Born and bred in the City of Whittlesea.
When I was born in 1970, there were 26,000 people living here. Today our population is fast approaching 180,000 and is expected to reach 333,702 by 2031. We are the second fastest growing council in Australia. We are also the third most multicultural council in Victoria. Living amongst us are people from 50 different countries, and there are more than 140 languages spoken.
I was first elected as a local councillor in 2005. This is my third term as Mayor, having served two successive terms in 2009 and 2010. I am the only female Councillor to have been elected Mayor more than once. I feel very honoured and privileged to serve our community.
My first year as Mayor was dominated by the tragedy of the 2009 ‘Black Saturday’ bushfires which significantly affected the City of Whittlesea both during the emergency and in the relief and recovery efforts. The damage caused to lives, property and the environment was on a scale that I hope to never see again. One hundred and seventy three people died in Victoria; 12 perished in the City of Whittlesea. Many more narrowly escaped death.
Responding to a natural disaster of this scale and duration was a massive challenge for our City
Nearly 300 staff and resources from every department were involved in our disaster response. This was more than half of our entire workforce at the time. As Mayor I felt deeply responsible for supporting Council staff and the community.
The main responsibilities of local government in an emergency are to operate certain relief and recovery activities such as running Municipal emergency Coordination Centres (MECCs) and Relief Centres. MECCs are set up to bring together key agencies and coordinate the provision of council and community resources during the emergency and in the recovery phase. We sourced food and accommodation for fire fighters, fuel and water for fire fighting vehicles, heavy equipment such as graders to make fire breaks and a multitude of other necessities needed for the relief and recovery work.
The Relief Centre was set up in the Whittlesea Township and provided emergency accommodation for people displaced by the bushfires, meals, first aid and community information.
Typically relief centres operate for a few days, until the emergency is over and it is safe for residents to return home. However, because of the scale of the 2009 disaster our Relief Centre remained open for two months until 9 April and provided services to about 5,200 people. For the first five weeks, it operated for 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
I was incredibly proud of Council’s role in the disaster. In addition to our official role of sourcing and coordinating resources to support the fire response, community support and recovery activities, Council fielded the overwhelming number of offers of help from the public, inquiries from the worldwide media and requests for information from the Victorian Premier’s Office.
Aside from Council’s official role, we were all confronted by the raw emotion of the survivors. Some of them had lost everything, family members and friends.
It was a tragedy of the worst kind, but I was incredibly proud of the City of Whittlesea’s role and staff in the disaster. The generosity of the human spirit of the volunteers and of our whole community, who wished to assist people in their time of need, will remain with me forever. The offers of assistance from communities and individuals from a local, state, national and international sphere, was amazing to experience.
Five years later my term in office is more typical of the role expected of a Mayor.
An important part is to support Council’s advocacy efforts. We are one of the fastest growing municipalities in Australia. Every year more than 8000 people move into the municipality, but State and Federal Government funding for critical infrastructure and services simply does not keep up. It is estimated that the City of Whittlesea has a transport backlog of $764 million. Lack of main roads and public transport are denying residents access to jobs, education, services and hampering community life.
This year the Victorian public will elect a new State Government and we are embarking on a high profile and ongoing advocacy campaign with the community, Access Denied, to get the Liberal and Labor parties to commit to building access ramps on the Hume Freeway at O’Herns Road in Epping North, and extending the train line to Mernda.
Residents face a daily grind of congested roads and inadequate public transport, and we are hoping that we are successful in securing funding for these two important projects that will make a huge difference to residents in the municipality. There are several other advocacy priorities we will also pursue such as extending the 86 tram line along Plenty Road, increasing the availability of respite care and mental health services for young people and tackling family violence.
It would be fair to say that a councillor’s role has no ending – meetings, community events, school visits, planning matters, site visits, lobbying politicians and lots of reading.
Of course I also spend a lot of time attending to resident requests and ensure that I personally respond. I’m a fierce advocate for residents and fight for what I believe is right and really like to assist those less fortunate.
This year I’m also serving as Deputy President (Metropolitan) of the Municipal Association of Victoria. I have a busy schedule so time management is very important, particularly as I have a husband and two sons in high school. There isn’t much spare time but when there is I like to cook and spend time with my family.