May - August 2026 in review

Aug 24, 2026

May – August has been a busy period, and here’s a snapshot of a few things we have worked on during this period.

COASTAL DUNES - Instigated an awareness campaign to tackle vandalism and littering in our coastal dunes
CLIMATE CHANGE - Successfully proposed a motion to support calls for a polluter’s levy on climate polluters, to fund climate adaptation and mitigation. This motion was passed at the Australian Local Government Association conference, and we hope that the Federal Government will take a serious look at making polluters pay for the impacts of carbon pollution on local communities and their infrastructure.
STORMWATER - Instigated a staff report to investigate trialing a mediation service for stormwater disputes, which we find are only increasing between residents due to additional development and increased severity of weather events.

BROOKVALE - We negotiated amendments to Council’s planning proposal for Brookvale to double the proposed affordable housing commitments. Staff had proposed to water down these commitments to 5% on the Mall site and 3% elsewhere, but we secured amendments on the floor to return these commitments to 10% at the Mall site and 5% elsewhere. It’s now been submitted to the Department of Planning, and the community will have an opportunity to make comments.
COUNCIL LED PROJECTS - We also helped secure the next stages of investigations of developing affordable housing on Council owned land. A feasibility study will be carried out on one site we’re strongly supportive of, with some further reviews to be undertaken on two other sites suggested by other Councillors.

FUNDING FOR ACTIVE TRANSPORT - We instigated a report on options to increase active transport funding. We separately secured commitments to incorporate active transport into future road renewal projects.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT IN STRATEGY - we instigated formation of a working group to involve the community in review of our transport strategy.
REDUCING FEES - Secured a reduction to parking permit fees for offshore residents to help with cost of living
EXPANDING SERVICES - We supported saving the Hop Skip Jump bus in Manly, but negotiated that Council look at a similar service for the Warringah Aquatic Centre in the Forest Ward.

YOUNG MUSICIANS - Secured a trial of an artist’s residency for musicians in the Northern Beaches
COMMUNITY SAFETY - Secured community popups in Dee Why to increase visibility of community safety, and have secured a roundtable with key local organisations to discuss evidence based responses to youth crime
RETAINING PUBLIC LAND - Successfully blocked the sale of 1 Pittwater Road Manly, a heritage listed building owned by Council, and instead find a compromise of leasing this to a commercial tenant.
We weren’t as successful at retaining more of the public land at 2 Bangaroo St Balgowlah. We supported a successful amendment to retain a larger corridor to Burnt Bridge Creek, but a proposal to increase this corridor even further was blocked by other councillors.
BAN ON LOCAL FUR SALES - Successfully proposed a ban on fur sales at markets on council owned land. We heard from the community about the cruelty of the animal fur trade, so council land won't contribute to this cruel industry.

Unfortunately, it's not always hits for us. We're 4 votes in a room of 15, and the numbers sometimes don't go our way! For example:

Establishing a First Nations Strategic Reference Group to consult with local Aboriginal organisations and community members on Council related issues – in the previous term one was almost introduced but got the rescinded by the Liberals. We tried again at the August meeting, but struck out. Perhaps third time is the charm?
Calling for policy reform to address vacant properties and impacts of Airbnb on housing affordability – despite circulating our proposal a week prior to the meeting, other Councillors blocked it complaining that they didn’t have enough notice.

Our proposal for a Briefings Committee - The State Government has banned staff from providing verbal briefings to Councillors on agenda items. While it’s meant to push all information being in writing for the public record, in practice as councillors we’re finding it pretty unworkable to get timely information, and it’s making the meetings less efficient. We’re proposing a public briefings committee, so Councillors can (lawfully) be briefed prior to meetings, but the public can attend and listen in. We think this is a win win for governance and transparency. But will our colleagues agree?
Getting a report on trialing providing free sanitary product dispensers in Council bathrooms – after getting this motion up, some of our colleagues filed a recission, which means that the decision is put on hold until it can be debated a second time. This is disappointing but hopefully we can get it over the line again. We think this measure would help women and girls participate in society and sport with dignity, support people with menstrual health issues, and help address a cost of living issue for those experiencing financial hardship. Toilet paper is free... so why are uteruses considered luxury organs?