North Sydney schools guide | Jilly Gibson’s mayoralty remembered | Robyn Read
February 2022 Issue 10
News and views for North Sydney’s residential and business communities
www.northsydneysun.com.au
It’s Mayor Zoe Baker, plus a bonus two deputies over the next two years Zoe Baker is the new mayor of North Sydney Council after she secured backing from a newly elected bloc of six self-described progressive councillors under a power-sharing arrangement Baker is a former deputy mayor and was first elected to council in 2012. Her mother, Carole, was a councillor for much of the 1980s and was mayor for a year between 1979 and 1980, immediately prior to the Ted Mack era. Baker was one of two Real Independents to be re-elected as councillors, the other being MaryAnn Beregi. Her candidacy was backed by four new councillors: Labor’s Godfrey Santer and Shannon Welch and the Sustainable Australia Party’s William Bourke and Georgia Lamb. The bloc of six backed Baker in return for Bourke being elected to deputy mayor. He will stand down in September and be replaced by Labor’s Santer who will serve for the next year. Labor has also released a “manifesto” it agreed on with the Real Independents, which appears to serve as a defacto policy agenda for the new council. This includes: “A commitment to addressing overdevelopment in-
cluding advocacy to the State Government in relation to State policies and projects which detrimentally affect our community.” Also agreed on were commitments to more council transparency, increased open space, including parklands, gardens and other green space, a connected cycleway and support for social/affordable housing developments. Other goals agreed on were improvements to public amenities, enhancing the garbage disposal system to include a dedicated bin for compostable kitchen and garden scraps as well as measures to attract small business to North Sydney and promote more tourism. This includes more outdoor theatre, music venues and art galleries. There appears to be no such manifesto between the Real Independents and the Sustainable Australia Party. Bourke told the North Sydney Sun he supported Baker because she had a superior voting record on development issues. Baker herself said: “it is truly a singular honour to represent the incredible North Sydney community.”
“For the last four years, MaryAnn Beregi, Tony Carr and I were a persistent and vocal minority voice on Council. If it were not for the intelligence, strength, perseverance and good humour MaryAnn and Tony have always
brought to their roles, it would have been a lonely and difficult endeavour.” Baker continued: “I am really touched by, and aware of, the faith and Continued page 2
Omicron hits North Sydney hardest The spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 has hit North Sydney harder than previous variants as local businesses and communities face their third year running living with a pandemic. Federal North Sydney MP told North Sydney Sun: “Obviously there is a lot of anxiety about the current outbreak. I think that it’s different this time, because for example, during Delta, our case numbers were much, much, much lower on the north shore. So this is the first time really during the pandemic where we’ve had such widespread cases on the lower north shore.” Zimmerman says COVID issues are dominating feedback from the community presently. “You get both sides of the coin, actually. You get a lot of people contacting me saying ‘please don’t go back in lockdowns’, others saying we’d like more restrictions in
place. And, really what’s been keeping me busy is giving advice to people about what they should and shouldn’t be doing, but also working with GPs and pharmacies to make sure that they’re getting the supply they need, where there’s been disruptions and supporting them in whatever way I can with vaccine boosters. And also now the paediatric vaccine as well. “ Zimmerman said a key part of his messaging to the community has been: “please don’t delay in booking in the boosters and also please be prepared to shop around. I mean, we’ve seen that there are tens of thousands of vacant spots available at state vaccination hubs that are going unused.” “So, if you can’t get into your first choice, consider a second.” Zimmerman added that North Sydney residents have been “responsibly following the health advice and that’s something I’m very proud of our com-
munity in supporting.” “And the other aspect of that, which I’ve been really, really proud of, is the way in which residents have been helping neighbours either through just small individual acts or through the volunteers that are helping our community centres.” “One of the things that we’ve done continuously through the pandemic has been reaching out to individuals, ringing, in particular, older residents that might be isolated and making sure that they’ve got everything they need. That’s been a really important part of my work over the last six months as that’s continued.” The NSW government has also chipped in with a $1 billion program to help businesses through the Omicron wave. This includes increasing funding for small business fees & charges rebates to $3,000 and inclusion of rapid antigen tests expenses. There is also a
new Small Business Support Program to assist the hardest-hit businesses to stay afloat through payroll support. There is also extended protections for small business tenants and funding for the Commercial Landlords Hardship Fund, and additional funding for the heavily impacted performing arts sector.