Shoalhaven, Eurobodalla, Bega Valley: Meet your 2024 council candidates
With the local council election just weeks away, it’s time to meet your candidates and hear what they want to do to improve the south coast.
The South Coast News
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Residents in a number of south coast local government areas will soon be casting their votes for who they think should sit on their councils, and who they think should complete the job of mayor.
A number of candidates in Shoalhaven, Eurobodalla Shire and Bega Valley Shire are well and truly into campaigning mode, voicing their ideas of where they think their respective areas should go.
With the election next month, The South Coast News asked a number of these candidates what they believed are the biggest issues, how they would help ease the cost-of-living crisis and whether they supported high density housing in their regions.
Here is what some candidates said in their respective LGAs:
Shoalhaven City Council:
Matthew Norris, Labor
Current Labor Shoalhaven Councillor Matthew Norris said, if re-elected, he would urge Shoalhaven Council to get a grip of their current financial situation.
“The main thing from a council level, is make sure that we keep on with financial sustainability workshops and get council’s financial situation in order before we ask residents for rate rises,” he said.
It comes after Shoalhaven Council narrowly avoided a mega 44 per cent rate hike after an independent review found them to be financially unsustainable.
Mr Norris said this was one of the major issues facing the LGA.
“Council’s financial situation is number one, followed by our roads and the backlog of maintenance we need to catch up on after years and years of mismanagement,” he said.
Housing affordability and availability was also an issue cited by Mr Norris, who said he agreed with high density housing, depending on where it was constructed.
He said areas like Ulladulla or the Nowra CBD were more appropriate for high density housing, but there needed to be limits with height, saying levels such as 16 stories were not appropriate on the coast.
Luciano Casmiri, Shoalhaven Independents Group
Shoalhaven local Luciano Casmiri is running for council for the first time, as part of the Shoalhaven Independents Group.
He said he was running because he was sick of seeing what was happening in the region.
Mr Casmiri said in order to ease cost-of-living pressures, council needed to control and cut costs.
“We need to endeavour to reduce costs that council can control,” he said.
However, he said the number one issue Shoalhaven Council needed to focus on was fixing the sheer amount of potholes in the region.
“Roads are a huge concern in our area,” he said. “It’s crazy.”
Mr Casmiri also supported higher density housing, however with large gaps between the buildings.
“A concrete jungle isn’t the height of the buildings, but the amount of buildings in one area,” he said.
“Have one 10-storey building to create more homes, then surround it with trees and parks, then do another one a little further down.”
Jemma Tribe, Independent
Jemma Tribe is not new to running for office, having previously tried to run for the state South Coast seat and the federal seat for Gilmore.
This time, the Nowra business woman and Business Chamber President is running for mayor.
She said it was time for Shoalhaven Council to “get back to basics”.
“Shoalhaven Council needs to get it’s own house in order,” she said.
Mrs Tribe said avoiding further rate rises would help address cost-of-living issues.
She also said the current financial situation was the biggest issue in the region.
“We really don’t want to see extra taxes put on businesses, or preposterous rate rises put on households,” she said.
Mrs Tribe is also a fan of “going up” with buildings to create more homes.
“Housing affordability and availability are huge issues,” she said.
“Going up with mixed-use commercial and residential buildings in Nowra would address economic and housing issues.”
Kaye Gartner, The Greens
Kaye Gartner is hoping to continue Amanda Findley’s legacy as one of the few Greens mayor’s in NSW.
The Greens candidate said in order to ease the cost-of-living crisis, Shoalhaven Council needed more revenue streams, like paid visitor parking.
“Council can ease cost-of-living pressures by facilitating good quality childcare to enable parents to work,” she said.
“Council can also ease cost-of-living pressures by driving energy efficiency and renewable energy benefits into the community to reduce household energy bills.”
Mrs Gartner said one of the main issues in Shoalhaven was protecting the region’s environment and coastline.
“Protecting our natural and cultural heritage matters to the Shoalhaven people and I have a strong record here, having defended the Huskisson Church, Manyana special conservation area and Taylors Lane trees,” she said.
Mrs Gartner also said she supported medium to high density housing and said this was already happening along the Shoalhaven.
“My job as Mayor will be to support a transition to higher density town centres without losing what we value in them,” she said.
Eurobodalla Shire Council:
Keira Marchini, Independent
Narooma Chamber of Commerce president and Montague Coffee owner, Keira Marchini, is having a swing at Eurobodalla Council, under former councillor Rob Pollock’s team.
Ms Marchini said she was running not as a politician, but as a new mother and business owner.
“We need to hear from the people more,” she said.
She said her team wanted to look into Eurobodalla Council’s budget and said cost-of-living issues could be eased by moving money around.
“We need to put money where it should be going and not in the wrong spaces,” she said.
