Running for Roseville

What drives candidates to step into the ring of fire that is local politics? We talk to three of the brave four running for election in the upcoming Roseville by-election.

T hey work roughly 30 hours per week, are paid $13,000 a year with such lavish perks as a laptop computer, printer, their home phone bill paid and a mobile phone allowance of $100. Mayor of Ku-ring-gai Elaine Malicki estimates that at various stages in her time as a councillor she has earned less than $3 an hour. In the scheme of things, it's not much reward for serving your community.

Four Ku-ring-gai residents — Jennifer Anderson, David Goodenough, Rahael Rey and Mark Smith - have put their hands up for the job made vacant after Roseville ward councillor Graeme Innes resigned to become Australia's new Human Rights and Acting Disability Discrimination Commissioner.

The three candidates running for the Roseville by-election on March 11 that the Observer was able to contact are unanimous in their concern and disapproval of what they see as the current over-development of their local area. The big bad wolf they're all directing blame at is the State Government, and its planning policies.

Mr Smith — who is the director and principal of Parkes Terminal Land Corporation which owns Parkes Airport — calls the State Government's planning policies "blue murder" and says he is motivated to run for local council to stop "the State Government ripping the guts out of our communities right up and down the highway."

Ms Anderson, whose nomination form declares she is a member of the Liberal Party and recently worked with Federal Member for Bradfield Dr Brendan Nelson, identifies the biggest issue facing Ku-ring-gai Council as the loss of its "planning powers to the State Labor government."

Their criticisms are not reserved just for the State Government but for the council that one of them will soon join. Speaking without the guardedness typical of those in public office, Ms Anderson says "the current Council has not been successful in formulating an approach to tackle these threats to the lifestyle and amenity of Ku-ring-gai residents."

Ms Rey, who names St Ives ward councillor Laura Bennet as a political role model, says that "generally speaking council staff do not live locally and appear to be driven by commercial imperatives."

She points to the Inner West suburb of Haberfield as the kind of conservation she would like to see instituted in Ku-ring-gai. Ashfield Council secured a listing for the entire suburb to be classified as a Heritage Conservation Area in the 1970s. "No comparable effort has been attempted by Ku-ring-gai councils in spite of the preponderance of beautiful old houses. Why?"

Mr Smith sees the current political landscape in Ku-ring-gai as a battle of personalities and goes so far to say, "The [current] council is still divided on too many critical issues — which sends a signal to State Government that they need to step in". He also claims, councillors' "egos are completely out of control."

While all three candidates the Observer spoke to, are a chorus of commitment to protecting the local area and the interests of residents, the most important question is, how well will they be able to deliver?

Mr Smith is banking on his "expertise in the good use of land and stakeholder liaison." Ms Anderson, whose bio is a litany of 18 years of community service, is pushing her status as a "trusted local," while Ms Rey is calling herself "incorruptible."

Whose message resonates most with local Roseville residents will say a lot about the flaws they identify in the current council and the influence they wish to see exercised in the coming years.