The Northern suburbs were once home to good public housing, where blue-collar workers lived and worked nearby at the Shell and Ford factories. Now, the public housing is mostly gone and the manufacturing industries no longer exist.
While door knocking for the council election, I met John, a retired former shop steward at Shell. He told us that many workers in Corio bought these homes and eventually retired there.
John said everyone should have the opportunity he had — to live in a government-owned house, with the option to buy it.
Today this part of the North is a quiet, working-class area, with a strong community focus. Unfortunately, it is largely ignored by the City of Greater Geelong.
Nearby, at Unit 1 in a block of four, I introduced myself to Annette and asked about which local issues were important to her.
She hesitated, before saying she could not afford to build an external cat run since she’d heard about council’s proposed 24-hour cat curfew.
I informed her council had overturned that decision and explained why I voted against the cat curfew, twice, because of its disproportionate impact on low income families.
On hearing this, Annette introduced herself, telling me about traffic and pedestrian safety on her street, an arterial road that goes through several blocks in Corio. She was happy to take my election sign for her yard and the next day had one up.
These are the sort of conversations my campaign volunteers and I have been having every weekend as we knock on doors across Norlane and Corio.
Now, one cannot drive down a main road in Corio Ward without seeing a bright pink “Vote 1 Sarah Hathway” sign in someone’s yard, or on their fence.
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From these conversations, I know about the chronic flooding due to a combination of lack of maintenance and outdated storm water infrastructure.
I know a lot of the community feel vulnerable and, in some areas, residents are not even feeling safe in their homes.
I’ve been told about the lack of youth activities and the poor access to mental health services.
We all see how climate change is leading to more flooding. Some residents are finding it difficult to cope with extreme low or high temperatures given inadequate heating or cooling in what’s left of the public housing units.
Through these conversations and the various community events I attend it is clear that residents want to be part of the solution.
However, more often than not, the risk adverse bureaucracy in large local government organisations locks them out.
Residents want to plant more trees, landscape local parks and build a fence or a park bench to enjoy.
At Labuan Square in Norlane, residents, together with The Good Neighbourhood Project have initiated a weekly community lunch, pop-up supermarket with fresh produce for a gold coin donation and, recently, opened an Op Shop.
Norlane residents meet regularly at the café in the square to plan market stall days and a recent Winter Lights event, attended by more than 400 people. Winter Lights, a wonderful community connection event, was entirely community driven and powered without grants.
We need more community projects for residents, which could also benefit from direct support from all levels of government.
Elected representatives need to get behind and support residents’ initiatives, not the other way around.
After a significant storm cell descended on Corio and Norlane on the evening of August 25, the next morning 81-year-old John was hammering back in my election sign.
To see residents so invested in our “For Community Need” campaign and firmly in the camp of “things can change in the Northern suburbs” is plenty to keep myself and volunteers motivated for the next six weeks.
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We will continue to letterbox, run campaign stalls at the local shops and knock doors to have as many conversations with residents as we can.
At our most recent campaign stall, campaign manager Tim offered a passer-by a leaflet. He responded: “Save your piece of paper. I’m already voting for your girl; I’ve seen her everywhere!”
Door by door, street by street — hopefully this will be how we win the North.
[Sarah Hathway is a Socialist Alliance Councillor. She is running for Corio Ward in the City of Greater Geelong Council election in October. To get involved, contact her through Facebook or Instagram.]