September 12, 2024 • 13 mins
In the last of our profiles on who's running to be Shoalhaven Mayor, Independent Jemma Tribe says the local elections are a chance for a fresh financial start for Shoalhaven Council which ranks as one of the biggest spenders! Time to tighten the belt...
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I Heart shoal Haven.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
The older I get, the more I see that I
don't think any party has it completely right, and there's
less black and white and more gray the more you look.
I don't believe party politics has a place in local government.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Hello Peter Andrea with you? So have you made your
mind up yet on who's going to be worthy of
your vote in this weekend shoal Haven City Council elections.
In recent iHeart shal Haven episodes, we have sat down
with two women who aspire to be the next mayor,
Independent Council of Patricia White and the Greens k Gardner,
(00:37):
both formidable candidates and both well aware voters want someone
who's going to lead shoal Haven Council out of the
red and into the black and also with an eye
on the top job. Is Jemma Tribe campaigning to get
back to basics as she leads a team of independence
Gemma Tribes also had a hell of a past six months.
(00:58):
She only resigned from the Liberal Party in August, citing
sexism in the pre selection process to the degree she
was told she needed to crash diet to be considered.
She's still pretty angry that her resignation led it to
the Liberals exec somehow was leaked publicly. Now this weekend,
Jemma is urging residents to think carefully about the kind
(01:19):
of people they want to set the tone in council
and shape our city for the next four years.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
When the forty four percent rate rise proposal came to
the community, most then became aware of the financial challenges
that Counsel are experiencing, and they came back loud and clear,
get your own house in order first, and they really
wanted Counsel to look at its own business areas find
efficiencies before going after theirs essentially, and so that process
(01:47):
has been unfolding and a lot more work needs to
be done in that area, which is why I've gathered
a group of independent business but also community minded individuals
who'll help tackle some of those challenges with heart, because
we know if an administrator came in, they would just
be making decisions with the stroke of a pen. So
we don't want to see that happen, and that's why
(02:08):
we've put ourselves forward.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
And we know that the local government minister is eyeing
off shoal Haven Council at the moment, so we need
to get those ducks and drakes lined up.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Yeah, we do. There are a lot of councils facing challenges,
particularly on the back of disasters and the huge area
that we have to cover, but the AEC report that
was commissioned highlights some areas that council can approve improve
that we can begin to get our house in order,
and that starts with an asset management plan and having
(02:42):
a proper asset register and a maintenance schedule that goes
with that so we can start to tackle the infrastructure backlog.
It involves looking at the efficiencies that we can gain
and doing a review of each business area, so that
work needs to carry on, and then we need to
bring that list of propose efficiencies to the community and look,
we've got a twenty five to thirty five million dollar
(03:03):
structural deficit black hole. To feel this is how we're
proposing to do it. What do you think? And we
need the right people to take the community on that
journey and people who will work together collectively as a
council and as independents. We can work across party lines,
we can work with other people, and we need people
(03:24):
who are genuinely willing to take that collaborative approach.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
You've put a lot on the line yourself personally for
this election in that you resigned your position with the
Business Chamber, something that you love doing, as well as
the Liberal Party. But I suppose in hindsight you could
say you dodged a bullet on that one. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Look, I did privately raise concerns about governance and culture
within the party, and obviously that was it was publicly leaked.
But I I tried for a long time to try
and make a difference. I'm not someone who likes to
stand on the outside and accuse and not get involved
(04:10):
and try and make things better myself. So that's what
I've been doing for a long time. I felt that
I was beating my head against a brick wall, I guess,
and that's what made me decide to take the plunge
back myself being independent, and I was also looking around
at other independents so the way they were just doing
things differently. They were trying to find common ground with people,
(04:33):
making discussion about policy and not about people, and that
really resonates with me.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
There are still people in the community that think Gemma
Tribe liberal and despite the fact you've come out and
said no, I've quit the party and I am independent,
that you'll still have liberal leanings. Is that the case
or are you thinking independently?
Speaker 2 (04:56):
The older I get, the more I see that I
don't think any party has it completely right, and there's
less black and white and more gray the more you look.
