Peter Strong

I am a father of two living with my family in Arncliffe, I run a screen-printing and solar sound system events business and am active in local social and environmental justice campaigns. I ran for the Greens locally in the 2016 Local Council elections and also the 2017 NSW State elections.

I have been a community builder in Sydney’s Inner West for over 20 years working on campaigns and co-created events that draw attention to many environmental and social justice issues. I have also campaigned for indigenous rights, urgent action on climate change and the roll out of sustainable energy, community friendly public transport urban transport not profit/toll driven new road developments like WestConnex and the F6.

I believe the Bayside area needs a transparent and accountable council that plans to bring people together to co-create better ways to tackle todays problems, we need a safe and sustainable system for all not an urban environment with dwindling air quality, tree canopy and green spaces.

Issues I want to work on

There are many issues I would like to work on within council, all of them are about working for the good of all and preserving and regenerating our natural assets and green spaces.

Protect Green Space

We need to protect our existing green spaces and beat the heat, in this era of rising heatwaves its crucial we build our urban canopies and protect and expand our carbon capturing grass public spaces. We need to enter into regenerative and restorative practice and kick start an inclusive and community empowering circular economy utilising smart technology and sustainable energy principles.

Turning public fields into high maintenance and expensive synthetic sports fields that divide our community to appease a misguided lobby group is not the way to go.

Promote Public Transport, Not Private Toll Roads

The road building lobby is a powerful and destructive monster, we have lost many battles with the rolling out of WestConnex and the F6 but we need to keep up the pressure to promote public transport as the new toll road systems prove to be counter productive to a harmonious urban bio region. These roads with their expensive tolls are now causing chaos as cars and trucks now clog our local streets to avoid the expensive tolls. On Council I will continue to promote public transport over short sighted and ill planned mega road developments. We also need to continue to support bicycle infrastructure and improved pedestrian zones.

Build Public Housing

With homelessness on the rise driven further by the COVID pandemic we need to make sure that there is accessible and affordable Public Housing available for those who need it. Too much recent development in Bayside Council wards puts profit before people; hastily constructed towers are showing dangerous signs of decay. The proper safe building practice and inspections should be put in place to prevent this. New developments need to adopt sustainability and be able to be upgraded to employ state of the art smart energy saving infrastructure and eco grid readiness.

Declare a Climate Emergency

Councils need to declare a climate emergency and start to act on it with the roll out of sustainable energy practice as well as making sure green spaces are retained and expanded.

Improve Waste Management Systems

Our waste management systems are areas that need much work. We need to roll out green bins and collect compost and organic waste that can become a valuable asset in enriching food-producing cycles in surrounding farmlands. Examples of such waste capture has been used to great effect around the world like in San Francisco and more locally in Penrith.  Recycling needs to be improved and container collection schemes improved and made more widely accessible.