Blog posts

Today is election day for the 2021 NSW local government elections. It’s been a long, exhausting slog and I’m glad it’s finally over but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a thoroughly enjoyable experience. I don’t know if I’ll ever be up for it again but I’m glad I gave it a go. When I first decided to ...

Today I’m excited to announce that I will be a candidate in the North Ward of Lake Macquarie City Council in the upcoming local government elections on December 4. I’m currently set to be the only independent candidate in the race. But why? I’m running to represent my community because I’m proud to be a lifelong resident of Lake Macquarie, ...

The latest detailed ABS labour force statistics have been released for the month of August. The unemployment rate in the Hunter remains well below the peak during the initial wave of the COVID-19 virus and lockdown in 2020 where the 6-month moving average rapidly rose to 8.4% in October 2020 before declining at a similar pace to 4.3% in July ...

The federal government is seeking to legalise the offshore wind industry in Commonwealth waters. Australia is yet to capitalise on significant offshore wind capacity despite the International Energy Agency nominating it as one of the “big three” likely sources of renewable energy globally alongside solar and onshore wind. The federal government’s new bill will open Australia to global investment in ...

The last month has been tough for so many of us. The worry, the fear, it’s made us all look again at what matters most. What we care about and the things we hold close. So here’s a question, how much does the New South Wales government care about you? This is a government that the Hunter didn’t vote for, ...

This post was guest written by my partner Xanthe Lamont. Seven trees lining the shared pathway between Warners Bay and Speers Point have been vandalised in a “deliberate” and “callous” poisoning. While this year has left everyone, including me, apathetic to the horrors of climate change, this news of seven (mostly mature age) trees being drilled and then poisoned in ...

Mark Vaile has announced his resignation as Chancellor of the University of Newcastle. This victory wouldn’t have been possible without the huge grassroots wave of opposition to the appointment. From protests to open letters and petitions to conversations across our city, Newcastle has said loud and clear that a fossil fuel industry leader is not the right choice for our ...

Right now, people seem to be more scared of the AstraZeneca vaccine than they are of COVID itself. This is a dangerous mindset that has been propagated by our nation’s politicians, especially Labor in their attacks on the government’s vaccine rollout. The Morrison government’s initial target was to have all 20 million Australian adults fully vaccinated by October 2021. The ...

This piece was originally published in the Canberra Times. I have lived my whole life in the Hunter Valley, and I’m proud of our region’s coal history. My family has worked in the mines and on the rails for generations, helping to secure the “honour” of Newcastle being the world’s largest coal exporting port. However, while it’s an achievement to ...

The federal government has finally committed to funding a $66 million upgrade to Newcastle Airport’s runway to bring it up to international flight standard. This opens up the possibility of direct flights from the Hunter to Singapore, the Middle East and the US within the next two years. This will deliver a great boost to the local aviation and tourism ...

Newcastle was shut out of more than $170 million in government grants in 2019. This funding irregularity is a symptom of a deeper, systemic issue that has long been present in the Hunter; Newcastle is not treated as an equal in this state. We never have been, and given the size of Sydney, we never will be. The idea of ...

Driving past stations like Neath along the South Maitland Railway is like looking at a chapter of our history frozen in time. Passenger services ceased on this line nearly 50 years ago, in 1972. However, the line remained active, hauling coal out of collieries in the region, up until March 2020 when operations at the Austar coal mine in Pelton ...

Growing up in the Hunter, I've been proud of a history of family in the coal industry. For all of my life, I can remember seeing endless streams of ships being pulled into our beautiful harbour which is no surprise considering Newcastle exports more coal than any other port in the world. In 2016, Newcastle exported 160 Million tonnes of coal ...

When I was three years old, Kevin Rudd described climate change as "the great moral challenge of our generation." Later that year, Rudd would lead the Labor Party to an election victory where, according to the Australian Election Study, 52% of voters said global warming was an extremely important consideration in their voting decision. I am now 16 years old ...