Congratulations on a decade as Lord Mayor. Had you always wanted to be Lord Mayor of Sydney?
My start in local politics was aimed at a much more local level than being Mayor.
When my husband Peter and I moved to Redfern many years ago it was a neighbourhood with a strong local community, however services and facilities were poor. I became involved with my local community when I tried to have some grass put into a local playground. At the time the local council refused, saying that grass would get in the way of sweeping up broken glass. I started a petition and door-knocked the neighbourhood. Eventually, we got the grass.
That was my first foray into community activism, and I’ve been fighting for my local community ever since. Since then I’ve served as a Councillor at South Sydney Council, as an MP in the NSW Parliament, and as Mayor of the City of Sydney for more than 10 years.
Were your colleagues critical to the effectiveness of your work as you took up the position?
Throughout my career I’ve had the opportunity to work with passionate and dedicated people who share my belief that Sydney needs independent and progressive political representation.
Working together as an Independent Team at Council, we have been able to set a long-term vision for our city. We’ve made great progress in greening Sydney, encouraging excellent design and the protection of our heritage, creating new parks and pools, and improving our main streets and villages.
What were your dreams when you began this work?
I’ve always been passionate about making sure everyone in our community has a fair say, not just those with privilege or position.
As Lord Mayor I’ve made sure that the City of Sydney works closely with all members of our community. Our plans are driven by the aims and aspirations of everyone living here.
When I was elected, I also wanted to make sure that I made the best use of the opportunity. I’m proud to look back on 10 years and see how much we’ve achieved.
If you had a chance to begin again, are there any things you would do differently?
I’m focused on the challenges we face now. Spending too much time thinking about what could have been done differently can sap a lot of time and energy.
We’ve just released a 10-year, $1.94 billion infrastructure program that includes plans for new child-care centres, light rail through our city centre, community infrastructure for Green Square and a lot more. Making sure all this work gets done will take all my time and effort.
What was the most special moment in your time as Lord Mayor?
Seeing new and upgraded parks and playgrounds opened has always been special to me. Whether it’s Pirrama Park in Pyrmont, the all-abilities playground in Sydney Park, the new pool at Prince Alfred Park or the remaking of Redfern Park and Oval, these public open spaces are of huge importance to our community.
Do you still have new hopes for the Council?
I think our work has only just begun. Sustainable Sydney 2030 is the plan our community created for Sydney’s future, and while we’ve made steady progress there’s still plenty of work to do.
