INTERVIEW: Councilor Linda Scott On Community, Local Government & Making A Difference

Earlier this month, reporters from the Darlo Press Gang interviewed Councilor Linda Scott from the City of Sydney Council. She is also President of the Australian Local Government Association and is the first woman to be elected as President of Local Government NSW, the peak body for NSW councils.

Press Gang: What is your favourite part and the hardest part of your job?

Linda: I’ll start with the hardest part. The hardest part is helping local governments to agree on things because there are so many and they’re so different and they’re from such different places. So sometimes people who are elected to councils, they represent different political parties and they all have very different values and very different beliefs, and they’re very, very diverse.

My favourite part is learning about all the different kinds of local governments in Australia. I met a mayor recently who lives in a very remote part of Western Australia, and really the only way in and out is via an airport. And the council owns the airport and they have lots of potholes in their runway and they didn’t have any money so they’re crowdfunding to fill the potholes in their runway so that they can get in and out of their town.

And then I met another mayor a few months ago from the northwest part of Western Australia, and he told me that they need housing in their town because they all live in temporary housing, a bit like tents. And the whole town has lived like that for five generations.

Australia is a really amazing place and I’m really honoured to take all these stories from all these mayors to Canberra where I talk to the prime minister and the treasurer and the government about what councils need to help them help their communities.

Press Gang: What are your main responsibilities?

Linda: At my own council at the city of Sydney, my main responsibility is to support more than 200,000 residents and businesses to ensure that they’re receiving the right support from the city of Sydney. So that means having their rubbish collected, making sure that our parks are clean and safe, making sure we have enough sporting fields, and making sure that our services such as our childcare or our support for young people is available and accessible.

We also approve development. So we need to make sure that if somebody wants to build a new house or a new building for offices, that it’s environmentally sustainable and that it’s a safe building.

As the national president of the Local Government Association, it’s my job to take the stories of Australia’s 537 mayors and understand what they need to better help their communities and talk to the Prime Minister about how the federal government can help.

Press Gang: What inspired you to work in local government? 

Linda: My younger sister who lives here in the city of Sydney, close to my family, was born with Down Syndrome. So I grew up in a family where we worked together and I always understood that she would need a little bit more help than me. And it really inspired me to have a job that meant that I could be helping people who needed more support than myself.

When I grew up and learned a bit more about local government, I thought that was a great way to be able to help people because we do lots of things for all the different parts of our community. We help people who are in wheelchairs move around our city because we build ramps and we make sure that our playgrounds are accessible. We support migrant communities. We support people who need access to childcare. Lots of councils provide support for aged care. So I thought local government would be a really good way to support Australians who needed a bit more support.

Press Gang: How did it feel to be the first woman elected as President of Local Government NSW?

Linda: It’s a real honor. When I went to university, there had never been a female prime minister. There had never been a female premier of New South Wales, and there had never been a female Lord Mayor of the City of Sydney. That’s all changed now. But in my lifetime, there’s been a lot of firsts and I’m lucky to be one of those. I hope in your lifetime there are less firsts needed because it’s all much more equal.

Press Gang: What are your ideas for the future and are you excited about them? 

I am excited for the future, but I also feel we have to do a lot better, so the future is better for you.

So the, the most important thing, I think, is for us as a council and all the councils to act on dangerous climate change so that we don’t leave your generation with a planet that is unhealthy or is more difficult to live in. So we’re working very, very hard with the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and our environment minister and our local member to make sure that the government will do more to act on dangerous climate change and bring down emissions and help the planet.

I could also list about a hundred other things that I’d love to do, more parks, more cycleways, but acting on climate change is a really big one for me.

Press Gang: What advice would you give like kids who want to make a difference in the local community?

Linda: Learn everything you can, because you never know what knowledge will be useful in the future. I didn’t know when I left school that I wanted to be the national president of all Australia’s local governments, but many things I learned along the way have helped me. So learning as much as you can about lots of different things is a great thing to do.

Press Gang: What are some local issues that impact school kids like us?

Linda: One of the things I would like the City of Sydney to do in the future is a safety audit around all our schools. We want to make sure that children can walk and cycle safely to school, but also for families that need to drive or access school in another way.

One of the things I hear from students and parents at Darlington Public School and actually many other schools around the city of Sydney is that it’s hard to walk, ride and drive to school safely. So one of the things I’ve asked the council to do, the Lord Mayor has not yet agreed to it though, is a safety audit around every single school in the city of Sydney to have a look at how we can make it safer for all our students to get to and from school every day.