Council elections 2021: Meet the candidates in Leichhardt-Gulgadya

A former Liberal deputy mayor of Leichhardt has returned to the fray as an Independent, and the inner west's only Animal Justice Party candidate is standing in Leichhardt.

The ward is home to about 42,000 people and encompasses Haberfield, Leichhardt, the northern part of Ashfield, parts of Annandale and Croydon, and a small part of Lilyfield.

Issues include main street revitalisation, development plans along Parramatta Road and the closure of the light rail service for 18 months, which has candidates emphasising a focus on active transport networks and making the ward more cycle- and pedestrian-friendly.

In first spot on the ballot paper, Annandale resident Marghanita Da Cruz is seeking a second term as a Greens councillor, having been elected for the first time in 2017 to the newly amalgamated Inner West Council.

Timothy Suttie and Brooke Richards

Cr Da Cruz was born in Kenya and migrated to Australia with her family in 1970. She is an information and communications technology (ICT) specialist who, in the early days of the "information super highway", established her consultancy Ramin Communications in 1996 to provide internet and website services.

She is keenly interested in local heritage, having set up the website Annandale on the Web in 1998 where she has compiled an anecdotal history of the suburb, as well as writing a series of books on historic short walks.

Supports it, "because it has been extremely difficult to communicate and be in touch with the community".

"Smaller councils are much more responsive," she says.

As an ICT specialist, she is also concerned that the online systems of the previous three councils that had worked well for residents and service delivery have been "broken".

"Some of the services have gone backwards: when I say services, I mean the core systems - it has been a really tough job with the amalgamation to keep the services running, because the systems underlying the services don't exist."

Cr Da Cruz is keen to apply the skills and experience gained during her first term, which she believes has made her "much better equipped" to serve her community.

"It was a steep learning curve to learn to be a councillor, and how to do things through being a councillor rather than a community member, and once you have developed some skills, you would like to put them to use!"

Cr Dr Cruz says serving residents is her top priority. She is concerned that connectivity is lost in the inner west community, and is keen for every neighbourhood to have a vibrant community centre that is a meeting spot across ages and cultures, and a site for arts, entertainment and live music. Leichhardt suburb in particular, she says, is missing a focal point.

"We have a great community and anything I can do to make it more connected, more diverse - people are very interested in lots of different cultures that live in this community, and to offer different opportunities to share that culture would be great."

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She believes the inner west could be the dancing capital of NSW, if not Australia, given the concentration of dance schools in the area. "I'd love to see people dancing in the streets," she says.

The alternate chair on the council's traffic committee during her first term, Cr Da Cruz also wants the inner west to be more pedestrian and cycle friendly, including more shade on streets and quality footpaths, to encourage people to walk and cycle more. She also believes attention should be paid to the potential of electric bikes.

She wants to see an open and more democratic council, and to get the ICT systems working - "if you have chaos, it is very hard to operate".

Labor's Philippa Scott trained as a lawyer and is a strategy manager at University of Technology, Sydney. She is a mother of two and and describes herself as "deeply dedicated" to Leichhardt, where she has lived her entire life.

Timothy Stephens and Helen Gibson

Ms Scott is P & C president of the Leichhardt campus of Sydney Secondary College, and says she is "very committed" to public education and making SSC a first choice for high schoolers in the inner west. "I was educated at our fine public schools here in the inner west, and am proud to be sending my children to our public schools as well," she says. She is also on the board of Metro Assist, the former Metro Migrant Resource Centre.

Does not support a demerger, in line with the Labor position. "People will have their say, and we will listen to what they say. The fact is we need to focus on the future - we are asking people to trust us with their rate money to make sensible decisions, and I don't see it as responsible to have another conversation about the structure of the council, when we know our residents just want us to get on with the job.

"People want council to deliver on the basics of services and infrastructure."

She believes Inner West Council is at a key juncture, following its first term post-amalgamation when many councillors from the previous three councils wanted to stay on to get the new council under way.

"Now is the real opportunity to look at where we are and move really positively into the future," she says.

"It's an opportunity for us to build on what we have achieved so far, which includes refurbishment of Dawn Fraser baths, opening of the Ashfield Aquatic Centre ... to take those legacy projects and move forward into the future."

"The focus for the Labor team is going to be our recovery after COVID," Ms Scott says.

"We have to find ways to bring our community back together, but also to take the lessons we have learned from COVID about the importance of your neighbourhood and the five-kilometre radius: we know now how important is every single pocket park, every single pool, road, footpath that you ride down ... If it's got a crack in it, you learned about that crack during COVID."

Ms Scott says Labor's vision is to make the inner west the first choice for people who want to live in Sydney. That involves planting trees and beautifying main streets, working to get vacant stores tenanted out, and "making sure we have street furniture that is attractive and accessible for old people and people with disabilities to take a break on our main streets and enjoy the convivial atmosphere."

"We want to be a council that can bring businesses, community organisations and workers together to support our economy .. and beyond that, we are looking to create a greener, healthier inner west, and committed to expanding opportunities for inner west residents to participate in open recreational spaces."

As well, she would like to see put in place a citizen service charter with KPIs that would include getting the Development Application rates down from over 100 days to 60.

"That would make a real difference in the lives of people who have chosen to live in the inner west who are investing in their homes."