And I also don't think I fit neatly in a box,
to be honest, But especially when you look at local government,
where I've always been very outspoken about, I don't believe
(05:17):
party politics has a place in local government. And as
I said, state and federal it's different. You've got a
government and you've got an opposition, and it's naturally very adversarial.
But in council, you've got twelve counselors, a mayor, You've
got thirteen people who no one's in government. Everyone has
an equal vote. Everyone was put there by the community,
and we're all there in the to make decisions in
(05:38):
the best interest of the community. We should be able
to thrash it out on the floor of council and
find a solution that is representative of our community based
on the diversity in the room. And that's how it
should operate. It shouldn't be dictated by party officials in
Sydney or other places about how we should vote for
our community, what is in the best interest of the
(06:00):
shal Haven.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
So what are they telling you on the street? What
are you hearing?
Speaker 2 (06:04):
I actually really liked door knocking because you hear from
the people who aren't necessarily putting their view out on socials,
or they're not necessarily showing up to a forum or
writing to you, but they're just ready to have a
chat and tell you what they think about different things.
And the things I keep hearing between Berry and Balley,
whether it's a coffee with a candidate or door knocking,
(06:24):
is the state of local roads, the blocked drains. It's
all those basics, which is why we decided to run
on a platform of back to basics and focusing on
those fundamentals first, getting those right the roads, rates and rubbish,
so that we can move forward into other things into
the bright future that the shoal Haven has. But right
now residents are really feeling the pinch around those things.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
More soon from our conversation with Independent miural candidate Jemma Tribe,
including her thoughts on whether shal Haven Council can ever
truly be free of political baggage.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
I heart shoal Haven. High heartshoal Haven.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Back now to our chat with Jemmat Tribe, candidate for
the Mirror of shoal Haven and leading the team Tribe
independence in this weekend's local elections. It'd be hard pressed
to find a ratepayer who disagree. A council's key role
is to focus on fundamentals and leave any high falutant
politican at the door. But the current shoal Haven council
(07:25):
has become so dysfunctional on so many levels. Voters are
being thrown some rather intriguing policies on how to raise
more revenue instead of just raising rates. Gemmat Tribe says,
as a business owner, a social enterprise operator, parent and
a former counselor, she knows what matters. Now we've heard
a few of your policies. One is obviously the policy
(07:49):
for community sporting and groups about getting infrastructure built without
council interference. That's something I suppose that you would have
heard a little bit about by talking to community groups
and this is what they want.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Yeah, it's a consistent theme that's come across actually in
all of the CCBs and residents that I've met with
and even people just ringing me and saying, hey, I
think this information would be useful for you. But our
core pillars are of course the roads, rates and rubbish,
and I can elaborate on those, But that particular policy
came about when people were calling us and saying, look,
(08:25):
I'm part of a group that has a governance structure,
we have insurance, we've secured our own grant funding, and
we just want to get on with the job of
carrying it out outside of council. And the Turf Club
were one of those who said as soon as council
get involved, the potential cost blows out, the timelines blowout.
(08:45):
They just wanted to be able to have a simplified
checklist process that they could carry out and get the
work done. Eventually, they did manage to do that. It
was a bit of an ergibardgie, but they got there
and they delivered it for half the price it would
have other ways been. They got the job done, and
if it can be done there, then surely that same
(09:05):
process can be applied to other community groups who just
want to know, all right, give me the checklist, what
have I got to tick off for you to get done,
but we'll carry out the work. Because we know that
council's experiencing financial challenges and has limited resources, it can't
do all of these things, but community groups are prepared
to take that on themselves.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
The Greens have come out and stated that they would
be championing paid parking for visitors into the region, and
maybe even a fee or a levy if you put
your boat in and use a boat ramp. Is that
sort of policy just out there? Is it possible? Really?
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Can we turn our two rows away? We need them?
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Yeah. I've got a couple of issues with it. One
is that council just do not have the resources to
recoup those kind of funds, and it's impossible for them
to really police that. I think the other thing is
the visitor economy is so important to our local economy.
(10:04):
It has a significant trickle down effect to others like
hospitality and tourism, retail sorry, who are really feeling the
pinch of the cost of living pressures, and I think
this would only add to that. Then the people I
talk to in the visitor economy space are saying, I
think we can be a bit smarter about how we
make money from tourists.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Do you think that could come back and bite that party?
