The Greens launched their campaign from Spinks Park yesterday, with the number 1 candidate, Current Councillor (Cr) Adam Guise, introducing his team.

“We've got some fine people that we're putting forward on our council ticket with me, Adam Guise as the lead candidate, and Vanessa Ekins, who's running as our mayoral candidate.”

Cr Guise began with an acknowledgement of country that talked about the indigenous people and the difficulties we have experienced with built proximity to the river as “a chance to reset and learn from the knowledge of our First Nations people.”

“I'm running again because I love and care about our community. Ever since the devastating floods and landslips of 2022, our community has been suffering.

“I haven't felt that there's been real leadership from the current council majority in terms of leading a community. With so many people facing the impacts of floods and landslips and our housing prices, what we need is leadership that involves our community, and particularly the conversation about how and where we live on the flood plain.”

Cr Guise explained his vision of “medium-density housing for an ageing population that is predominantly single and double person households.” He talked about moving from high-risk areas to low-risk.

(Cr Adam Guise)

“I'm proud to stand beside these wonderful people who are putting up their hands to stand for local government.”

Speaking with Cr Guise, he said, “I have a keen analytical mind. I'm dedicated to standing up for our community, reading the business papers and actually making decisions based on evidence.

“In terms of my dedication to the community, it's about listening to the community and putting them first. It's not about vested interests or private interests. So, in terms of acting in the public interest, that's something I've always brought to the chamber.”

Virginia Waters

Virginia Waters, number two on The Greens ticket, was described by Cr Guise as “a stalwart member of the Nimbin and Tuntable community, leading through fire and flood and landslip recovery.”

Ms Waters involvement in the community includes the Lismore Lantern Parade and her work at Lismore City Council.

Ms Waters said, “I would like to talk about prioritising safe and sustainable planning in terms of us going forward as a community and our landscape. We have evidence based scientific planning to go forward with, but also local knowledge. 

“We want to support regeneration of our landslip and flood areas ensuring we're using nature-based solutions going forward to help our beautiful landscape.”

(Virginia Waters)

A Nimbin resident since 1996, Ms Waters has been involved as a Greens member for almost ten years. Nimbin is feeling the vacuum of not being represented at Council for some time.

Ms Waters says, “The last representative was Diana Roberts, around 12 to 14 years ago. We just saw this as a very good opportunity, me being a greens member but also a Nimbin community member.

“Going through what we have with landslips, and feeling like Nimbin just didn't have the representation on council that it needed to forward some of the really important issues that we have out there around water security, things like the rainbow walking track and services with Council.

 “I've been embedded in community for a very long time. I've worked in the community as well on community groups like the Nimbin Disaster Resilience group since the 2019 fires. It gives me a very good overview of the things that we need for our community.

Nimbin is seen as the Jewel in Lismore's crown, and Ms Waters spent seven years in Tourism and events at Lismore Council. 

“I've got a really good background and understanding of the inner workings of Council, but also what things like events and tourism can bring to our area.

“I just really want to see us getting that back and stronger again, especially post-disaster. It's one of the things that we can actually work towards, bringing people back to Lismore and having a thriving community.

 “It's just like the most magnificent area, in my opinion, in Australia. I love it.” 

Dr Luke Robinson

Dr Luke Robinson is introduced as “an emergency physician at the Lismore Base Hospital. He knows full well the impacts floods and disasters have on our community.

“As a resident of the Whian Whian community, he is deeply embedded in his landscape and restoring his property so that we can have less of an environmental impact and mitigate against worse floods in the future.”

Dr Robinson spoke of his experience as a senior emergency physician, and likened the role to working at council, “Emergency departments are pretty challenging environments, but the way we manage to do our job is through Teamwork. 

“I work with some wonderful people, other fellow doctors, nurses, the clerical staff, the cleaners, the security people, all the other assistants there. We work as a team, and it's because of our teamwork that we're able to do the job. 

“We have to listen to our patients, advocate for them, whatever background they come from, whatever culture, gender, economic situation, housing situation, whatever social situation. And we need to look after them all."

(Dr Luke Robinson)

When asked about his views on politics, Dr Robinson said, “Politics is a very challenging occupation, so we need very emotionally intelligent people in this job.

“I've been inspired by the roles of Vanessa and Adam in what they've done on council. Unfortunately, our council is often descended into a winner takes all mentality, often quite childish.

“I believe we have good representatives here that work together for the good of this community and for our beautiful natural home, we have here in the Northern Rivers. 

“We're going to bring a more transparent Council, more accountable Council, one that listens to its community and it looks after all the members of its community, not just narrow interests.”

Dr Robinson describes his strengths, “I think I'm pretty calm by nature, and I genuinely like listening to other people and problem solving.

“I like getting myself across complex information, using my expertise. Then combining that with the art of communicating with people to get good outcomes for people.

“I've got to bring a lot of complexity in a patient situation and condense it into a form that they can understand and can help them make the right decision for themselves.

Talking about the cohesion of councillors, Dr Robinson said, “I think everyone needs to be more respectful and listening, both in the council chamber and out of the council chamber.

