Townsville Community Voices

Gaye Newey, Annandale 4814 – 4728 5697 or 0407 967 870
Mother & Grandmother, Workforce Advisor

As a resident of Townsville for the past four years, I have been involved in many facets of business and watched how they have struggled to try and improve their businesses with the recruitment of skilled personnel. With our ageing population and the gap of trained and experienced staff to roll into the positions that retirees are leaving behind, as your Councilor I would like to see our Council be a leader in Apprenticeship, Traineeship, Internship and Volunteer programs.

Not only should we train new qualified tradespeople, but also to bring back the involvement of all unemployed people on a voluntary basis into assisting in developing a new and sustainable city. No need to IMPORT when we have willing and able people who are long term residents of our city. No unemployed person should feel that they are not valued in our society.

Whitsunday Drive, Kirwan

Norm has lived in Townsville for over 20 years and currently lives at Black River. He is a semi retired business manager with four children, and has been involved in soccer and motorcycling, including being president of Rebels Soccer Club.

I came to Townsville 33 years ago & fell in love with Northern Australia and intend to see out my life here. Townsville then was a quiet provincial city, small, but large enough to cater for very diverse interests. At the time it was a city where a large proportion of people lived in what we would now call an ecologically sustainable way with backyard veggie gardens and fruit trees feeding the family, bicycles being a major form of transport and old Queenslander houses that did not need air conditioning.

We have now tripled in size and, with three more triplings, another century would see us bigger than Sydney is now. Our housing & transport is now heavily energy dependent. Big city problems of smog and crime are emerging and will increase with the push for growth. Our growth enriches property investors but makes housing unaffordable for the young. Huge polluting, energy guzzling heavy industries are planned for the shores of the Coral Sea on the South bank of Ross River. This is growth gone mad.

Hello, I am John Waszkiewicz. I have lived in Townsville for many years and am well known in sporting and business circles. A former PE teacher and roller-rink manager, I have run many sports development programmes across the state as well as in and around Townsville and Magnetic Island.

Education:

Hi,

I'm Jenny Stirling and I am running for Mayor of Townsville.

Background:

Born and mostly raised in Innisfail, I have lived in North Queensland all of my life. Living in that beautiful part of the state I leaned about the value of a natural environment and what it means for children to be able to enjoy a healthy lifestyle and the benefits of a culturally inclusive community. It also meant that from an early age I and my family had close encounters with many cyclones and floods and saw the impact these had on others around me. So you will understand that I was personally devastated to see the damage done to my home town when Cyclone Larry passed by and it made me aware of how vulnerable we are in Townsville.

Mobile 0415 305 705

Dave has been involved in the local soccer scene for over 30 years as a player, coach and committee member. He currently holds the position of club President, has been involved with representative teams and performed marketing and scheduling roles for the National Soccer League teams (now the A-League), on their Townsville visits.

His current employment see's him assisting people gain qualifications through Skills Recognition. While in previous positions he has worked with job networks implementing training programs to assist long term unemployed and disadvantaged people. He also worked with various industry sectors to assist with skills shortages in transport and distribution, construction and engineering. Prior to this he held various roles in his 20 years in Queensland Rail.

Dave's vision is to see more facilities for youth in Townsville with an emphasis on encouraging the community to participate and a better public transport system.

Peter Newey
4 Masuda Street, Anandale
Mobile 0414451275

Having moved to this great city in 1969, I have witnessed and been a part of the development of this city since then.

Initially I commenced employment as an apprentice electrician at the Townsville City Council Workshops in January 1969. I qualified as a electrical fitter mechanic with additional post trade courses and became a Technical Officer in the Traffic Division of the City Engineers Department in the late eighties..

Having spent some 21 years in the service of the Council in various electrical positions in the field servicing Water, Sewerage, Instrumentation and industrial fields, I finally centered in the Traffic division in the TCC Administration Building initially as a Technical Officer.

I could say this was the most interesting and rewarding part of my council

4 Laura Court, Deeragun. 4818. 4751 6921

10 Cargillea Avenue, Annandale Q 4814

Why I want to serve on the Townsville City Council

I have lived in Townsville since 1979 which almost makes me a local. I lived in Hermit Park for the first twenty one years and in Annandale for the past eight. I love living in Townsville - I love the beautiful natural environment that we share and the wonderful community that we live in.