Newly-elected Windermere Ward representative Councillor Sarah Hathway will replace former councillor Kylie Grzybek. She spoke to Matt Hewson about what she hopes to achieve over the next 18 months.
Geelong’s newest councillor Sarah Hathway will represent the residents of Windermere Ward following a countback by the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) on Wednesday, June 28.
Cr Hathway was widely considered the favourite having received the third highest number of primary votes in the 2020 council election behind former councillor Grzybek and current deputy mayor Anthony Aitken.
An active Socialist Alliance member, Cr Hathway said she was “genuinely excited” when the countback confirmed she had been elected to the role.
“I had the third highest primary vote from the 2020 election, so I thought I was maybe 80 per cent of the way there, but because that election was held during COVID we didn’t have scrutineers in the room to see how the preferences were flowing,” she said.
“So even the night before (the countback) I’d started talking myself out of it; if the preferences didn’t go to me it would be someone else.”
A resident of Geelong since early childhood, Cr Hathway has lived in Corio and Norlane for the better part of five years and currently works four days a week in Corio-based community mental health service as a social work graduate.
She has been an active participant in community groups involved in climate change awareness and other social issues, including the recent library and pool closure protests.
Cr Hathway said her professional, personal and municipal lives were all centred on the Corio and Norlane community.
“I’m not going to be ignoring any parts of Windermere Ward, but my heart really lies with Norlane and Corio, that’s the area I’m familiar with,” she said.
“Obviously there are a lot of barriers and areas of disadvantage in that community, but I think there are a lot of really amazing strengths as well.
“So this is a really good opportunity to have this platform… to go back to residents and say how do we use this platform as a community for the next less than 18 months until the next election.
“It gives an opportunity to be a voice that otherwise Norlane and Corio perhaps wouldn’t have.”
Cr Hathway said her focus would be on supporting and re-enfranchise those experiencing disadvantage and working to increase civic education in her ward.
“There are a lot of people out there who have issues or grievances who don’t know where to go, or how to get any of that addressed,” she said.
“As much as possible (I’ll) do what I can to link them with the right support, knock some of those barriers down, and where people don’t have the confidence or capacity to be their own voice (I need to) go, right, I’ve got this position, I’ll make sure I use it.”
The recent protests over library and pool funding had shown that people had power, Cr Hathway said.
“The three save libraries groups have just done amazing work,” she said.
“Obviously we wanted all our services to remain fully funded; we didn’t get everything we wanted, but without those campaigns we’d have three libraries closing, so they did achieve a lot over a very short period of time.
“Our democracy at any level is only as strong as (the amount of) people that engage with it. If people aren’t engaging then things start sliding through that perhaps shouldn’t.
“There’s still a drive there from the community campaign side of things; (they’re saying) ‘this isn’t done yet, we’ve got elections in less than 18 months and we’re going to keep going’.”
