What can you bring to the table as a councillor?

I think my credentials stand with my committee and community work including volunteering. My background shows I can mirror the diverse backgrounds of the community.

What are the biggest issues Wagga faces?

Wagga needs communities to get together.

We have some great local resources including entrepreneurs who have so much to offer, but there needs to be a better communication to engage and match those resources with community needs.

I want to align business with social needs but not at the expense of business.

What is the “Next Generation” ticket about?

The way council works with communities can be very different. One generation plants the seed and the next gets the shade.

It’s not just about the young but shifting how council can better serve the community. Council needs to be closer to the community. 

You’ve been on the floodplain committee for eight years. What needs to be done there?

The Murrumbidgee River is the provider to the community, it shouldn’t be the divider. We need to come together to mitigate problems and council has a big role to play. 

We need to acknowledge what’s happened and learn from the mistakes, be more savvy when we’re approving things on the floodplain.

What should be done about at-risk youth?

We need to stop this focus on it being a police or school problem, we’ve lost connection with the communities. We’ve moved as a society from looking after each other.

We have to put mentors and young people together, they can achieve but some of them don’t have the opportunities.

We have generational unemployment now. How will we instil the need for jobs in these families and move them out of the cycle?