Vittoria Raciti is standing for her second term on Inner West Council, but as an Independent this time around after the Liberal Party decided not to endorse candidates in the LGA. Cr Raciti, who was not available to be interviewed for this ward profile, also previously served a term on Ashfield Council. She describes her aims as a councillor as ensuring equal respect for all people and delivering services to the high expectations of ratepayers and residents, equally and fairly. Her running mates are Vivian Fezzuoglio and Adama Raciti

Vera-Ann Hannaford is a lifelong Leichhardt resident, and her teaching career was spent in special education, culminating as Assistant Principal of Lawrence Hargrave School. She spent more than 12 years on the former Leichhardt Council, including as deputy mayor.

Ken Hannaford and Craig Bliefnick

Ms Hannaford did not stand for election to the amalgamated council in 2017 after she lost the Liberal Party preselection to Vittoria Raciti, who she is running against on December 4. (Ms Hannaford is no longer a member of the Liberal Party). Since 2017, she has worked on many community committees, including the executive of Friends of Callan Park, and on the community advisory committees of Balmain and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.

She also serves on the Inner West Council community advisory committees for planning and heritage and disability access.

She is passionate about Leichhardt, and one of her policy points is to maintain its unique character: "I grew up and it was a slum, and I saw it changing over the years, and it always was, and always will be, the best place to live."

Supports it. She says council should never have been amalgamated, and that it has been a failure - "the streets look dirty, the verges aren't mowed very often, and the parks look tired". Also, she believes the community has been left out in local decision making, and that the council is unresponsive to its residents. "If you want to report some issue in the area - say a pothole, or a broken footpath - it is very hard to get that through to council."

Ms Hannaford believes she still has a lot she can do for the residents: "I work hard and I enjoy helping people, and I find it is a good way to be part of the community."

She prides herself on having been a councillor who made herself available and listened to residents: "I was called an activist because I fought for people when they had problems."

She believes in getting the little things right before going on to bigger projects, and also in being consultative with fellow councillors as well as the community.

Ms Hannaford is running on a back to basics campaign, pledging to work for the regular monitoring of every street, back lane, footpath, road, stormwater drain and waterway, as well as rapid pot-hole repair and weed control, and restoring and maintaining parks and pathways.

She believes the State Government should uphold the Callan Pak Act, which is facing proposed amendments under the Greater Sydney Parklands Bill currently before Parliament. "Callan Park should be for the community. On the other hand, some sort of infrastructure has to be put in place to make sure it retains its heritage; money needs to be injected and it needs some sort of structure like a Trust."

She also wants to see community participation returned to pre-amalgamation levels, including by improving the community advisory committee structure and ensuring members get the information they need from the council.

"[Previously], we had a large number of committees that were given business papers beforehand, and then met and discussed them and feedback went back to council, but all those things have gone by the wayside," she says.

Supporting local business, and native plantings to provide habitats for local fauna, are also priorities for Ms Hannaford.

One of the youngest candidates, Annandale resident Michael Dello-Iacovo is 29 and after completing a degree in geology and geophysics, is now finishing his PhD in space science, looking at asteroid mapping techniques. He has previously stood for the Animal Justice Party in a federal and a state election, and this is his first tilt at council.

Teresa Romanovsky and Linda Paull

Mr Dello-Iacovo has lived in Sydney for about five years and in the inner west for about a year, having "moved around a lot" due to his father's work, living in places such as Tokyo and the Middle East.

He joined the Animal Justice Party in 2016 "because of their values of kindness, equality, rationality and non-violence".

At the moment he has no pets in Sydney (Sally the Beagle lives with his parents in Adelaide), but he and his partner are hoping to rescue a cat when the time's right.

"It is definitely not one of my areas of expertise, but I do lean to supporting a demerger." Mr Dello-Iacovo says. "I think having smaller councils is better for people to have their voice heard."

However, if residents vote to demerge and the new council begins the process of convincing the state government to approve it, "we have to acknowledge that it would be another major disruption to the council and it is time, energy and money that is not spent on other things".

"Being a scientist, I am very committed to evidence-based policy, and making sure that policies and decisions that are made are based on evidence, and I feel I don't see enough of that.

"I also worry that decisions are made without thinking about those that don't get a vote - for example, young people, people who haven't been born yet, and nonhuman animals who we share this inner west council area with.

"When I look at council decisions and how they are made, all of these different groups are not given the proper consideration they deserve, and by running for council, I want to bring a voice for those groups, and also to try and get more evidence-based policy in council."

Mr Dello-Iacovo says his goal is to represent everyone, by coming up with solutions that benefit the entire community at the same time, not just people who have a vote. He says he is also committed to hearing all sides of every argument.

He wants to see a reversal of the loss of tree canopy in the inner west, including relooking at council policies with a view to discourage removal of trees on private land and encourage people to plant more trees on private and public land.

"This is an issue that affects the wild animals who see those trees as their homes, and the rest of us as well because trees play a role not just in carbon sequestration, but in reducing local temperatures.

"Having more trees and green spaces is beneficial to everyone's mental wellbeing and health."

More generally, he supports the implementation of smart climate and energy solutions: "There's a lot of things we can do at the local level that have general benefits for the residents as well."

If elected, he would seek to make sure that wild and companion animals "are given proper consideration at all stages of council decision making".

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