NSW Election 2019: Guide to candidates taking on James Griffin in Manly

With just days to go until NSW goes to the polls here is your guide to who is running in Manly and what they stand for.

Manly MP James Griffin currently holds the seat in Manly.. Photographer: Adam Yip

With just days to go until NSW goes to the polls here is your guide to who is running in Manly and what they stand for.

Liberal James Griffin is attempting to hold his seat but he has five challengers hoping to beat him.

We asked them all to provide a short bio, a bit about their political experience and background and to list their top three priorities/issues in the electorate.

EMANUELE PALETTO

SUSTAINABLE AUSTRALIA

A BIT ABOUT YOU:

I work in the not-for-profit sector and have a commercial background in financial services.

I have created enterprises in sustainable technologies and investment, in financial services recruitment and most recently in property maintenance. I have an MBA as well as an economics degree. I’ve lived on Sydney’s northern beaches for most of my life.

YOUR POLITICAL BACKGROUND/EXPERIENCE:

I joined Sustainable Australia almost three years ago. Sustainable Australia is an independent party from the political centre, striving for an economically, socially and environmentally Sustainable Australia.

Whilst I am not a career politician, I am passionate about the party’s values and see rapid population growth as a serious problem that is not being properly addressed.

TOP THREE PRIORITIES/ISSUES IN YOUR ELECTORATE:

1. Overdevelopment. We need better planning to stop overdevelopment. This can be done through returning real planning power to local communities and ensuring that essential community infrastructure is in place before more housing is approved.

2. Affordable housing. This is especially a concern for first home buyers and renters. Our current economy is overly reliant on property speculation which is fuelled by tax incentives and rapid population growth. By lowering immigration from the record high 200,000 p.a, back to the long-term average of 70,000 we can reduce these population pressures. By reforming some of the tax concessions we can further make housing affordable.

3. Secure jobs via a more diverse economy. Another problem with our economy being overly contingent on property speculation is that peoples investments are primarily profiting off rent paid by tenants rather than productive ventures. Through a diverse economy we can encourage reinvestment in factories farms and small businesses.

KRISTYN GLANVILLE

GREENS

A BIT ABOUT YOU:

I live in Freshwater with my partner, and work as an environment and planning lawyer.

I have lived on the northern beaches since childhood, and enjoyed growing up around our beautiful beaches and wildlife.

Before working as a lawyer, I worked as a respite carer on the northern beaches caring for children with disabilities.

As an environment and planning lawyer, I have worked with individuals, businesses, and governments on many of the big challenges facing Sydney: waste, pollution, renewable energy, development, and heritage preservation.

YOUR POLITICAL BACKGROUND/EXPERIENCE:

I joined the Greens because we have a vision for a society which is ecologically sustainable and equitable. Since joining The Greens, I have worked with the Climate Action Working Group to develop our policies dealing with energy and climate change, rural bushfire prevention, wetlands, and marine environments.

I have locally joined in with various community groups working to clean up our beaches and lagoon environments.

I want to use my experience as an environment and planning lawyer to protect our local area from over development, and preserve our beaches and bushland from threats like pollution and waste.

TOP THREE PRIORITIES/ISSUES IN YOUR ELECTORATE:

1) Resolving our transport needs. After many decades of neglect of our transport, we now we have some of the worst traffic in Sydney. I have advised various clients on aspects of WestConnex and most of the other major transport infrastructure projects on Sydney.

The evidence suggests the proposed Beaches Link tunnel will not deliver an affordable or effective solution to our transport needs — we need dedicated public transport infrastructure.

I am calling for an investigation of the feasibility and cost of a light rail or metro alternative, as against the proposed tunnel.

2) Protecting our environment. Our marine environment and lagoons are vulnerable to threats like climate change, pollution, and marine plastics.

For our beaches to remain places we can enjoy, and continue to provide local tourism jobs, protecting this environment for future generations is critical.

3) Building an equitable society. Like most places in Sydney, the northern beaches is under cost of living pressures with housing affordability and energy prices.

Privatisation of our hospital and under investment in public education are not serving our community. We need essential services to be run for the public good, not private profits.

We need housing policies driven by community need, not developer greed.

JAMES GRIFFIN

LIBERAL

A BIT ABOUT YOU:

I’ve lived in Manly for over 22 years, having moved many times in my childhood around Australia and the UK as an army brat.

I live in Manly with my wife Elissa and our son Ted, who was born in December 2018.

I’m a long time member of Manly Life Saving Club, having been Junior Club Captain and also a former chair of the Manly Community Forum.

YOUR POLITICAL BACKGROUND/EXPERIENCE:

Before being elected in 2017, I was a director of KPMG Australia’s Advisory Risk Consulting Business, using data to make better and informed decisions for businesses.

TOP THREE PRIORITIES/ISSUES IN YOUR ELECTORATE:

The single greatest issue is the ongoing congestion on our roads, and only under a Liberals and National Government have we seen meaningful investment in local roads and public

transport.

To help address local roads and public transport, I will deliver a turn-up-and-go express bus service between Dee Why and Chatswood, with a bus every ten minutes, upgrade Manly Wharf for additional capacity, disability access and wet- weather cover, and continue the important planning stages for the Beaches Link, which will revolutionise transport on the Northern Beaches, turbocharging public transport with new connections to the Sydney Metro at North Sydney, and returning local streets to their local communities.

