I’m 21, and officially the youngest person ever elected to Northern Beaches Council. I’m also the youngest Greens councillor in NSW and one of only a handful of Gen Z councillors across the state.
I won my election by 444 votes after our campaign knocked on more than 3000 doors and delivered over 18,000 flyers.
I had a couple of bruises on my knuckles from all the door knocking and wore out a few pairs of shoes during the six-month campaign. But it was worth it for the meaningful conversations you have with so many people.
I ran for Council because young people deserve a seat at the table. More than half of all councillors in NSW are over 50 years old, but young people aged 18-29 have historically been under-represented on local councils.
As a young person and a proud member of the LGBTQIA+ community, I hope to bring a fresh point of view to the decisions that affect not only young people and minority groups but the wider community as well.
I attended my first council meeting this month where I took the oath of office and successfully moved an amendment to the council’s rules about where people can take photos and videos of our meetings. I also moved motions on issues such as truck noise in Frenchs Forest, protecting wildlife from roaming cats and levying developers for our affordable housing fund.
It’s a really different experience sitting at the decision-making table than watching from the public gallery.
I love politics because I see it as the most important avenue for improving people’s lives.
I’m a self-described Solarpunk, which is a literary and artistic movement that envisions a sustainable future interconnected with nature and community. It’s a vision I plan to advance over the next four years on Council, while continuing to study law.
In an average semester, I try to work no more than 50 hours a week. I aim to do 20-30 hours for uni work, 10-20 hours for my part-time job and about 10 hours a week for The Greens.
This gets complicated during political campaigns so I often have to reduce my uni workload or defer a semester as I did for this year’s council election and the 2022 federal election.
But I love politics because I see it as the most important avenue for improving people’s lives. I initially got involved because I felt a lot of anxiety about the climate and the future.
I encourage all young people to get active and angry rather than apathetic or depressed by the decisions of our political leaders.
I work part-time at KFC’s head office in Frenchs Forest as a test kitchen assistant, making sure the chicken is consistently cooked properly and testing whether new products will work in a real restaurant.
The flexibility of my degree has allowed me to reduce my workload or defer a semester when politics has consumed my focus. For young people on the Northern Beaches, Macquarie Uni is a convenient and beautiful place to learn and achieve our goals.
The new Michael Kirby Law School building is a beautiful addition to our campus but in all honesty, I haven’t had a chance to use it yet. My units last semester were for my politics minor and I’m still waiting to take a law unit just to have classes there.
I want to specialise in planning and environment law and I’m thrilled that Macquarie has such a great environmental law program.
I’m not sure if I want to practise law, especially since my recent exposure to council has shown me other possible careers in town planning and the public service.
