The candidates in Cronulla electorate, in the order their names will appear on the ballot paper are:
- Mark Speakman, Liberal
- Richard Moran, Sustainable Australia
- Jon Doig, The Greens
- Phillip Burriel, Keep Sydney Open
- Teressa Farhart, Labor
The following profiles were supplied by the candidates:
Mark Speakman, Liberal
Mark has been the MP for Cronulla since 2011 and the NSW Attorney General since 2017. He has also served as the Environment and Heritage Minister.
Mark has lived over 45 years in the shire. He is married with two adult children.
He attended Caringbah North Public School, Caringbah High School (dux, captain), Sydney University (Bachelor of Economics, Bachelor of Laws with 1st class honours) and Cambridge University (Master of Law with 1st class honours).
Before entering politics he practised as a senior counsel (“silk”) at the NSW Bar.
He is keen to make sure that the shire gets improved infrastructure and frontline services which are only affordable with the NSW Liberals’ strong economic management.
The shire has the lowest unemployment of any NSW region; NSW has the lowest unemployment on record and lowest of any state.
NSW is now ranked as the strongest economy of any state, compared with ranked weakest of any state under Labor.
Local infrastructure projects for a re-elected NSW Liberal government include upgrading the T4 train line capacity by 30%; new trains; new Sutherland Hospital operating theatres and endoscopy suites; building the F6 stage 1; fixing road pinch points (including widening the Gannons Road bridge and Princes Highway upgrades); building the Sutherland-Cronulla off-road cycleway; clearing Labor’s school maintenance backlog; upgrading local schools including major works at Cronulla High; and the $50m joint upgrade of Kamay Botany Bay National Park including new Kurnell and La Perouse ferry wharves.
Local frontline services priorities include extra nurses and doctors at Sutherland Hospital (as part of extra 8300 hospital staff statewide); extra teachers (as part of record education funding); extra police (as part of extra 1,500 statewide); before and after school care for all public primary school students; and doubling late night train services.
Jon Doig, The Greens
Greens candidate for Cronulla Jon Doig is running for climate action, drug law reform and banning corporate political donations.
Mr Doig is a city research software engineer at UNSW who loves sea-kayaking and lives with his family in Gymea Bay. His grandfather Ben Doig served two terms as Liberal MP for Burwood during the Menzies era.
An environmental campaigner since the 1980s, Jon Doig also campaigned for the Sutherland-Cronulla shared path, founded the Sutherland Climate Action Network and lobbied now Prime Minister Scott Morrison on the climate emergency over ten years ago.
Mr Doig is concerned that "as the world's scientists, businesspeople, poor, first nations, bats, Murray River Cod, Brambis Cay melomis, insects and even the daily weather will attest," we are already experiencing serious and disruptive climate change.
"It's having a profound effect on our food bowl, the Murray-Darling Basin and on the Great Barrier Reef. It is past time we took it seriously", Mr Doig said.
Mr Doig calls for the declaration of "war on warming". The Greens have proposed what could be the first big campaign of this war here in NSW: 100% publicly-owned, clean and affordable renewable power in ten years.
The Greens' Power NSW scheme would build a gigawatt of power a year, the equivalent of seven Port Augusta solar thermal plants. The goal of 100% emission-free electricity would also be met through wind, rooftop solar, demand management and other sources and savings.
Beside renewable energy, Mr Doig's campaign priorities are to:
- Stop overdevelopment and build affordable housing for community need, not developer greed.
- Invest in public transport, electric vehicles and cycleways to take the pressure off our roads.
- Save young people's lives by legalising, regulating and taxing cannabis and MDMA.
- Ban corporate political donations and end the revolving door between politics and industry lobbyists.
Teressa Farhart, Labor Party
Teressa was born and raised in the Sutherland Shire and is a mother of two, raising her children in the local community.
As a local Teressa knows what is needed to make our community an even better place to work, live, and raise a family.
Teressa was fortunate to have a strong family role model in her late grandfather John Weir MBE, a previous Sutherland Shire Councilor and Kurnell resident who received the first Sutherland Shire Citizen of the year award for community service in 1970.
Being a Registered Nurse in the local community Teressa has dedicated her working life to advocating for patients and quality health care systems.
Teressa’s executive nurse roles include quality management roles at Sutherland Hospital and Clinical Governance of local aged care facilities.
She is a graduate of the University of Sydney and has a commitment to lifelong learning, including her current enrolment in the Master of Public Health program at the University of New South Wales.
As a commuter on the Illawarra T4 line Teressa sees firsthand the frustration local commuters experience with the peak hour rail service where people are dissatisfied with the current timetable and are frequently forced to stand up on a full train for their journey home.
The Liberals have let our area down for far too long. Teressa will be a strong voice that speaks up for Cronulla. Teressa and Labor will:
- Defend our local health services from further cuts and mandate nurse to patient ratios to ensure quality of care.
- Air-condition every classroom, fix the school maintenance backlog and make TAFE free.
- Stop overdevelopment by scraping developer-friendly loopholes and invest in infrastructure to meet the needs of our growing population.
- Review the disastrous train timetables and provide refunds for avoidable delays.
- Ease the cost of living by re-regulating electricity prices.
