By Callum Ludwig
Born and raised locally, O’Shannassy Ward Council candidate Jane Stormer moved to Melbourne for 25 years before returning to the Upper Yarra to raise her son.
She is a Committee of Management member of both the Warburton Tennis Club and the Upper Yarra River Reserve and has also previously been a member of the Warburton Emergency Management Group and the Upper Yarra Alliance for Sustainable Development.
Ms Stormer said the O’Shannassy Ward is unique in the way we have a string of pearl villages along the highway, and other communities nestled in the mountains, hills and on the floodplains. “We have amazing local ecologies and environments that our urban neighbours want to visit and enjoy, my background is in tourism, local economic development and horticulture and I have a deep understanding of the ways that people enjoy and work with nature from research work I have undertaken in a Masters,” she said.
“With increasing urbanisation, we will have increasing visitors, so how do we share our lifestyles, without being inundated and increasing our emergency management risks, and as a resident of Warburton, we have been considering these questions and in becoming a Councillor I’d like to help find a better approach than just let them in and let the local community and environment wear the consequences with insufficient infrastructure and maintenance regimes.”
Ms Stormer’s main concerns are the ‘hollowing out’ of the community and the inability for the ‘next wave’ of young families to live in the Upper Yarra due to a lack of affordable housing, dwindling community and health services and maintenance of local infrastructure and the lack of a ‘regenerative development approach’ to supporting local ecologies, enterprises, agribusiness and our significant nature tourism opportunities.
Ms Stormer said she would welcome the opportunity to listen, learn from and represent the community as an O’Shannassy Ward resident.
“I feel lucky to be living on Wurundjerri Country and wish to respect & draw on the knowledge of our indigenous community and their connection to Country, I recognise that we live in the upper catchment of the Birrarung Yarra and need to protect the ecological and water quality in our amazing mountains, creeks and rivers,” she said.
“I know our communities are diverse, and would like to ensure that local knowledge is present and respected in local Council initiatives.”
