Strength of diversity
The City of Stirling is the largest local government in Western Australia with 227,000 people over 91,000 rateable properties across 30 suburbs.
We are located just eight kilometres from the CBD of Perth.
We provide more services than any other Western Australian local government, whilst maintaining our long-standing debt free status and ensuring that rates levied are amongst the lowest in the State.
We are fast growing; over 11 people per day move to Stirling.
We are also one of the most culturally diverse local government authorities in WA with 35.8 percent of our population born overseas and 22.4 percent born in non-English speaking countries.
Alongside this unique mix of cultures, Stirling has many strengths: close proximity to the Perth CBD; major transport links; beaches, bushland and wetlands; plus recreation and leisure options.
The City also has a dynamic mix of restaurants, cinemas, tourist accommodation and available industrial land, which makes it a natural hub for economic and tourist activity.
I have several favourite parts of the City; firstly, Scarborough Beach, Perth’s most premier beach, which enjoys well over two million visitors a year.
It is host to many large-scale community concerts and place–making events, as well as international sporting activities such as the Australian Surf Life Saving Championships, XXXX Beach Cricket and beach volleyball championships.
It will soon enjoy a $60 million facelift, which is in partnership with the State Government of Western Australia and aims to attract more tourist dollars to the State.
Construction will begin next year on our $26 million, 50-metre outdoor pool at Scarborough Beach to further aid the attraction of tourism from intra, inter and international tourists.
I also enjoy the vibe of Beaufort Street, Mt Lawley, with its urban, café culture feel and also the busyness of Innaloo and Karrinyup; shopping centres in these two suburbs will soon benefit from a $45 million and $50 million revamp, respectively, from Westfield and AMP.
Migrant to mayor
I am very proud to be the Mayor.
This is my first term and after being on Council for such a long period (since 1996), I am truly honoured and humbled to be Mayor of the City of Stirling.
At age three, I moved here as a migrant with my Italian parents.
My dad died when I was 13, after which I left school and got a job as a concreter to help my mum pay the bills.
At 17, I started running my own concreting business employing several men much older than I was at the time.
Back then, never in a million years would I have ever thought I would become Mayor of the City of Stirling.
From migrant to Mayor, this has been my journey.
Australia is such a land of opportunity and it goes to show that if you commit yourself and work hard, anything is possible.
For as long as I can remember I have been a resident of the City, so I could think of no other success that I could be prouder of than serving the public I have lived amongst pretty much my whole life.
I’m a Stirling boy through and through.
Open for business
Being a concreter by trade and running my own building business, I had a natural interest and ongoing relationship with Council in terms of developments.
Beyond just being a ratepayer, I had a keen interest in what projects were approved by Council and a genuine interest in the right outcomes for my area.
This has given me excellent insight into how local government works, the services it provides to residents, and the critical needs that each local government provides.
Local Government really is the backbone of every community right around the country.
Being a Mayor is a full time role and given I still run a small business, the most difficult part of the role is keeping up with everything in both of my jobs.
This means I work very hard and very long hours right around the clock, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
I give my role as Mayor my utmost attention and I take it very seriously indeed.
I am keen to continue on as Mayor; being pro-business I’ve made some real headway into increasing the amount of business investment in the City over my term.
I have also streamlined processes, to make doing business with the City easier for our residents and business investors.
I want to ensure that business continues to be attracted to ‘set up shop’ in the City.
It is a great place to invest and I encourage those looking for a location to set up their business in WA to take a second look at the City of Stirling; we are open for business!
