What I Stand For

Key policy areas that I’ll be running on:

Education

Environment

Food Industry

Gambling Reform

Health

Housing

Infrastructure

Local Infrastructure

Planning & Development

Transparency

Voting

Women’s Rights

Emergency & Disaster Management

Agriculture

Data Privacy

Other Issues

Education

Investment and restructure to Asquith Boy’s & Asquith Girl’s High School

Merge the two to become a Co-education School with the Junior (Year 7-9) Campus on the current Asquith Girl’s site and a Senior (Year 10-12) Campus on the current Asquith Boy’s site.

Improve the curriculum by adding Financial Literacy as a mandatory unit in High School completed by Year 10

This would be to include creating budgets and learning about debt, credit and finance. Aligning this to the Certificate I in Basic Financial Literacy would ensure students are armed with the knowledge to start managing their finances as they begin to enter the workplace.

Funding expanded for TAFE NSW that was gutted under the current Coalition Government

This would included expanded courses available not only at Hornsby TAFE, but to use local schools to deliver training on weekends when not in use to aid in better accessibility to the wider community.

Continued funding for the Smart & Skill program and to allow students in Year 10 access to the program, so that Vocational Education can be used as credit towards the Year 10 School Certificate. )

By having accredited training on top of their schooling allows students to be better prepared for their preferred career. (This would also include a wider range of courses available for students that could be in areas such as Animal Studies, Laboratory, Community Services and even Health, like the trial currently being conducted for Year 12 students in Victoria.

All students to be trained in First Aid across the lifetime of their High School career.

As teenagers start to become more independent and take risks, I believe it’s important to arm them with basic First Aid knowledge to keep them safe when in the outdoors or throughout the city. Having those skills may just save lives! I propose First Aid in Year 7 and 10, with CPR renewed the other grades, as per the current recommended training renewal guidelines.

Expand the Summer Skills program to aid in High School Students getting the key learning skills during holidays for prospective future employment.

The current government initiative was very limited and I believe this needs to be expanded to be accessible to all students.

Add flexibility to the curriculum to allow one day every fortnight that can be used to community projects (Such as community gardens, volunteering).

This will bring a sense of achievement to students but also help them develop links in the community. When our youth are apart of the community, according to several studies, this can lead to less crime and also aid in the transition from High School to life beyond.

Feasibility programs into adding more teaching support in classrooms through teacher aides.

This program could also be extended to parents who wanted to assist beyond current reading or other program offered by the school. I firmly believe that parents should be allowed as many opportunities as possible to assist in the development of their children on their education journey. Longer term, I propose these positions be paid and allow the chance to get accredited training.

Ensuring that age-appropriate materials are taught in Primary Schools and to stop the sexualisation of our children at such a young age.

This can be done with schools having review boards similar to USA with parents having a greater say in what reading materials are covered in Primary Schools and ensuring children can continue to be children and enjoy their innocence.

Removal of formal testing procedures (eg NAPLAN) for the primary school environment. Having working in the Education and Care Industry for almost two decades, I have seen the unwarranted stress being placed on children during these testing times.

When children as young as 8 are stressing and worried over their performance, then something in wrong! Each child’s wellbeing in important and with an increased awareness of how delicate our mental health can be, it’s time to allow children to be children. This allows them time to develop the maturity to handle those situations and commence NAPLAN in Year 7.

Environment

Our bushland is precious and needs to be preserved for generations to come.

Short sighted greed needs to be called out before they destroy the only home our native flora and fauna have.

Food Industry

All seafood being served in NSW to be labelled with point of origin (eg Australia or some overseas country).

This will aid in supporting the local industry and given customers greater confidence in knowing where their food is coming from.

Gambling

NSW has 40% of the world’s poker machines, player losses (pubs and clubs profits) are nearing $8bn a year or $1,000 for every resident in the state, the vast bulk of it comes from problem gamblers.

I will work to

  • Freeze poker machine licenses at current numbers.
  • Increase spin cycle time to minimum 5 seconds on each machine.
  • Limit patrons to 6 hours on machines a day.
  • Removal of all gambling advertising on NSW Government entities (Eg Tangara trains).

Health

Continued funding for health programs including mental health access and greater support for nurses and doctors.

I will fight for funding to ensure tele-health access continues to Mental Health and also for hospital facilities including Hornsby Hospital.

Improve Nursing Ratios

This will be done through incentives in training programs to be subsided and also setting aside affordable housing for nurses to use. This will allow them to live in areas close to our main hospitals, including Hornsby Hospital.

Housing

Housing needs to be affordable for young people.

I will work for

  • the removal of stamp duty for all new home buyers that have lived in NSW for more than 1 year (no limit on property price).
  • restriction of foreign individuals to one investment property to help ease overheating in the market. If any foreign owned investment property is vacant for more than a year, this will revert to public housing or be used as part of the affordable housing pool.
  • reserve 10% of the planned dwellings in the Hornsby Town Centre Masterplan to be affordable housing with 5% reserved for crisis housing to assist homeless and those escaping domestic violence.

Infrastructure

Energy Security.

I will support lifetime extension on our Coal Power Stations. The NEMO mentions that power blackouts will occur the exact same year all the Coal Power Stations will shut down! This is lunacy. I do support the start for Nuclear to be a new base load but Coal is still required as renewables (wind/solar/hydro) cannot cover our current required power supply.

Improved access to government services.

A new Service NSW located in Dural to allow better access for residents on the Western side of the electorate.

