Spark Shoalhaven

Power prices, payback and preferences

Australia's 2025 Federal Election count officially closed with the final postal votes registered last Friday. Fine details of preference breakdowns and Senate outcomes will dribble out in coming days, possibly weeks. But Gilmore's House of Representatives numbers are in. Do they match the spin? by Cat

Spark Shoalhaven

Shattering the ‘Glass Cliff’

by Jemma Tribe / The Liberal Party’s women woes are well-documented and, again, they’ve paid the price at the polls. But what can be done about it? A report released in April this year by the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at The Australian National University (ANU)

Spark Shoalhaven

Come-To-Jesus Moment in Gilmore Election

by Cat Holloway / Mixing religion and politics is dangerous, right? Not to Reverend John Brentnall, of Berry Uniting Church, who says it's inevitable and natural for church to influence culture and expects generational change will lead to people more courageously speaking out to impact policy. "If you

Spark Shoalhaven

Green Eggs and Spam

by Cat Holloway /  Persistence, not resistance, is The Greens' real power. I woke up this morning to a third unsolicited, but perfectly legal, Trumpet of Patriots text. Their toxic coal-dusted advertising money is wasted on me. It’s even easier to ignore texts than to bin the paper

Spark Shoalhaven

Catholicism, Climate and Capitalism

The death of Pope Francis on Easter Monday has alerted many within and outside the Catholic Church to the impact of his message of stewardship rather than dominion of planet earth. In 2015, Francis released his ground-breaking encyclical, Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home, making a pivotal

Spark Shoalhaven

Ever Changing Moods

by Cat Holloway / Early voting for Australia's next Government and Prime Minister has begun. Call me optimistic, but with climate change and energy policy fuelling almost every political argument, I'm not alone in bracing for the winds of change. That's not to say new

Spark Shoalhaven

Constance and I

Seeking a different perspective on Gilmore's major party candidates, Spark was keen for two long-time local political campaigners, Labor's Michelle Miran and Liberal's Luke Sikora, to each interview their rival party candidates, Labor's Fiona Phillips and Liberal's Andrew Constance.

Spark Shoalhaven

Fisheries flex to bulk up Jervis Bay Mussel Farm

Serious questions surround the March 20 approval to increase commercial mussel farming in Jervis Bay Marine Park, despite dramatic footage from local divers of unusual mussel blooms dominating locations throughout the bay.  by Cat Holloway / (with reporting from Lucy Robertson) Even contradictory science and a majority of formal opposition did

Spark Shoalhaven

Carving Deadwood, Creating Wildlife

New and valuable real estate is being carved into our urban landscapes by the very experts trained to cut away the dead wood. Conservation Arborists on the NSW South Coast are turning their chainsaws and their passion for wildlife to creating tree canopies of the future. by Cat Holloway / Terence

Spark Shoalhaven

Serious about strategy, not spin

By Cat Holloway / You might assume it prudent for the Shoalhaven Greens to lick their wounds from last year’s brutal council elections and watch the 2025 Federal election from the sidelines as the lavishly funded Liberal and the Labor incumbent duke it out with the Climate 200 backed community

Spark Shoalhaven

The Gaffe and the Gamble that made Gilmore 2025

Environmentalists around Australia are thanking Liberal candidate Andrew Constance for single-handedly attracting more than one million dollars of crowd-funding for the Climate 200 “Community Independents” running in this year’s Federal election. by Cat Holloway / Buoyed by the eager gaze of a Liberal-friendly Sky News “Pub Test”

Spark Shoalhaven

Delivery or Democracy?

