The Central Coast Greens have commenced preselection of candidates for the first election of the Central Coast Council in September and declared that their candidates will run on a platform of transparency and accountability.
“We look forward to the restoration of democracy in our region, after this period of administration forced by ‘voluntary’ merger of the former councils” said Ms Cath Connor, Co-convenor of the Central Coast Greens.
The Greens will be campaigning for a new Council that prioritizes the development of a sustainable, healthy community for all, she said.
“Central Coast Greens candidates will be running on a platform of transparency and accountability, in order to start rebuilding trust between voters and the new Council.
“We call on all candidates for the upcoming election to show the electorate the respect it deserves and make clear in their candidate statements: any current or past membership of any political party; any current or past business links with senior council staff; any current or past relationships with other candidates or groups running in this election (for instance, donations to groups/parties, or acting as party agents for other candidates in past elections); and, any current or past business interests that might impact on decision making in Council.”
Ms Connor said many Albury councillors, who had always claimed independence, were forced to declare their membership of parties when a Green ran for the first time in the September 2016 local election.
“It was a good move in terms of transparency for the people of that Local Government Area and it would be good for groups like Save Tuggerah Lakes to have to declare their past relationships,” she said.
“The former Gosford Council had councillors that had been sponsored by Mr John Singleton and those relationships need to be clear.
“Otherwise people in the community do not know exactly who they are voting for.”
The Central Coast Greens also called on the Administrator to make arrangements for a referendum on the ward system to be held with the Council election.
“The three-member ward system that has been imposed on the region by the State Government had no public consultation, in flagrant disregard for basic principles of democracy and community consultation.
“When I first asked Mr Reynolds about the wards, I told him it would make it very hard for small parties or independents to get elected and he smirked at me and said ‘well the elected council can choose to look at changing it when they get elected’,” Ms Connor said.
“The ward system makes it difficult to address the overall issues of governance, accountability and community participation that impact on the whole community.
“We would like to see less wards and more councillors as we have suffered from a reduction in representation for such a huge area.
“Some NSW local government areas have the same number of residents as we have in one ward but they have 10 councillors and we have three per ward,” she said.
“We are also discussing the Draft Community Plan, launched at the CEN Annual Forum.
“Members of the Central Coast Greens have been involved in the drafting of this plan, and we fully support the non-partisan, inclusive, community based approach to drawing up this real reflection of the vision for the region that the local community has developed,” Ms Connor said.
Source:
Media release, May 28
Janene Robertson, Central Coast Greens
Interview, May 29
Cath Connor, Central Coast Greens
Jackie Pearson, journalist