Secondly, I will also build Australia’s first hospice for young adults on the Manly

Hospital site, which will become a new Manly Health Campus, with 13 services

including respite care and rehabilitation already short-listed for the site.

Lastly, I will also help to take the stress out of school drop offs and pick-ups for

working parents, with the expansion of before and after school care for parents with

children at public primary schools — providing working families more access to

affordable, convenient and flexible services.

A vote for me is a vote for a positive plan for our community. I have a track record of

delivering and advocating for our community, which I will continue if re-elected on

March 23.

DANE MURRAY

KEEP SYDNEY OPEN

A BIT ABOUT YOU

I have called Manly home for eight years now, after living in NSW surf towns from Wollongong to Newcastle as well as overseas. The combination of incredible nature, international cultures and proximity to a vibrant global city centre keeps Manly close to my heart.

Locally, I have helped build communities including Manly Entrepreneurs, co-hosting over 100 events for local start-ups since 2012, Burning Manly which has run over 100 community beach clean-ups with live music at Shelly Beach since 2015, LightRiders Manly night-time riding community and I was the youth ambassador for Manly Sunrise Rotary.

I work as a collaboration designer, freelance within top Australian companies, state and federal government agencies and with not-for-profit community groups.

I also co-founded the Michael Crouch Innovation Centre at UNSW, was a lecturer in Sustainable Design Thinking at UNSW and a facilitator in purpose-led entrepreneurship at UTS. I work with diverse facilitation teams to bring large groups of people together to solve complex community and culture problems, in accelerated time frames.

I was awarded an honours degree in industrial design in 2005, studied at the School for Social Entrepreneurs in 2012 and attribute much of my education to self-guided world travel. I am the town planner at Burning Seed, Australia’s largest participatory gathering and volunteer at many arts festivals, social innovation conferences, environmental communities and start-up events.

YOUR POLITICAL BACKGROUND/EXPERIENCE:

I have experienced ways of working that would allow state government to better collaborate with the people of NSW. Open, honest, inclusive, empathetic and considered methods that would reactivate community participation and trust.

TOP THREE PRIORITIES/ISSUES IN YOUR ELECTORATE:

24 hour public transport — late night fast ferries and express double-decker buses.

Remove destructive over-regulation of festivals and community gatherings.

Smash corruption, clean up dirty lobbying and reinstate community consolation.

NATASHA PHILLIPS-MASON

LABOR

A BIT ABOUT YOU, YOUR POLITICAL BACKGROUND/EXPERIENCE:

Unlike James Griffin, I’m not a career politician.

After calling Manly home for more than 20 years, I believe I have the energy and the fresh ideas to make Manly a better place to live, work and raise a family.

I have owned, managed and worked for small businesses in Manly and am a qualified project manager.

I have worked in both national and international hospitality consulting, including as an operations manager at the Sydney Opera House.

TOP THREE PRIORITIES/ISSUES IN YOUR ELECTORATE:

My top three priorities are:

— The future of the Manly Hospital site and replacing the key community services it delivered, and addressing the lack of critical resources at the Northern Beaches Hospital, including mental health services.

— The systematic destruction and de-funding of our TAFE system, particularly since the Liberals want to spend $2.2 billion on rebuilding perfectly good stadiums.

— The secrecy and missing business case for the $14 billion dollar tunnel project that will lead to more cars on local roads as well as a decade of construction chaos, tolls and the inevitable push for more local development to fund it.

KATE PATERSON

ANIMAL JUSTICE PARTY

Kate Paterson

A BIT ABOUT YOU, YOUR POLITICAL BACKGROUND/EXPERIENCE:

I’ve been an active member of this party for around six years. My only political experience is being a paper candidate only for Manly for the AJP at the last state election.

I am just a concerned local who is disenchanted with the major political parties in relation to their policies concerning animals and the environment and subsequent inaction.

We already have two elected MPs, one in NSW and one in Victoria. We are hoping for another seat after this election.

TOP THREE PRIORITIES/ISSUES IN YOUR ELECTORATE:

Climate change and the environment:

We are at a point where climate change and the degradation to our land and water is rapidly having effects on all our lives.

We know the science, yet our politicians seem to be slow in taking this seriously.

With three children of my own I couldn’t face the prospect in years to come when they may say to me “you knew about climate change and the animal welfare issues and yet you did nothing about it”.

The uncomfortable truth is that after fossil fuels, the food industry is the next big contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, the meat and dairy industries in particular.

Along with this is the amount of factory farms producing 90 per cent of the meat we are eating.

Factory farming is cruel with animals living in very confined spaces and being subjected to surgical procedure without pain relief.

As a local community we can reduce our consumption of factory farmed meat and eat more free range and plant based meals.

Development and protection of green space:

Other local initiatives such as preserving our urban bushland at Manly Dam are important.

We have seen some of this bushland being bulldozed to make way for the expansion of Manly Vale Public School and subsequent run off from building works polluting the water.

The protection of our marine reserve at Shelley Beach and our beautiful Sydney Harbour National Park is important as well.

Beaches Link tunnel:

I do not support the building of the Northern Beaches tunnel due to the concerns over the permanent loss of green space (Balgowlah Golf Course), the health concerns over unfiltered exhaust stacks near schools and homes and the concern about developers rushing in to build higher density housing and with it more people and cars.