“The community deserves to hear why a vote's been cast in a particular way, and unfortunately, a lot of decisions have either not had any explanations given for them in the current independent majority block, or they've done it in secret. 

“And I think you've got to have a really good reason to do political consultations and decision-making in secret. And I don't think some of those reasons have stacked up recently, especially like, say, around the management of waste late last year. 

“I'd like to see much more openness. I'd like to see Council genuinely wanting to consult with community. Being open, being respectful.”

Shae Salmon

Shae Salmon has spent 20 years as an SCU academic in law, and involved in community as a radio presenter at River FM, and involved in the Lismore Theatre Company.

“Shae would bring a wealth of experience to our council, and having raised three kids who are deeply connected to this region, would bring that passion and dedication."

(Shae Salmon)

After bringing 3 children up in Lismore, Shae says, “I'm a little worried about the young people. And there's not terribly much to do for them. I think Council could do a lot for the 13 to 19 age group.”

Ms Salmon is interested in engaging youth and speaking to them about what is important to them and what they want to see and do in Lismore. 

Ms Salmon’s other passion is wildlife, “I think a lot more respect has got to be given to saving our wildlife and wildlife corridors. And we all know we've seen all the koalas that have been killed lately. It's really tragic.”

Lindall Watson

Lindall Watson is relatively new to the area and bought a property at Stony Chute around 18 months ago after spending some time here.  

In Cr Guises' introduction, he says Lindall “embodies so much of the passion and care for our community that it's known for, with a background in education and teaching in remote and regional communities.”

Ms Watson says, “I've been in education for a long time as a teacher and as an education leader. Someone suggested that I should enlist in the Pathways to Politics course that was run by the University of New South Wales.

“I thought that would be interesting. But from my first day in that course, I thought, oh my goodness, this is the first time I've been really passionate and engaged in something for a long time. 

“It's time for me to step up. 

(Lindall Watson)

"I am really interested in engaging our youth, in particular, and I feel that's an endeavour that my skills from education can help with."

Ms Watson has family at Tweed and has visited regularly over time., “We've always had family holidays around here, and loved the area, and always thought we'd move somewhere up here."

After spending some Covid lockdown time in the area, they decided it was time and bought a farm.

“We are doing a lot of investigation into regeneration and making it into a place that is beautiful."

Binnie O’Dwyer

Binnie O’Dwyer is a local lawyer working for the Aboriginal legal service, was working and couldn’t make the launch. 

Cr Guise spoke of Ms O'Dwyer as a parent that has been flood affected, “Binnie has so capably and ably represented a vulnerable population and a population that has been disenfranchised for too long.”

(Binnie O'Dwyer)

Vanessa Ekins

Cr Guiise saved Cr Ekins introduction to last, “Vanessa Ekins will be running again as our mayoral candidate. She has a long embedded history in our region, having been a Lismore City Councillor for some 20 years now, and is putting up her hand to run as mayor. 

“Once again, she's been integral in our community, celebrated our creative arts and community life, and has regenerated the Wilsons River through Landcare for many decades now. She would bring a sense of calm knowledge and experience to council that is so sorely needed in terms of our thriving future going forward.”

(Cr Vanessa Ekins)

Cr Ekins was, “Very proud to be standing here with these sensible, community oriented people today, and we just want to make Lismore thrive. 

“The way we do that is by focusing on affordable services and supporting our business and community. 

“One of the unfortunate decisions that was made during this last term of council, was to privatise our waste services, and that effectively ripped a million dollars out of the local economy and gave it to a contractor from out of town and out of state.

“What we should be doing is utilising councils resources, investing in local businesses and making sure that our services are provided by Council staff.

“So let's revive Lismore together; we can do that.”

On running for mayor, Cr Ekins said, “We've got a great team of people, fire in their belly, and they wanted to do it. So we decided that as a team. 

“I was asked by so many people to run for mayor. External sources said that they wanted an alternative to vote for - an alternative to Steve Krieg.

“They said that we need another voice, an experienced and responsible voice, and I thought I can do that. I'll get in the race. I'll give them a run for their money.

“I'm so proud of the team. They're really hard-working people, sensible, embedded in community. They've got jobs. They've got lives here, children here. They live in this place. 

"I just want to see people that treat local government like a job, so you're in there, you're listening, and you're working. I actually want to see councillors engaged, who are reading the documentation and listening to the advice of staff and making an informed decision and sharing their process or why they're making that decision with the community.

"That last term has been very closed off. People aren't debating matters, and we don't know why decisions are being made. 

"I think if they've got an open chamber that communicates openly and is networked with the community, then we'll get better decisions. 

"The Chamber needs to be a safe place, not just for the people who are the councillors, but also for the people that come and address Council, and also the people that watch Council. In the last term of Council, it has not been a safe environment for people. 

"That means you need a strong chair who knows the rules of debate and is able to foster a collegiate atmosphere in that room, which would be a real challenge, but it's not impossible to do.

"We really need to focus on working together because we all want outcomes for our community. Some of the ways we get those outcomes might be different, but that's the purpose of the debate."

You can find more information on the Greens, here and you can view all mayoral and councillor candidates via the Meet Your Candidates button on the Lismore App or via the website.