Speaker 2 (10:29):
I think so, it doesn't. It seems to go down
like a lead balloon in a lot of forums that
we've been at. So it's not resonating very well.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
I have to say it's not a policy you will
pick up.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
No, absolutely not no, no, we've said we don't support it.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Now at the moment, we're still looking at a Greens
Labor block alliance. There's been a lot of talk about preferences,
and only recently last week or so someone's come out
and gone, we'll Labour's preferencing GEMI drive Labor's preferencing tribe Independence.
People are confusing how to vote card preferences. Preferences are
(11:09):
very different to a how to vote card.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Well, I mean we are independent. None of us are
members of any political party, and we're not a registered
political party and we're not preferencing any political party. So
our how to vote clearly has number one GEMA tribe
for mayor and number one in Group D for counsel
for our team of independence. We are told that others
like Labor have a how to vote card that has
(11:34):
themselves at number one. Greens at number two and our
independent team at number three. We can only imagine that
that's because we are genuinely independent, that we're not a
registered political party, that they see us as an alternative
who's willing to work across party lines and genuinely has
(11:55):
the community and business experience to get things done. But
as for exactly why they've done it, you'd probably need
to ask them.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Now, it's really important to have a council that the
community has confidence in, and that lacked badly in the
last term. So how do you propose to bring confidence
to the community.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
I think people want a mayor who can represent them well,
who can be a strong voice for them, who can
talk to all kinds of people from all walks of life,
but go and bang on the necessary doors when necessary
to get things done. And we need good people who
have a heart for this community but also experience and
(12:38):
runs on the board. And I believe that's what me
and my team offer.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
The strong voice of Gematribe standing on her own independent
platform and shaking off the legacy of a deeply disappointing
time as a liberal. So over to you shall haven
a reminder it is compulsory to vote. It's a fifty
five dollar pune on if you don't have a good
excuse for not voting, and grab yourself a democracy sausage
on the way out. I'm Pete Andrea. That's I heartshal
(13:05):
Haven for now, proudly supported by the New South Wales Government.
Catch you next time.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
I heartshual Haven.
I Heart shoal Haven.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
The older I get, the more I see that I
don't think any party has it completely right, and there's
less black and white and more gray the more you look.
I don't believe party politics has a place in local government.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Hello Peter Andrea with you? So have you made your
mind up yet on who's going to be worthy of
your vote in this weekend shoal Haven City Council elections.
In recent iHeart shal Haven episodes, we have sat down
with two women who aspire to be the next mayor,
Independent Council of Patricia White and the Greens k Gardner,
(00:37):
both formidable candidates and both well aware voters want someone
who's going to lead shoal Haven Council out of the
red and into the black and also with an eye
on the top job. Is Jemma Tribe campaigning to get
back to basics as she leads a team of independence
Gemma Tribes also had a hell of a past six months.
(00:58):
She only resigned from the Liberal Party in August, citing
sexism in the pre selection process to the degree she
was told she needed to crash diet to be considered.
She's still pretty angry that her resignation led it to
the Liberals exec somehow was leaked publicly. Now this weekend,
Jemma is urging residents to think carefully about the kind
(01:19):
of people they want to set the tone in council
and shape our city for the next four years.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
When the forty four percent rate rise proposal came to
the community, most then became aware of the financial challenges
that Counsel are experiencing, and they came back loud and clear,
get your own house in order first, and they really
wanted Counsel to look at its own business areas find
efficiencies before going after theirs essentially, and so that process
(01:47):
has been unfolding and a lot more work needs to
be done in that area, which is why I've gathered
a group of independent business but also community minded individuals
who'll help tackle some of those challenges with heart, because
we know if an administrator came in, they would just
be making decisions with the stroke of a pen. So
we don't want to see that happen, and that's why
(02:08):
we've put ourselves forward.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
And we know that the local government minister is eyeing
off shoal Haven Council at the moment, so we need
to get those ducks and drakes lined up.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Yeah, we do. There are a lot of councils facing challenges,
particularly on the back of disasters and the huge area
that we have to cover, but the AEC report that
was commissioned highlights some areas that council can approve improve
that we can begin to get our house in order,
and that starts with an asset management plan and having
(02:42):
a proper asset register and a maintenance schedule that goes
with that so we can start to tackle the infrastructure backlog.
