Greens Breakthrough in Lake Macquarie!!!

The Greens now have a place at the table on Lake Macquarie Council with, Hannah Gissane, North Ward, and Phillipa Parsons, East Ward, being elected.

The youth voice will finally be heard through 19 year old Hannah, and The Greens will be providing some great female role models with Phillipa Parson’s on board as well. The gender balance on the new Council has five females in the traditionally male dominated arena

“As a young Councillor I’ll be able to voice the concerns and issues that are often sidelined by Council” Hannah Gissane said

“As a Greens Councillor I’ll be pushing Council to deliberate over decisions and value principles over pragmatism”

“Getting back to the grassroots is really important in mitigating the effects of climate change, we need to localise our actions, climate change and globalisiation aren’t compatible”

“It’s an amazing opportunity to serve the people and the environment in Lake Macquarie, the Greens vision is for Lake Macquarie to be a leader and innovator in moving away from dirty coal in a just transition to a renewable energy industry” Phillipa Parson said

“I want to empower the community to deal with local issues, not tokenism, real consultation in decision making and community involvement in the development process”

The Greens will also be looking to establish a Local Group in Lake Macquarie now there are local Councillors.

West Ward Candidate, Suzanne Pritchard was unelected by 900 votes, having increased the Greens vote in West Ward from 6.9% in 2004 to 12.4% this election

“It’s a tremendously exciting time for the Greens in Lake Macquarie, there’s going to be a lot to do and I’m looking forward to being able to support our Councillors represent the community and seriously tackle climate change” said Suzanne Pritchard