G'day Paul Here

With just six days until the election, I'd like to share with you some of the experiences I've had during the past few months of the campaign.

The thing I'll take away with me (win or lose) is the people I've met - around kitchen tables, in community halls, working on stalls at fetes, cheering on kids at sporting grounds. We all think we have an idea of how many people are working on a voluntary basis for the community, but it's not until you make it your mission to meet everyone that you realise how big the unpaid army is - an how much talent, drive and generosity they bring to the community. They do it for free - all out of love and the belief that things can be better.

That's what got me into this arena in the first place. I saw that unless I stood up and made a noise about a development on Long Reef that threatened one of our beautiful wild places, it would be forever ruined. It's been an inspiration for me to find that by standing up I found friends and support I didn't know existed! It made me want to go on with it.

This brings me to one of the main platforms of my campaign - to bring community groups "in from the cold". I know that the former sacked Council regarded community activists as a hindrance. In fact, if you go back to that report on that sacked Council, there it is in black and white: "(elected representatives) repeatedly exhibited a lack of respect for members of the community that borders on disdain.".

I am passionate about changing this attitude. There is a great website www.ourcomunity.com.au that I would like to recommend to all community groups. On this site you can find ways to get expertise on funding, media, governance and legal matters. I'd like any future Council to offer practical help to all community groups, and listen to their advice.

I've seen a lot of people make a lot of grand promises in this campaign. You may have noticed that I haven't. I believe that making promises that can't be kept on disillusions people about the political process. The only promise I'll make is to listen and, when there's a need, to stand up. YOu can count on me. I am not in debt to anyone, I reckon I am independent in the true sense of the word.

I know grass-roots activism works. I know how it can transform lives. Battling and working out a compromise over Long Reef has made me a better and braver person. And it's also made me understand that no issue is ever as clear-cut as it might appear. Every issue is hostage to a myriad opinions. Maybe the best thing a future Mayor could do is take juggling lessons!

So, this is by way of saying, thanks to all the people who are supporting me and, more than that, supporting the idea that our new Council should be a truly representative body.

I would also like to thank all the local business people who have put my face in their shop window! It seems to me that often, the smaller the business - the bigger the heart.