Read about the journey so far since the 2024 Campbelltown Local Government Election.
It has been a couple of months since the Campbelltown Local Government Election and while it might have seemed quiet, it’s been non-stop action behind the scenes starting the process of learning a whole new skillset needed to be an effective councillor, meeting with the council staff to be updated and educated on various local issues, attending a multitude of events across the LGA, being sworn in at the extraordinary council meeting, attending and participating in the LGNSW conference in Tamworth and reading over a thousand pages of business papers. But most importantly I’ve been focusing on ensuring that I have been holding true to the party values and election promises that the local community voted for.
(Taking the oath of office at the Extraordinary Council Meeting)
Protect Our Environment
Protecting our koalas was one of the most important issues that came up during the election. During the council's consideration of correspondence with Water NSW on infrastructure key to enabling an effective koala corridor within the Figtree Hill development I moved an amendment to write to the minister for water to request her urgent support to get a swift response and collaboration with the council. This amendment was adopted into the motion and agreed to unanimously by the council. I’ll be continuing to find any and all methods possible to speed up the implementation of the life saving infrastructure for our koalas.
I was also able to gain the support of the mayor to be nominated as a member of the Georges River Combined Councils Committee, which is involved in protecting our important natural waterway that runs through the LGA.
Stop Overdevelopment
In several 1-on-1 meetings I made it clear to the CEO and council staff responsible for planning proposals in our area that I will strongly support and advocate for sustainable developments within the area.
At the most recent council meeting I endorsed the proposal for a multi-story residential block, while the designs are higher than our preferred height of 2-6 stories, it ticks a number of important boxes such as being located in close proximity to the railway corridor, replacing underutilised land that is currently industrial zoning and provides leverage towards my vision for transforming Bow Bowing creek into a green corridor with active transport paths connecting much of the LGA rather than being the treeless stormwater drain it is currently. It also gave me the opportunity to talk about the importance of reigning in the rampant sprawl our area is currently afflicted by, this development would house the same number of people in a 3.8 hectare space as 40 hectares worth of subdivided farmland would, like that which we’ve seen at Figtree Hill.
Stop Corruption
During the first ordinary council meeting, myself and other councillors were blindsided when Labor introduced an amendment to the code of meeting practice to remove the public livestreaming of councillor briefings. Light is the best disinfectant for corruption and these briefings influence how councillors will vote on different issues. Allowing them to be livestreamed provides transparency and the general public can better understand why the council votes the way it does.
Unfortunately despite my best efforts through a foreshadowed motion removing this amendment, the motion passed in a vote 8 – 7. However the silver lining is that this change has to go through public exhibition. You can read more about the details of the meeting in this news article:
https://southwestvoice.com.au/council-live-streaming/
(Taking a stand against the amendment to the code of meeting practice)
Thank you for your support and if you have any questions or other local issues you wish to raise with me, please don’t hesitate to message me at my new council email: [email protected]
Sincerely,
Cr Cameron McEwan
Councillor - Campbelltown City Council
Sustainable Australia Party
