In November 2020, I was sworn in as a councillor after Greater Geelong residents elected me, alongside 10 others, to represent them as a council.
But I doubt any of us predicted the extraordinary four years ahead.
This was the second time I’d had the privilege of representing you, after being elected 2017.
Towards the end of that term, we faced a once-in-a-century global pandemic that continued well beyond the October 2020 council elections.
As an organisation, we continued to face the challenge of supporting small businesses and our most vulnerable people through the social isolation and everchanging health orders that resulted from COVID-19.
As we recovered from the pandemic, we faced yet another set of unique challenges: a property boom, a series of interest rate rises and the highest inflation in Australia in almost four decades.
This led to the current cost-of-living crisis and governments, businesses and residents alike are still feeling the pinch.
This placed increased pressure on us as a council, as we worked to ensure our annual budgets were measured but still provided the infrastructure that our growing community needs.
In pursuit of this goal, we worked closely with federal and state governments and advocated to them on behalf of our region for funding for a range of vital projects.
We also had to ask ourselves how we would balance the books while ensuring the City of Greater Geelong could continue to provide more than 120 services to our community at a high standard.
Meanwhile, the cranes on our skyline herald exciting times ahead for Geelong and are a visual representation of our recent population growth, which presents both great opportunities and challenges for our city.
As a council we wanted to encourage this growth, while making sure it was sustainable and well thought out with the right balance of greenfield and in-fill developments.
Geelong combines a city feel, a stunning coastline and a growing arts and culture scene without the big city congestion of Melbourne.
We have worked hard to protect this way of life for current and future Geelong residents, and the City of Greater Geelong’s 2700 staff and our community have provided crucial guidance in this role.
In my official role as mayor, I attended the opening of hundreds of new buildings, community facilities and sporting upgrades.
I acknowledge the amount of thought and planning that council officers put into these projects, and I thank them for their efforts.
Our community has also had an important role in shaping our projects, policies and decisions.
I thank everyone who took the time to contact us as councillors or the City of Greater Geelong to advocate for causes they are passionate about.
I applaud our community members who offered feedback through our Have Your Say webpage and various in-person engagement sessions, or wrote submissions in response to our draft budgets or other council decisions.
Lastly, I want to thank my fellow councillors for the trust they bestowed in me by electing me to represent them as mayor in November 2022.
It has been an honour and a privilege to lead a group of such dedicated and passionate people striving to make their community a better place.