Ms Marchini said she supported high density housing, but only in the appropriate spots.
“Growth is perfect within reason; good for the people, good for the economy,” she said.
Matthew Hatcher, Independent
Current Eurobodalla Council Mayor and ‘coffee king’ Matthew Hatcher is running for re-election after serving his first term.
Mr Hatcher said his team, ‘Advance Eurobodalla’, were committed to “addressing the increasingly important issue of housing unaffordability”.
He said this would help ease cost-of-living.
“Fewer and fewer young people are able to afford a home of their own,” he said.
Mr Hatcher was proud the Eurobodalla was one of the few LGAs in the state with no rate rises and he promised to keep this going.
“We have shown that is our plan in the last term of council and we will continue working to get the best value for money for the community,” he said.
Mr Hatcher was also an advocate for high density housing, with a Eurobodalla Housing Masterplan currently underway.
“It will go on exhibition with the community for an extensive period this year,” he said.
“It is essential to provide affordable housing and key worker housing in the CBD to support small business and give our ageing residents an option to downsize near essential services.”
Anthony Mayne, Independent
Current Eurobodalla Councillor Anthony Mayne is not only running for re-election, but a shot at mayor.
He said his ideas would help ease the cost-of-living issues, noting council needed to attack the housing affordability problem.
“I have called for a housing symposium as the current proposed Eurobodalla housing strategy document is essentially silent on affordable housing,” he said.
Despite this, Mr Mayne said he was strongly against extreme changes to height limits.
He said a proposed increase from 18m to 70m in the Batemans Bay CBD was inappropriate.
“I do not support a 400 per cent increase in building heights,” he said.
Mr Mayne said this was the largest issue facing the shire, as well as promoting the Bay’s tourism.
“We need to celebrate one of our economic powerhouses in the shire, our tourism industry,” he said.
“To do so, we need to promote and support our natural environment and protect our ecosystem.”
Colleen Turner, The Greens
Colleen Turner is running for Eurobodalla mayor for the Greens.
She said housing and rental prices in the region were a huge contributing factor to the cost-of-living crisis.
“We will make it a priority to finalise and implement an affordable housing plan in Eurobodalla,” she said.
“That plan will include practical strategies for ensuring long term affordable housing in Eurobodalla.”
Mrs Turner said health, happiness and affordable housing were the main issues which needed addressing in the region.
“These ideals are interconnected, being healthy and happy is reliant on being securely housed and protecting our shire’s beautiful environment contributes to everyone’s health and happiness,” she said.
Mrs Turner also said while she supported medium to high density residential housing, she did not support high density tourist accommodation.
“We will develop and implement a housing plan that specifically includes a component of affordable housing for locals who live, work and study in the Shire,” she said.
Bega Valley Shire:
Helen O’Neil, Labor:
Labor candidate for Bega Valley Council Helen O’Neil said one of the region’s biggest issues was housing affordability.
“We need to get advantage of every state program to get housing affordable,” she said.
Mrs O’Neil said getting housing prices down would also help ease the cost-of-living crisis.
She said easing rate rises was also one of her main priorities.
“People are moving to other areas because they can’t afford these rate rises,” she said.
Mrs O’Neil said she supported high density housing as it would allow retirees and elderly residents to downsize.
“Older people currently can’t downsize,” she said.
“We need apartments closer to town and businesses which would be perfect for downsizing.”
Mitchell Nadin, Independent
Current Bega Valley Councillor, Mitchell Nadin, is not just running for re-election but is having a run at mayor.
He said the cost-of-living crisis could be eased by getting council’s financial situation “under control”.
“We cannot afford another massive rate hike,” Mr Nadin said.
Mr Nadin promised that if he was elected mayor, there would not be another rate hike for the next four years.
Meanwhile, he said a huge issue for the Bega Valley was fixing how development applications were processed.
“We need to start having DAs processed more efficiently and we need to have a can do, how can we help attitude,” Mr Nadin said.
The Bega Valley Councillor also said he supported high density housing, albeit, in certain towns. He said apartment buildings would increase housing numbers and decrease housing prices.
David Neyle, Labor
Labor candidate for Bega Valley Council, David Neyle, said reworking the LGAs energy system would drastically ease cost-of-living pressures.
“I would use council to put in a number of microgrids in the south coast, in the Bega Valley,” he said. “We would become energy efficient.”
Mr Neyle – who was previously a council staffer – said money could be saved if council staff were used to create reports and investigations, rather than paying “an arm and a leg” to outsource independent contractors.
He said these were his main priorities for the LGA.
Mr Neyle said buildings were eventually going to have to “go up”.
“Housing is obviously a major issue in the Bega Valley,” he said.
“But there is a lack of land for us to keep building houses.
“If there is a lack of land available, then increasing the density levels of housing is going to be one of those solutions.”
The council elections will be held on September 14.
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