It involves looking at the efficiencies that we can gain
and doing a review of each business area, so that
work needs to carry on, and then we need to
bring that list of propose efficiencies to the community and look,
we've got a twenty five to thirty five million dollar
(03:03):
structural deficit black hole. To feel this is how we're
proposing to do it. What do you think? And we
need the right people to take the community on that
journey and people who will work together collectively as a
council and as independents. We can work across party lines,
we can work with other people, and we need people
(03:24):
who are genuinely willing to take that collaborative approach.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
You've put a lot on the line yourself personally for
this election in that you resigned your position with the
Business Chamber, something that you love doing, as well as
the Liberal Party. But I suppose in hindsight you could
say you dodged a bullet on that one. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Look, I did privately raise concerns about governance and culture
within the party, and obviously that was it was publicly leaked.
But I I tried for a long time to try
and make a difference. I'm not someone who likes to
stand on the outside and accuse and not get involved
(04:10):
and try and make things better myself. So that's what
I've been doing for a long time. I felt that
I was beating my head against a brick wall, I guess,
and that's what made me decide to take the plunge
back myself being independent, and I was also looking around
at other independents so the way they were just doing
things differently. They were trying to find common ground with people,
(04:33):
making discussion about policy and not about people, and that
really resonates with me.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
There are still people in the community that think Gemma
Tribe liberal and despite the fact you've come out and
said no, I've quit the party and I am independent,
that you'll still have liberal leanings. Is that the case
or are you thinking independently?
Speaker 2 (04:56):
The older I get, the more I see that I
don't think any party has it completely right, and there's
less black and white and more gray the more you look.
And I also don't think I fit neatly in a box,
to be honest, But especially when you look at local government,
where I've always been very outspoken about, I don't believe
(05:17):
party politics has a place in local government. And as
I said, state and federal it's different. You've got a
government and you've got an opposition, and it's naturally very adversarial.
But in council, you've got twelve counselors, a mayor, You've
got thirteen people who no one's in government. Everyone has
an equal vote. Everyone was put there by the community,
and we're all there in the to make decisions in
(05:38):
the best interest of the community. We should be able
to thrash it out on the floor of council and
find a solution that is representative of our community based
on the diversity in the room. And that's how it
should operate. It shouldn't be dictated by party officials in
Sydney or other places about how we should vote for
our community, what is in the best interest of the
(06:00):
shal Haven.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
So what are they telling you on the street? What
are you hearing?
Speaker 2 (06:04):
I actually really liked door knocking because you hear from
the people who aren't necessarily putting their view out on socials,
or they're not necessarily showing up to a forum or
writing to you, but they're just ready to have a
chat and tell you what they think about different things.
And the things I keep hearing between Berry and Balley,
whether it's a coffee with a candidate or door knocking,
(06:24):
is the state of local roads, the blocked drains. It's
all those basics, which is why we decided to run
on a platform of back to basics and focusing on
those fundamentals first, getting those right the roads, rates and rubbish,
so that we can move forward into other things into
the bright future that the shoal Haven has. But right
now residents are really feeling the pinch around those things.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
More soon from our conversation with Independent miural candidate Jemma Tribe,
including her thoughts on whether shal Haven Council can ever
truly be free of political baggage.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
I heart shoal Haven. High heartshoal Haven.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Back now to our chat with Jemmat Tribe, candidate for
the Mirror of shoal Haven and leading the team Tribe
independence in this weekend's local elections. It'd be hard pressed
to find a ratepayer who disagree. A council's key role
is to focus on fundamentals and leave any high falutant
politican at the door. But the current shoal Haven council
(07:25):
has become so dysfunctional on so many levels. Voters are
being thrown some rather intriguing policies on how to raise
more revenue instead of just raising rates. Gemmat Tribe says,
as a business owner, a social enterprise operator, parent and
a former counselor, she knows what matters. Now we've heard
a few of your policies. One is obviously the policy
(07:49):
for community sporting and groups about getting infrastructure built without
council interference. That's something I suppose that you would have
heard a little bit about by talking to community groups
and this is what they want.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Yeah, it's a consistent theme that's come across actually in
all of the CCBs and residents that I've met with
and even people just ringing me and saying, hey, I
think this information would be useful for you. But our
core pillars are of course the roads, rates and rubbish,
and I can elaborate on those, But that particular policy
came about when people were calling us and saying, look,
(08:25):
I'm part of a group that has a governance structure,
we have insurance, we've secured our own grant funding, and
we just want to get on with the job of
carrying it out outside of council. And the Turf Club
were one of those who said as soon as council
get involved, the potential cost blows out, the timelines blowout.
