Andrew Anthony has put himself forward as an independent lord mayoral candidate for the 2024 Wollongong City Council election. Photo: Andrew Anthony.
The Greens and the Liberal and Labor parties have announced their candidates for Wollongong Lord Mayor this election – but if party politics aren’t your flavour, independent Andrew Anthony has joined the run.
A former councillor from 2004-2008, Andrew has also served on council and neighbourhood committees.
He said he was motivated to run this election due to concerns a single party could dominate the next council.
“That stifles debate,” he said.
“As an independent I hope I can be there to have an alternative voice and fresh perspective.
“I want people in the community to be more involved in decision-making.”
Like the three other candidates, Andrew wants Wollongong to be a vibrant, liveable city.
He feels the biggest obstacle to that vision is unchecked development.
“I don’t want to see Wollongong become like the Gold Coast, all high-rise and no character,” he said.
“I want Wollongong to be a liveable city, and I fear we’ve already become a dormitory suburb for Sydney.
“I want people to feel free to walk around at any time of day and feel safe, with better public transport and less dependence on cars.”
Andrew said he would campaign on a platform of pushing back against overdevelopment, and environmental protection.
He said it was a fight he was familiar with – some of his proudest moments from his earlier stint as a councillor were in the development realm.
“The local environment plan was being updated at the time and developers were pushing for bigger developments through the State Government,” he said.
“We had to fight to get them scaled back to a more reasonable design that was in character with the neighbourhoods.
“I want to see sensible, well-planned development, I want the council to listen to the community’s ideas when consulting instead of just telling the commnunity what they’re going to do, and I want us to do more on floodplain mamangement.”
Andrew said he thought the current council did a solid job of maintaining foreshores and our pristine natural environment, but believed more could be done in those spaces, especially considering the pressures of population growth on our infrastructure.
“Our creeks and flood management systems are under pressure, as recent floods have shown, affecting many residents,” he said.
“We need to address these issues proactively.”
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