Labor, Liberals seek to serve North Sydney with duty senators Talk of the town

With local North Sydney MP Kylea Tink sitting on the crossbench in Canberra, the two major political parties have appointed NSW senators to look after the electorate.

The Labor government have designated Senator Tony Sheldon as the “duty senator” for North Sydney, while the Liberal opposition have opted for Senator Andrew Bragg.

Sheldon was elected to the Senate in 2019 and was formerly a Formerly the National Secretary of the Transport Workers’ Union of Australia. He is officially billed as the “Labor Senator for North Sydney” and was given carriage of two recent announcements: one for a community battery in Cammeray and another for a series of federal grants enabling the installation of air conditioning in local schools.

Last month the federal government issued a $500,000 grant to Ausgrid to build the community battery, one of 400 slated nationwide. The idea is that the battery can conserve solar power generated locally for later use. It was originally planned for Green Park but in the face of community opposition, is likely to move elsewhere.

Meanwhile, North Sydney Girls High School received a $25,000 grant earlier this month to upgrade its ventilation. Similar sized grants were also made to Lane Cove Public School and Artarmon Public for building repairs and air conditioning respectively.

Senator Sheldon said: “Our local schools deserve great infrastructure and quality equipment to help students achieve their best.”

“The Albanese Government is investing in a better and fairer education system and this is terrific news for our local schools with more to come. This is a great outcome and I’m happy that we can deliver this funding to much-needed projects for our local schools.”

In regard to the battery, Sheldon added: “This funding will deliver technology locally to increase the amount of rooftop solar in the grid, allow solar energy to be shared, and put downward pressure on household bills. This is a real win for the community of Cammeray.”

“This is a practical example of the Albanese Government’s commitment to easing cost of living pressures. A community battery in Cammeray will mean households can store cheap, solar energy for use at peak times, increasing our use of renewables and reducing emissions.”

Meanwhile, the Liberals’ Andrew Bragg, who also entered the Senate in 2019, has been appointed as their du- ty senator covering both the North Sydney and Warringah electorates, both held by independents. Bragg lives across the harbour in Paddington but says he is in a relationship with a Kirribilli local and is regularly in the electorate. Sheldon also lives close by, with a residence in Surry Hills and an office in the Sydney CBD.

Bragg is almost a model candidate out of central casting to reclaim North Sydney for the Liberals from the Teals. He is a major warrior for its moderate faction, advocating previously for same sex marriage and now for the Voice to Parliament, opposed by many of his colleagues. But he is also highly financially literate, emerging as one of the leading advocates for people to have more rights over their superannuation, for example.

Cammeray battery causes pain for Council mayor

North Sydney mayor Zoe Baker is finding that listening to one’s community sometimes exposes one to the opprobrium of the rest of the city.

A case in point is the small media storm over the location of the federally-funded solar battery in Cammeray. Originally slated for Green Park, local residents felt it would take away a slab of open green space and wanted it relocated elsewhere. Baker endorsed their cause, writing to both the federal government and energy utility Ausgrid to press for an alternate site. In the end, Ausgrid apparently agreed to look for a new location.

But this didn’t stop metropolitan media from jumping on yet another instance of what seemed to be entitled lower north shore residents who weren’t prepared to even sacrifice a few square metres of parkland for the sake of the cause of climate change.

To wit, the following exchange with 2GB drivetime host Chris O’Keefe last month:

Zoe Baker: We’re not saying no to a battery. We’re saying there are better locations. (The Warringah Freeway upgrade areas was previously cited as such a location)

Chris O’Keefe: Can you honestly, with a straight face, say that a fourmetre-long, two-metre-tall structure is big?

Zoe Baker: I’m not saying it’s big, but it impinges in the park. It means that there are parts of the park that kids won’t be able to access.

Chris O’Keefe: But what would happen then on this logic? What would happen then if North Sydney Council decided to build a toilet block in a park for people to use because that’d be bigger than four metres long and two metres high?

Zoe Baker: Well, no doubt it would be, but the reality there would be community consultation and there would be a decision.

Chris O’Keefe: But on this logic, then you couldn’t put it in. You’d have to put it on the Warringah Freeway, the toilet block.

Zoe Baker: No, not on this logic because it’s about what serves the park. Those sorts of facilities serve the park. People need to use the toilet. And in fact, what might be a better...

Chris O’Keefe: But a battery, a solar battery serves the community because it saves on people’s power bills, right?

Zoe Baker: Absolutely. And it may be that the best location for it is at the back of a toilet block in a park if it’s going to be in a park. But none of those options had been canvassed. So we’re having that conversation with Ausgrid.

Chris O’Keefe: I hate to say it, but you sound like a NIMBY.

Zoe Baker: Well, we’re actually not a NIMBY (sic). We want this in our backyard, just not this corner of the backyard.