(08:45):
They just wanted to be able to have a simplified
checklist process that they could carry out and get the
work done. Eventually, they did manage to do that. It
was a bit of an ergibardgie, but they got there
and they delivered it for half the price it would
have other ways been. They got the job done, and
if it can be done there, then surely that same
(09:05):
process can be applied to other community groups who just
want to know, all right, give me the checklist, what
have I got to tick off for you to get done,
but we'll carry out the work. Because we know that
council's experiencing financial challenges and has limited resources, it can't
do all of these things, but community groups are prepared
to take that on themselves.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
The Greens have come out and stated that they would
be championing paid parking for visitors into the region, and
maybe even a fee or a levy if you put
your boat in and use a boat ramp. Is that
sort of policy just out there? Is it possible? Really?
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Can we turn our two rows away? We need them?
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Yeah. I've got a couple of issues with it. One
is that council just do not have the resources to
recoup those kind of funds, and it's impossible for them
to really police that. I think the other thing is
the visitor economy is so important to our local economy.
(10:04):
It has a significant trickle down effect to others like
hospitality and tourism, retail sorry, who are really feeling the
pinch of the cost of living pressures, and I think
this would only add to that. Then the people I
talk to in the visitor economy space are saying, I
think we can be a bit smarter about how we
make money from tourists.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Do you think that could come back and bite that party?
Speaker 2 (10:29):
I think so, it doesn't. It seems to go down
like a lead balloon in a lot of forums that
we've been at. So it's not resonating very well.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
I have to say it's not a policy you will
pick up.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
No, absolutely not no, no, we've said we don't support it.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Now at the moment, we're still looking at a Greens
Labor block alliance. There's been a lot of talk about preferences,
and only recently last week or so someone's come out
and gone, we'll Labour's preferencing GEMI drive Labor's preferencing tribe Independence.
People are confusing how to vote card preferences. Preferences are
(11:09):
very different to a how to vote card.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Well, I mean we are independent. None of us are
members of any political party, and we're not a registered
political party and we're not preferencing any political party. So
our how to vote clearly has number one GEMA tribe
for mayor and number one in Group D for counsel
for our team of independence. We are told that others
like Labor have a how to vote card that has
(11:34):
themselves at number one. Greens at number two and our
independent team at number three. We can only imagine that
that's because we are genuinely independent, that we're not a
registered political party, that they see us as an alternative
who's willing to work across party lines and genuinely has
(11:55):
the community and business experience to get things done. But
as for exactly why they've done it, you'd probably need
to ask them.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Now, it's really important to have a council that the
community has confidence in, and that lacked badly in the
last term. So how do you propose to bring confidence
to the community.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
I think people want a mayor who can represent them well,
who can be a strong voice for them, who can
talk to all kinds of people from all walks of life,
but go and bang on the necessary doors when necessary
to get things done. And we need good people who
have a heart for this community but also experience and
(12:38):
runs on the board. And I believe that's what me
and my team offer.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
The strong voice of Gematribe standing on her own independent
platform and shaking off the legacy of a deeply disappointing
time as a liberal. So over to you shall haven
a reminder it is compulsory to vote. It's a fifty
five dollar pune on if you don't have a good
excuse for not voting, and grab yourself a democracy sausage
on the way out. I'm Pete Andrea. That's I heartshal
(13:05):
Haven for now, proudly supported by the New South Wales Government.
Catch you next time.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
I heartshual Haven.
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