City of South Perth in 2002. I was then elected Deputy Mayor in 2009, and was privileged to become Mayor in 2011.
Prior to becoming Mayor I worked in the public and non–government sectors in a range of positions – project management, governance, policy development, training, early childhood education, mediation, contract management, strategic planning and community development. The skills and experiences from these roles have enabled me to understand the complexities and challenges that face people and businesses in our community today. Currently I am undertaking the role of Mayor on a full–time basis.
About the City of South Perth
The City of South Perth is an inner urban southern suburb of Perth, and is located four kilometres south of Perth’s central business district. The City covers an area of 19.9 square kilometres, a third of which includes public open space, river foreshore, parks, sports grounds and golf courses, and is home to some 45,000 people. The area of the City broadly forms a peninsula, as it is bounded on three sides by the Swan and Canning Rivers.
The Perth Zoo is located in the City and attracts over 600,000 visitors annually. The City is also known for its gracious street trees, extensive parks and gardens, and leafy environment, all of which complement the urban village atmosphere cherished by its residents.
My favourite place in our City would have to be the Swan River foreshore. This is truly the ‘jewel in our crown’, and attracts people from areas far and wide to enjoy the beautiful river and the vistas of the City of Perth, the Darling Range escarpment and Kings Park.
Challenges & choices
One of South Perth’s biggest challenges is meeting the needs of an increasing population. We want to maintain the lifestyle and amenity within the City, whilst at the same time provide a diversity of housing to meet the needs of our changing community – families, single people, couples whose children have left home and our ageing population. The challenge is really in deciding what to keep and what we are prepared to change to adapt to our community’s housing needs.
Another challenge is ensuring that we have adequate public transport, as the majority of South Perth residents work outside the City. We also face challenges because Curtin University (the second largest University in Western Australia) is on South Perth’s boundary, so there are challenges particularly in terms of student accommodation, parking and access to public transport as the University increases in size.
Plans, projects & policies
The City of South Perth is working with our neighbouring local government, the City of Melville, to develop a Transit Orientated Development (TOD) at Canning Bridge.
The TOD, which is a mixed use residential/retail precinct within walking distance of a rail or bus station, will enable people to live, work and access recreation in South Perth and Melville with a reduced reliance on cars.
In the face of population growth, TODs help make the most of available urban land while enabling more compact and accessible communities, improving local services and increasing housing diversity and affordability.
Public open space is a key feature of South Perth. The City has a large number of high quality open spaces dispersed across its municipality and a strategy is being developed for these spaces.
As community needs, expectations, and demographics change it is essential that the City develops a long–term sustainable strategic plan for the future provision and management of public open space. The strategy aims to provide clear direction on the purpose, level of provision, and management of public open spaces across the City well into the future. Without this strategic planning there is a risk that decisions and allocation of resources and funding tend to be made in an ad hoc and ineffective manner.
Looking forward to the future
My role as Mayor presents many opportunities and challenges. I don’t see my role as a chance to build a personal legacy, but rather as an opportunity to contribute to an ongoing legacy for the City of South Perth. The decisions being made currently by Council will ultimately shape how South Perth looks in the future.
Many of the achievements we have made today will probably come to fruition after I retire from Council, and I will get immense satisfaction from being involved in the planning for those projects.
People expect their local government to be efficient and they hold us to account on our performance and governance standards. However, I believe that understanding people’s hopes and values, knowing what is important to them and responding to those needs is integral to the decisions we make as elected representatives.
