Cumberland Council election: Meet the candidates
VOTERS will go to the polls on Saturday, September 9 to elect a new Cumberland Council. Here’s a full list of candidates and their pitch for your vote.
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VOTERS will go to the polls on Saturday, September 9 to elect a new Cumberland Council.
After more than a year under the control of the state-appointed administrator, voters will get to have their say and shape the look of the new council.
There are 74 candidates vying for 15 seats.
The Advertiser asked candidates to submit statements on why residents and ratepayers should vote for them. Their answers appear below.
A full list of candidates in each ward follows.
THE GREENS
■ Protect green spaces and oppose overdevelopment; provide more trees and community food gardens; save our swimming pools
■ Revise local environment plans to prevent overdevelopment
■ Provide more parks, off-road cycleways, and low-cost council childcare
■ Support ethical governance and community involvement; reverse the forced amalgamation of Holroyd Council; support communities ahead of developers; restrict councillor expense claims and disclose their assets
■ Oppose the giant toxic Eastern Creek incinerator
■ Act for renters’ rights and at least 15 per cent affordable housing in developments
■ Make Cumberland a community solar powerhouse.
INDEPENDENTS
Graham Edwards
As a resident and active community participant of Greystanes for over 25 years, I have an understanding of the issues in our community.
As an independent community representative I will ensure the residents’ voices are heard and acted upon and are not influenced by party political agendas.
I encourage all residents to vote yes to the pool poll question, as we need to maintain and improve our local facilities.
Steven Lopez
I have lived in the area for over 20 years. I grew up here, I’ve worked here and to me, there was no place better ... but we’ve lost our way.
I remember when people used to be proud to be from here. This was the place to be, the place to raise your family. Others will say everything is fine, but if you lived here as long as I have, you’ll know it is not what it once was. I am running to restore it.
LABOR
General goals for the first 12 months include:
■ A critical review of all significant decisions made during the period of administration; the restoration of volunteer park and advisory committees; a review of the increases in fees and charges for rooms and facilities.
■ Urgent measures against littering and rubbish dumping; priority focus on programs to assist local youth, elderly and disability services; support for local jobs.
■ An immediate stop to any plans for further privatisation of services; upgrades to pools, no pool closures; exploration of opportunities for increased community involvement in decision-making; a review of expenditure on consultants.
■ Engagement with local state and federal MPs to deliver improved services such as parking, transport, health and education; the restoration of festivals abolished by the administrator; exploration of community support for a council demerger.
LIBERAL
The Liberal Party is the only major party committed to making the new council a success.
We will restore the best practices of the former councils to ensure a level of customer service in line with community expectations.
We will also get cracking on cleaning up our creeks, removing weeds and city beautification through an expanded Work for the Dole program, providing a double win in providing job skills and the dignity of work for people in our community.
Our new council presents a great many challenges and opportunities for the future. We will need to tap into the best work of councils across Sydney to ensure future development is of a higher standard than we have presently seen.
We will also need to tap into our expanded community services team, and put in place a plan to get state and federal governments working on teaching our entire community English skills. Our social cohesion depends on it.
Our outlook for the new council is strong and positive. We look forward to working with everyone to make it a success.
OUR LOCAL COMMUNITY
Our Local Community (OLC) does not support party politics. We wish to concentrate on neighbourhoods. Cumberland Council needs to improve cleanliness and efficiently promote this to address community expectations.
Our team has a blend of experience and community awareness to deliver and improve our community for the people of Cumberland.
Consultation – we will introduce quarterly forums for community input. A vote for OLC makes the community the boss and not the major political parties.
CUMBERLAND COUNCIL CANDIDATES
Granville Ward
Our Local Community — Rima Balech, Amale Gerges, Karen Garrard
Labor — Steve Christou, Ola Hamed, Qinsong (David) Chen
Liberal — Joseph Rahme, Natalie Issa, Jamie Sleiman
The Local Independent Party — Nasr Kafrouni, Charles Itaoui, Joe Mercia
Independent — Steven Lopez
Greystanes Ward
Labor — Greg Cummings, Glen Richardson, Pam Colman
The Local Indepedent Party — George Kafrouni, Michael La Robina, Nadima Saba
Our Local Community — Eddy Sarkis, Karen Beebar, Georges Karam
Liberal — Ross Grove, Charles Nassif, Stella Camenzuli
Independent — Graham Edwards
Regents Park Ward
Tony Oldfield, Suna Er, Francis Tse
Independent — Semra Batik, Fatima Mogul, Neslihan Apaydin
Labor — George Campbell, Kun Huang, Ja Yun (Gloria) Hwang
Residents Action Group Cumberland — Irene Simms, Teresa Di Paolo, Melissa Read
Liberal — Ned Attie, Jonathan Huang, Haisheng (Andy) Shi
South Granville Ward
Independent — Can Odabas, Kayhan Oncu, Adil Mohammad
Our Local Community — Paul Garrard, Helen Hughes, Jeffrey Sun
Labor — Glenn Elmore, Hamid Abdul Khalik, Sandra Doumit
Hicham Zraika, Mahmoud Hussein, Arslaan Khan
Liberal — Tom Zreika, Izzet Anmak, Jeoung Nam (John) Park
Wentworthville Ward
Liberal — Michael Zaiter, Karunanithi Sathiah, Peter Bobb
The Local Independent Party — Sashi Medam, Elias Kassab, Sam Carlino
Labor — Lisa Lake, Suman Saha, James Plummer
Our Local Community — Mark Pigram, Natheer Atwan Kadim, Anne Staples
Independent — John Kennedy, Venkatesh Edupuganti, Dhavalkumar Patel
The Greens — Sujan Selventhiran, Paul Esposito, Adel Alavi Fazel
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