by Cat Holloway /
With mayoral destiny in mind, Shoalhaven's three top political candidates each straddle the personal and party line with a unique groove.
Jemma Tribe's previous experience sitting in Shoalhaven Council was sometimes fraught with tension over pressure to vote with other councillors.
"I have been pressured and it doesn't feel good, because I was making huge personal sacrifices but it felt like I didn't have a voice," Tribe said.
But Tribe pledged that if she's elected as an independent Mayor in 2024, she won't compel her Team Tribe Independents colleagues to vote as a bloc.
"It's not helpful to form a bloc and my views don't neatly fit in a box anyway.
"Our job is to look at each issue on its merit, not as a Green or a Liberal.
"We seem to have lost the ability to disagree without breaking into anger or fighting. But fundamentally, it comes down to respect.
"We'll always bounce ideas off each other, but I'm not here to tell my colleagues how to think or speak."
Ms Tribe is currently a Liberal Party member but expects to be expelled from the party now she is campaigning as an independent candidate for Shoalhaven Mayor.
Tribe rejects party politics in local government and believes the community is "fed up more than ever" with representatives putting ideology before community.
But she admits that it's difficult to campaign without the support of a party machine. The candidates in the Team Tribe Independents group hail from a variety of political, military and business backgrounds but unite behind Tribe's "Back to Basics" mantra prioritising roads, rates and rubbish.
(Jemma Tribe interviewed on Shoalhaven's new podcast on iHeart Radio.)
A 2022 national survey by the Australian Catholic University revealed that most Australians expect more than "the three R's" from local councils, including action on climate change, health, planning, indigenous and LGBTIQ+ issues.
The survey found voters wanted local council to:
- advocate for the needs of the local community (93%)
- reflect local community values (93%)
- deliver services that contribute to a healthier and fairer society (91%)
- focus only on providing basic services (roads, rubbish, rates) (70%)
Shoalhaven Greens' mayoral candidate, Kaye Gartner, sees her political party's declared values (sustainability, grassroots democracy, social justice and peace) as empowering, not limiting, the scope of local government decision-making.
"The Shoalhaven Greens write our own local government election platform, in response to local issues, but founded in values not vote seeking," Gartner said
"This platform is discussed by many, many members. It is endorsed by members. So, it has far more community input than many groups of independents.
"However, Greens are always free to vote as they wish. There have been many examples of that."
Gartner asserted that over the 20 years the Greens have been represented in Shoalhaven Council, input and feedback from party members is central to a 'consistent grassroots democratic process' to which other candidates do not subscribe.
The Shoalhaven Independents Group (SIG) was established more than 40 years ago with the mission of serving the residents and communities of Shoalhaven via local council. SIG is a registered political party and several representatives are open about their ties to the Liberal-National Coalition.
Shoalhaven Independents Cr Patricia White, who is running for Mayor in September's elections, said no SIG representatives ever stood in any state or federal elections under the SIG banner.
"I have never been requested or been committed to vote in a certain way. We all have an independent vote and voice," Cr White said.
"This is unlike the major political parties who are directed via local branches or head office.
Cr White is one of four SIG members currently serving on Shoalhaven Council. She has been on council for 12 years, including three years as deputy mayor, and stood for mayor in the 2021 election, winning 9.9 per cent of the primary vote.
White said her focus is on community needs more than than political pursuits. She pledged to stop big party politics and bloc voting in council.
Regardless of claims of independence from both sides, the record shows that council decision making during the last four years was often defined by the fact that equal numbers of councillors were aligned to either the progressive left or the conservative right. In many cases, the mayor cast the deciding vote on an issue and so incurred the wrath of the losing side.
After 16 years on Shoalhaven Council, outgoing Mayor, Amanda Findley, said council divisions and criticism against her actions made empathy and compassion for looking after people 'a real challenge'.
Findley said, in her resignation speech, that she is often asked for advice about standing for council as a 'lone ranger' independent, to which she says, 'Great, good luck with that.'
"The thing you will miss and need is the solidarity of people coming together, working shoulder by shoulder to get outcomes, because it's only by working as a community that we get the very best for the community."
If the voters in September show clear political leanings one way or another, the stalemates common after council debates might be overcome. If not, controversial decisions affecting Shoalhaven people and places will again fall into one lap: the Mayor's.
For all our sakes, may she be well-informed and genuinely independent.
(Ed's note: No disrespect is intended in this story's headline taken from the Destiny's Child hit song Independent Women from the Charlie's Angels soundtrack.)
