Policies
As Lord Mayor, I will work to develop a culture of respectful teamwork involving all our elected Councillors. We have had enough of Councillors throwing childish insults at each other, pretending they are in Federal or State Parliament.
The twelve Councillors, and the Lord Mayor, need to be focused on serving those they represent, across the whole City. Local Government is not a place for divisive party politics.
All council debates should be respectful and constructive. We should always seek to better understand the complexities of issues and thus achieve consensus around the city's best interests.
Formal council meetings should be efficient and effective and should not be unnecessarily prolonged. It is disrespectful to Councillors, Council staff, and the general public when meetings drag on late into the night.
The Deputy Lord Mayor position should be rotated amongst Councillors, as is commonly done in many other local councils.
We should return to the traditional practice of Councillors sitting in ward groups, rather than party groupings. This would help build a sense of representing the community rather than parties.
While ‘Our Newcastle’ candidates are running as a team, they are independents and will be free to vote as they wish. This should apply to all elected Councillors.
Transparency
- A review into council transparency: It has become increasingly difficult to obtain information about the City of Newcastle. We want the council to be as transparent as possible so residents know where their rates money is going and how their council is performing. If the council isn’t performing, you shouldn’t need to take the council to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to find out. - An online, interactive map showing council spending, services, projects and more in each ward. To ensure the council is spending equitably across our city, this map will help residents decipher council operations in a way that’s easy to find and understand. - Publicly available infrastructure backlog information has been developed following best practice guidelines set by the NSW Office of Local Government. There will be no more accounting tricks or obfuscation, Newcastle deserves to know the truth about the state of our public assets. - A review of the council’s accounting systems to ensure financial reporting standards are best practice in line with NSW Office of Local Government standards.
Integrity
- Council decision making must be based on genuine consultation and involvement of the community at the grassroots. The community must first be involved in making decisions about the general direction of city development, and should then be involved in ongoing oversight of new projects or initiatives. There must be an end to plans being made in backrooms and then being presented to the community for comment (“announce and defend”). - The Lord Mayor will donate their Airport Board Directors Fee to charity or back into the council's capital works program. The CEO/GM will be encouraged to do the same. - An end to hugely expensive glamour projects and exclusive events that serve very little benefit to the community as a whole. - The prioritisation of maintenance of roads, footpaths and other council assets. - An external inquiry and review of the alleged toxic culture at the City of Newcastle, including the behaviour of senior management staff. - A thorough, forensic investigation into the Scott Neylon/Jeremy Bath/Jason Sivo letters saga. - A commitment to ceasing any further privatising or commercialising Council assets without a prior open and broad community consultation considering all the ramifications of such changes. Councils exist to serve the community not to run businesses
Housing
Keeping Rents Down by Keeping Rates Down - Any increase in rates results in an increase in rent costs. Keeping rates low will ensure that renters are not punished unfairly. - We will target rate increases to no more than CPI to keep cost of living increases minimal. - We do not support the removal of the NSW Government rates cap. Increase Housing Supply - Expedite building approvals and completions. - Explore innovative housing solutions (e.g., modular homes) - Work with the state government to protect homebuyers, tradespeople & contractors from loss due to shonky developers, or delays and bankruptcy by builders. - Host an action summit with Housing stakeholders with a view to identify action that can be taken to increase housing supply responsibly. Diversify Housing Mix - Increase the focus on neglected market sectors (e.g. smaller homes and apartments suitable for first-home buyers, singles, empty nesters). - Encourage medium density European-style apartment complexes near village centres. Enhance Social Housing - Collaborate with state government for funding, support and opportunities. - Set mandatory targets for affordable housing. - Identify suitable land for social housing developments. Explore Alternative Housing Security - Promote long-term rental options. - Investigate innovative tenure models (e.g., tradeable leaseholds) - Remove barriers to long-term rental and leasehold properties while increasing tenant security. Protect Green Spaces - Balance housing development with preservation of community spaces - Rethink Broadmeadow Hunter Park strategy - Preserve Bushland and the Minmi Green Corridor
Transport
- The duplication and widening of Minmi Road has been announced by the current administration for more than three years and has not been treated as a priority. This essential upgrade will be one of our first priorities. - We will advocate to the state government to ensure adequate public transport is provided to these areas. We’ll also work with the state and federal governments to improve and upgrade road networks. We will play our part in ensuring council roads are properly maintained. - Building more footpaths and maintaining current footpaths across the city to support people with a disability and older people to move safely across our city. Many years of neglect by the current council has meant we have a long way to go, so this cannot be fixed overnight.