We need Local Government. But do we need Local Councillors? Switch off the Donald Trump Inauguration tomorrow night and tune in instead to the Shoalhaven City Council meeting as it looks set to be a doozy to kick off 2025.  Despite ambitious New Year resolutions, Shoalhaven Council has faced some

Spark Shoalhaven

Gilmore Independent Radiates Energy and Rallies Community

Fun isn't the first word that comes to mind when we think about politics. But Kate Dezarnaulds intends to change that with her announcement today of candidacy as an independent for Gilmore in the upcoming federal election. by Cat Holloway / Surrounded by friends, family and supporters in Berry,

Spark Shoalhaven

Rates up by 12% Yipee?

by Cat Holloway / Shoalhaven ratepayers will pay 12% more from July 1, 2025. But that might not be enough to save the Council from administration. Weeks of community consultation and workshopping didn't increase Shoalhaven’s appetite for a rate rise. Nevertheless, at the Council meeting on Tuesday, December

Spark Shoalhaven

Developer’s flood plan will fail, say experts on West Culburra

by Lucy Robertson / Engineers and environmentalists have slammed a developer’s response to community concerns over flawed flood projections for a new subdivision proposed in West Culburra. In the development plan, 40ha of threatened species habitat would be cleared to make way for a 400-home housing estate in West

Spark Shoalhaven

BUDJAAN OF BOODEREE

Some know that Booderee is a Dhurga word meaning ‘bay of plenty'. But fewer know that Budjaan is the south coast Dharawal and Dhurga word for bird. Budjaan is also the title of a young woman's simple but beautiful mission to use language to entwine culture and

Spark Shoalhaven

Monsters in the Shrubbery

😉 Just a little fun in response to the motion (below) before Shoalhaven Council this Tuesday. The assertions were too astonishing to ignore. DATELINE: Tuesday, December 10, Nowra Monsters in the Shrubbery by Poppy Koch Forget summertime rips and sunburn, Shoalhaven Councillors have vowed to fight the root cause of community

Spark Shoalhaven

Sharks Circling Suburbia

by Cat Holloway / Just when you thought it was safe to wander through the park to your local cafe by the beach...in swoops the new Shoalhaven Council to reverse yet another community-led initiative and make life easier for property developers. Serious questions now surround the details and instigators

Spark Shoalhaven

A Queer Rescue Odyssey

by Erica Graham / Straight Out of Berry - How a straight white woman from Berry wound up rescuing queer people halfway around the world. It all started with my vision board, a yearly collage of dreams and goals. Returning to Berry after two decades away, I felt a bit disconnected and

Spark Shoalhaven

Your Money, Their Choice

by Cat Holloway / Shoalhaven Council's Finance Review Committee may be keen to light a fire under the asset management strategy. But the committee's induction, probity checks and Terms of Reference are yet to be smoked out. While we (the rate-paying public) wait, there's

Spark Shoalhaven

Five Wise White Men

by Cat Holloway and Morgan Reade / Mayor Patricia White has used her executive powers to personally appoint five private citizens to a Finance Review Committee (FRC) to investigate Shoalhaven Council’s books and strategise a way for the organisation to escape its deep debt. But the move has intensified calls

Spark Shoalhaven

Shoalhaven Mayor Pushes to Remove Council CEO

Shoalhaven City Council CEO, Robyn Stevens, faces an imminent threat of losing the top job she has held only since February, as covert moves by Mayor Patricia White to oust Stevens become harder to contain. by Cat Holloway / (Note: Three days after this article was published, Robyn Stevens did resign

Spark Shoalhaven

Lone Spark No More

A Letter From the Editor / Journalists know, you're probably doing your job well if you're upsetting someone. But it’s important to have contacts and collaborators - even nicer to have friends. Much SPARK traffic comes from Facebook shares and thanks to those who have linked stories.

Spark Shoalhaven

A Beastly Mob

by Cat Holloway / I settled in yesterday evening for a bit of escapist TV but ended up watching two nights’ worth of local council debate over rate rises from back in January.  Actually, it was more enlightening than you might think! Although I admit to skipping some bits. Remember January?

Spark Shoalhaven

Civil Beat - Clr. Jemma Tribe

Triple U Radio's Col Hesse examines this week's Council meeting with Clr. Jemma Tribe who had a notably busy and confronting session last Monday. Tough topics included a hard-won motion for an Affordable Housing Taskforce, an impending rate rise and the ethics of Mayoral finance