COMMUNITY IS HER BUSINESS

 

Sue has lived on the Northern Beaches for over 20 years and has been actively involved in her community.

As well as running her own businesses, she has engaged with local organisation on a diverse range of community issues as well as serving on Council for nearly 10 years as a Ward Councillor and as Deputy Mayor.

 

Sue is currently the chairperson of Women & Children First, a local provider of crisis accommodation for women and their children fleeing situations of domestic violence. She is also a board director of Women’s Healing Sanctuary and founder of ‘Inspiring Women’, one of the longest running businesswomen networking groups on the Northern Beaches.

 

Sue is a former president of the Warringah Chamber of Commerce and Industries and a past director of the Business Education Network that assisted local youth with career pathways. In 2015, Sue received the Minister’s Award for Women in Local Government, in recognition of her outstanding contributions to Council and the community.

 

As a councillor, Sue has been actively involved in many committees that work closely with their community. Sue is chair of the Partnership & Participation Strategic Reference Group (SRG), co-chair of the Economic & Smart Communities SRG, co-chair of the Bushfire Management Committee, member of the Flood Management Committee and committee member of the Audit, Risk & Improvement committee.

 

Sue is passionate about the environment and Council’s role in protecting our precious coastline and bushland areas. Sue is keen to roll up her sleeves for events like National Tree Day and clean up days. She wants Council to continue protecting our two lagoons of Dee Why & Curl Curl which are under constant pressure from development and run off of waste from their catchments into our waterways.

 

Sue is incredibly proud of getting the South Curl Curl boardwalk named ‘The Harry Eliffe Way’ which honours the environmental work of Harry who had volunteered and improved the environment around the Curl Curl Lagoon and surrounds.

 

Sue is also a keen supporter of local businesses and recognises them as the backbone of our community. She saw a need to create parameters to ensure that a night and twilight economy can thrive according to the different needs of their community to encourage collaboration between hospitality and residents and to have activities for families and youth.

 

As Sue has been involved with the domestic violence sector for over 7 years she is aware of the need for affordable housing for single income families who love the Northern Beaches and want to continue living within our community. Mental health is another important factor for our youth, adults and seniors who are finding it challenging to stay positive for their future and Sue believes the stigma around mental health still needs to be addressed more holistically.

 

Sue has identified the need to protect our “employment lands” that are being chipped away by residential development. Once these lands are zoned residential we lose our ability to keep industries on the Northern Beaches which will mean more people will have to travel outside the local government area to work. This increases traffic and minimises employment opportunities for our youth. With that in mind, Sue wants to ensure the Brookvale Structure Plan gets implemented in proper consultation with the community.

 

Similarly, Sue is keen to continue working with the local businesses and community groups to enhance the areas of Freshwater Village and the Dee Why Town Centre.

 

 

Sue has been involved in various local issues representing the Narrabeen Ward from working with South Narrabeen SLSC and Long Reef SLSC, working with various residents groups regarding their concerns about a number of developments such as Warriewood Grove and Karinya Estate. She has been a strong advocate for the community on the issues of the Warriewood Wetlands, illegal tree lopping, traffic congestion and trailor parking just to name a few.