MY VISION FOR WOLLONGONG - KERRIE CHRISTIAN ACT TEAM CANDIDATE FOR LORD MAYOR 1995

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KERRIE CHRISTIAN - ACTIVE COMMUNITY TEAM

As Lord Mayor my vision will be for Wollongong to be "A great place to live... A great place to work, to study, to relax."

I will seek to reduce the domination of big party politics, answerable to Sydney and Canberra, and of big business/developer interests. They do have a role, but I will be working to ensure that people from the different parts of our community- residents, business, industry, youth, aged, unions, government and different political parties - are consulted and work together for a better Wollongong and for our children....instead of political point scoring. To create a Wollongong which is safe, beautiful and secure.

I will pursue a more open and honest council, with less mudslinging. I want council to get out into the suburbs - to hold at least one meeting in each ward each year - and to listen to groups from the community at those meetings. My first priority will be to genuinely redirect council's focus from CBD monuments back to the suburbs - footpaths, parks, roads-including the Northern Distributor, kerb & guttering, flooding, drainage & slip problems, playgrounds, swimming pools, sportsgrounds, cycleways. My second priority will be to review council's investments in areas such as the Gateway Shopping Centre. I will oppose further council involvement in entrepreneurial activities, and leave that to the private sector, which has the expertise. I will continue to support rate pegging.

I will work with the whole community in a real effort to create jobs - especially in the area of small businesses. We can't keep relying on big projects and big businesses to provide all the jobs. Times have changed from 10 years ago. Council needs to send a message to federal and state governments to get on with regional development and to give Wollongong its fair share instead of being taken for granted and taking jobs away from the area. I will seek that council works more closely with chambers of commerce; with federal and state governments to set up cooperatives, where people can start a small business with low overheads until they can go out and stand on their own feet financially. I will also be encouraging technology parks and high tech businesses - especially in relation to our university.

I have given over 20 years of community service to the people of Wollongong - as a City Councillor 1991-95, but also at drug & alcohol counselling centres, a women's refuge, youth leader, and with community and environmental groups. Through serving on a number of boards I have also gained a broadened perspective of the wider community - South Coast Workers Medical Centre, Illawarra Community Housing Trust, Illawarra Electricity, Illawarra Regional Information Service. This has also been enhanced by my having worked at the steelworks for over 20 years as a metallurgist, and also having a long association with the university.

I have strong environmental views, but am not a single issue person. Our environment has improved - but we need to go further. Over the next 10 years I will be working, as I have done actively in the last 10 years, to protect our special environment, its beaches, waterways and escarpment in particular.

The people of Wollongong are at the crossroads, we have a new election sytem which favours major parties and disadvantages small groups and independents- we could easily end up with a council consisting of only ALP members - a clean sweep! With all decisions made in the secret caucus, where council meetings would be merely a series of announcements and pronouncements. It's the voters' choice to seek an alternative to that scenario - I am offering them that alternative to vote for our community and not a political party.