Why Janine is standing for Davidson?
Why am I standing?
To make a difference. To protect the place I love - Davidson.
Davidson is a place of extraordinary beauty with its gardens, bushland suburbs and extraordinarily rich and rare urban environment with many rare and threatened species.
Davidson's remnant Blue Gum High Forests, Sydney Turpentine and Ironbark Forests and Duffys Forest are threatened ecological communities and reflect Davidson’s acute environmental sensitivity.
I am committed to overhauling the NSW Government's planning policies. They have failed communities, not only in Davidson, but across NSW allowing irresponsible 'spot rezonings' that override local council planning powers and community wishes.
As an experienced and highly professional woman, with a track record of serving the community, it is time for me to take the challenge to represent you in Parliament.
Why NSW Liberal and Labor have failed Davidson
Davidson represents the green 'lungs of Sydney' keeping Sydney's air clean and cool.
Its two Local Government areas - Ku-ring-gai and Northern Beaches represent outstanding places of environmental sensitivity.
In a Ku-ring-gai Residential Strategy published in 2000 the Ku-ring-gai Local Government area was described as:
"Ku-ring-gai exhibits environmental splendour of such a scale that it is of national significance”.
Likewise Davidson's Northern Beaches Local Government area is a place of environmental sensitivity that borders on the Garigal National Park.
However both Local Government areas have been damaged by NSW Government's urban consolidation policies that have been promoted by both the Liberal Party and the Labor Party.
Both Labor and Liberal have implemented planning laws that have removed power from local government and handed planning powers over to separate planning panels.
These planning laws have been vehemently opposed by residents living in Davidson because so much is considered as being of national heritage significance. Ku-ring-gai contains some of the best 20th Century architecture in Australia. It also has critically endangered Blue Gum High Forest remnant forest and Sydney Turpentine Ironbark Forest.
In 2005-06, Ku-ring-gai had the second highest reported total development value in the state - A$1.7 billion, more than Parramatta, second only to the City of Sydney.
The NSW Government has failed Davidson with its high density apartment developments that have taken no account of its heritage and environmental significance. This over-development was exposed as far back as 2008 when the ABC TV Stateline program aired "The Rape of Ku-ring-gai" (15 August, 2008).
Both NSW Liberal and Labor have failed Davidson's garden, bushland and forested suburbs.
It is time Davidson had an Independent.