Sydney Water to stay in public hands.

This crucial resource I will fight to stay in public hands. Governments have a history of selling crucial infrastructure that has then lead to an increase in costs. Enough is enough!

Upgraded piping and water supply.

I asked Sydney Water employees what was the one thing they wanted for our water system and it was new and upgraded piping. The current infrastructure is ageing and new dwellings have put a demand where current pipes can’t keep up.

Local Infrastructure

Here are some of the local infrastructure changes that are long overdue:

  • ARCADIA – Upgrade Arcadia & Wylds Roads interaction to allow for turning lane. Upgrade Arcadia & Cobah Roads intersection to allow for turning lane. Covered Bus Shelter for Arcadia Public School to also include room for bag hooks.
  • ASQUITH – Creation of Asquith Co-ed High School using current Boys and Girls school to become a Yr10-12 and Yr 7-9 Campus. Investigate overpass or underpass crossing of Jersey Street North to allow safe access to students getting to Asquith Station.
  • BEROWRA – Redevelop the current community centre to include more meeting facilities, playing stadium and finally, Berowra’s Pool!
  • BEROWRA WATERS – Improved Community Fire Fighting equipment and access for residents. Feasibility project into bridge over Berowra Creek and expanding Berowra Waters Road western approach.
  • BROOKLYN – Weekend train services from Berowra to be extended to Brooklyn to help ease car-parking issues.
  • COWAN – Funding for a covered basketball court. Also, funding set aside for future new oval facilities. Upgrade to crossing and traffic facilities near Cowan Station.
  • DURAL – Widening of Old Northern Road including better pedestrian crossings and bus shelters near Redfield College. This also includes extending the overtaking lane at the Galston Road intersection.
  • GLENORIE – Upgrade Old Northern & Wylds Road intersection to allow for turning and merging lanes.
  • MOUNT COLAH – Bike lanes along Ku-ring-gai Chase Road and widening intersection with Belmont Parade.
  • MOUNT KU-RING-GAI – Extended sound barriers along railway and M1. Resurfacing of M1 to higher grade tarmac to allow for noise reduction through the residential areas.

Planning and Development

Tighter building codes for new developments .

With new developments appearing in Sydney, one in the South-West with several developers created dwellings with access to no sewage! I believe in tighter planning laws to ensure developers pay their fare sure and ensure all minimum amenities for the 21st Century are met.

Transparency

For democracy to work there must be complete transparency regarding donations.

  • All donations, no matter what amount, to be declared within a week of being received and to be displayed to the public on the Funding and Disclosure website as soon as information has been processed.
  • All donations over $5000 to be reported by end of next business day. This will be for all year round, including regulated election periods. Currently you won’t know until 6 monthly reporting period is complete.

Voting

Our voting system needs the following improvements.

  • Allow voluntary voting for those aged 16 and 17. With elections being held every 4 years, some don’t get to vote for the first time until they’re almost 21!
  • Explore options for those traveling to vote. With people traveling again and a very short time to pre-poll, there needs to be better options such as in person overseas voting in key locations around the world and expansion of tele-vote services.
  • Expand the savings provisions to ensure as many votes can count and minimise the informal rate. This would be based on the South Australian example.

Women’s Rights

Domestic violence is a scourge on society and we can do better by:

  • Improving access to crisis accommodation and setting aside areas in future planned developments (Such as mentioned in the Housing section).
  • Ensuring Women’s access to safe spaces such as change rooms and amenities. Queensland has a law that now allows any man to come into a female facility if they call or identify themselves a ‘female’; legally they cannot be stopped. I will stand up strongly for women to have safe areas in NSW so they feel protected and to keep the definition of a female as it is currently in NSW. (Remember that the Coalition Minister for Women, a women herself, could not even define what a woman was to parliament!)

Emergency & Disaster Management

Increased funding for emergency and disaster relief management

This current government downsized crucial roles in bushfire management just before the big fires of the 2019-2020 Summer Season. I will push to reinstate these crucial services and to engage Indigenous populations in assisting in managing the land.

Increased training and support for volunteers

Training volunteers can be expensive and I believe in ensuring each volunteer is set up for success. I’ll push for continued funding for training for services such as SES and RFS for volunteers and to work with organisations to find pathways for volunteers should they wish to find paid work in that field.

Agriculture

Protect and support our crucial Bee Industry.

Increased funding into DPI and Bee Industry. This includes support for apiaries to use non-toxic methods to slow down the spread of Varroa Mite. Also to stop using toxic strips being used in hives that are banned overseas that can contaminate plants and honey in nearby locations.

Stop experimenting of untested products on our cattle and food supply.

This current government is using untested injection and other products to our cattle that could eradicate a fair portion of our beef and milk supply. These tests aren’t being done anywhere else in the world and need to be stopped before it causes irrevocable damage to our food supply.

Data Privacy

We need greater protection of our private data and rights.

The current government proposes to use facial recognition technology that has been proven to aid in fraud and stolen identities. This NSW Service App QR Codes previously used were exposed to privacy flaws. I’ll also encourage legislation to limit data stored by the government. Such as WA and SA which kept all Covid Era information and will keep it for 20 years! This was despite promises this information was temporary. I will protect your privacy and rights in NSW.

Other Issues

No Privatisation of Key Assets

This includes Sydney Water and I’ll stop any more hospitals becoming private that we the public are renting for huge fees, such as the Northern Beaches Hospital
 

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