Steve O’Brien, Samantha Ashby and Darcy Lemmich are standing as Ward 1 councillors on December 4.
Newcastle Council increasingly behaves like a corporation and is losing its connection with residents. We will work with residents’ groups to empower residents to play a more active role in council decision making.
To that end, we will fight to:
Darcy Lemmich is an aged-care nurse. He is passionate about quality health care and disability services and is a member of the Health Services Union. He believes the growing privatisation and corporate greed within the health sector has been detrimental for the workers' ability to provide the quality care our most vulnerable deserve.
Samantha Ashby is Associate Professor of Occupational Therapy at The University of Newcastle and is a member of the National Tertiary Education Union. She grew up in public housing in the UK and lives in Mayfield. Samantha supports fighting for a healthier local environment.
We are experiencing climate emergency through beach erosion, flood risk in low lying suburbs and an ever-present bushfire threat. We also have a social crisis where many residents have no job security and struggle to keep a roof over their heads. We need a U-turn on many policy fronts.