17/07/2024
That's a wrap! Super proud that one of my last acts of council was gaining support for a Live and Local music development program in collaboration with the Live Music Office.
Thanks to the support of council and to John Woodward - Councillor for Keswick Ward for moving the motion.
Read my final speech below 👇👇👇
"Tonight will be my last official council meeting, having submitted my two weeks’ notice of resignation to our CEO Angelo yesterday, effective July 29th.
It has been an honour and a privilege to serve the community and West Torrens. I have learned a lot; about myself, public service, and what leadership looks like. Most of all, I've enjoyed meeting and getting to know passionate, thoughtful, and engaged community members like my friends Sue Markes and Geoff Fuller who are here tonight, and many others of which I would encourage to get involved as candidates in future.
The reason for my resignation is because I have been offered a Vice-Chancellor’s Senior Research Fellowship at RMIT University and will be relocating to Melbourne in the coming month. This is as close as possible to a ‘dream job’ in my field and is too good to pass up at this stage in my career, which means that unfortunately I’ll no longer be able to serve the West Torrens community as an elected member. Sometimes life throws you a curveball and you’d be foolish not to catch it.
I’d like to thank the community and all who supported my candidature over the last two years. It has been my privilege to serve this community, and I encourage many of the committed and thoughtful community members I have had the pleasure of meeting to get involved and hopefully nominate in the upcoming by-election or next round of elections, and for those not nominating to get involved in campaigning and turning out the vote.
South Australia is plagued by low voter turnout in local council elections (34.5%, and lower in West Torrens) and it is my strong belief that until we change this, we won't have councils that directly represent our communities. Democracy is not something we can afford to take for granted, and local government plays a significant and important role in our society, and therefore deserves the best leadership on offer, as chosen by the majority of our community.
That said, we have a hardworking and passionate team at West Torrens and I would like to thank the other elected members for their collegiality and engagement, council staff and administration, who work tirelessly sometimes under hostile and adverse conditions and in my opinion deserve as many pay rises as we can afford, as well as the Executive team. Their public service is what keeps our community thriving.
Specifically, I would like to thank Mayor Coxon and our CEO Angelo Catinari for their leadership and vision. We have some great projects coming up, including the Henley Beach Road masterplan, the Emissions Reduction Plan, the newly established Youth Advisory Committee, Frank Norton Reserve, upgraded green spaces and bikeways amongst many others, and it is thanks to council’s leadership team that these are being prioritised.
Their successes are the community’s successes, and I look forward to hearing more about all the great things that West Torrens council will no doubt achieve in the future.
In the meantime, thank you to those who put their faith in me and continue to engage with West Torrens council. I am sad to be leaving you, but confident that the community knows best. We have some excellent opportunities on the horizon, and it is upon all of us in West Torrens to realise the potential of our great city. Thank you."