Cycling
Safe cycleways are an essential part of a modern city. Active transport delivers real economic, environmental and health benefits for everyone. Well designed paths and cycleways encourage pedestrians and bike riders and help all road users by reducing traffic and parking congestion. Safety is my priority. As a doctor, I've seen too many cyclists and pedestrians suffer injuries that could have been avoided by better infrastructure. I understand cyclists' concerns about riding on busy roads. I also appreciate drivers' frustration making room for bikes on busy roads. Bicycles and motor vehicles may be able to share low-speed, quiet streets, but elsewhere we need safe, separated cycle paths. "Shared" paths are not good enough. Pedestrians, especially those with prams or pets, should be able to walk confidently without being alarmed or harmed by fast moving bikes. Commuting cyclists should be able to ride without risk of collision with pedestrians. It’s time for Newcastle to take cycling seriously. Some gains have been made over past years but many opportunities have been missed. Council planning documents and policies have supported active transport, but funding, staff and resources required to plan and deliver cycleways have been inadequate. There has been no mechanism for reporting on money spent, projects delivered and how priorities have been determined. Shared paths have been this Council's easy option to ‘look good’ with regard to cycleways. Shared paths should be a last resort when safer alternatives are not available. Conflict on shared paths has been exacerbated by the recent proliferation of illegal electric motor bikes. Council should also be undertaking education and monitoring, and working with police to ensure public safety. As Lord Mayor, I will be committed to a multi-year program to deliver a city-wide, connected network of safe cycle paths. I'll focus on minimising the risk of harm to pedestrians and cyclists by separating footpaths, cycleways and roads. I'll ensure active transport stakeholders are actively engaged in working with Council to achieve our goals. I will work with the community to maximize understanding, tolerance, and respectful behaviour. I will produce an annual Active Transport Report that provides honest, easy to understand details of proposed funding, projects to be undertaken as well as actual money spent, a record of works completed, and measures of the impact on active transport participation. Together, we'll deliver better paths and cycleways to help build a cleaner, healthier, and safer city.
Environment
- Continue the rollout of council renewable energy infrastructure to reduce the council’s carbon footprint. Actively plan for the transition of the city that will occur as the world moves away from fossil fuels. - Build a food and organic waste processing facility in the city. This will increase the life of Summerhill’s waste cells, save ratepayers money, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by organic waste. - Provide education to residents on ways they can reduce their waste, such as composting, repairing, recycling and repurposing. - Plant trees across the city to provide shade in summer, provide crucial habitat for wildlife and beautify the city. - Protect any existing wildlife corridors from development. This will protect threatened wildlife species, and ensure these spaces are available for future generations to enjoy. - Rehabilitate our local rivers, creeks, swamps and wetlands to protect local biodiversity, and to ensure they can be enjoyed by future generations. - Empower local Landcare and community garden groups to continue their important work.
Rates
Rates have risen dramatically, by more than CPI, in the last 10 years under Labor and Lord Mayor Nelmes. We intend to target rate increases to the lowest level possible to ensure our residents and businesses are not burdened by excessive rate rises.
Small business
Small businesses play a crucial role in the vibrant, modern day city Newcastle is. In the current cost of living crisis, the City of Newcastle should be doing what it can to support local small businesses. - Remove the outdoor furniture fee that the current council has imposed on restaurants and cafes across the city. It does not cost council money for a small business to leave their furniture on the footpath overnight, so it does not make sense to charge them for it. - A review into red tape and council bureaucracy on small businesses. There are so many stories of small businesses being impacted by nonsensical and heavy-handed council regulations. This will save small businesses time and money. - A council events procurement strategy: If council is running any events, where possible the businesses supplying services or goods to that event should be from the city rather than Sydney based and further if possible, from the part of the city where the event is being held.
Culture & Arts
- We’ll support the arts community and Newcastle Art Gallery to be able to exhibit nationally and internationally significant works once the renovations are complete. We’ll also support local artists to exhibit work. - Refocus Council sponsored cultural events like the New Annual to showcase local artists, instead of artists booked from other parts of Australia or internationally. These cultural festivals should have a broader appeal rather than appealing to a small minority of the Newcastle population. - Support live music in any way we can across the city. Newcastle has a proud history of live music and we want this to continue. We welcome pubs, clubs and music festivals to host some of Newcastle’s, Australia’s and the world’s best musicians. - If international superstars want to come to Newcastle, we will make them welcome. But our aim is that in the future international superstars will come from Newcastle. - Invest in our public libraries by upgrading our facilities and investing in our physical and digital collections. - Libraries programs and events should be run across all libraries, not just a select few libraries. As an example, Beresfield Library is significantly ignored to the communities detriment. We will change this.
Parks
& Recreation
- Upgrading and maintaining sporting fields and facilities across the city. In particular, facilities should be upgraded to allow and encourage women’s participation in sports. Funding should be equitable across the whole city. - Review the fees charged to hire out council facilities for not-for-profit groups with a view to lowering or removing as many fees as possible. Not-for-profit groups and charities are required to pay prohibitive costs to hire out spaces owned by the community. This often makes these groups financially unviable, further isolating our community. After the COVID years, we need to bring our community together. - Protecting our precious parks and green space from development. With our growing population and with backyards getting smaller, this green space is vital to our community’s mental and physical health. These parks should be well maintained and upgraded so they can be enjoyed for generations to come. - Upgrading and maintaining our inland swimming pools. Our vision is that the whole community should have access to free outdoor swimming venues. - Learn-to-swim classes should be run at all inland council pools. It is vital that all members of our community, young and old, can swim safely. - Upgrading and maintaining our ocean baths and preventing the loss of community space and amenities to commercialisation. - Upgrading and maintaining Blackbutt Reserve so it can be enjoyed by future generations. It should also be protected from commercialisation so the space can be enjoyed by all of Newcastle, not just the privileged few who can afford it.
Community
To read our policies on community, please go to the following links: