One of the six new councillors at the Council bench in the Byron Shire is Elia Hauge, member of the Greens team.
Cr Hauge was raised in the area and after gaining her degree in engineering and working as an educator, she is back on her home turf.
Hauge says her values are Greens values and her mission is to create a sustainable future for people and the planet.
At 29, Cr Hauge believes she may be the youngest councillor and she hopes that is just one more link in Council’s diversity chain.
Diversity
‘You’re always going to make better decisions as a group when there’s diversity at the table. And I think young people in this town face a lot of challenges, and the town faces challenges to keep young people here.
‘It’s a hard place to be starting a career. It’s a hard place to live while you’re trying to start a career. The housing crisis is pretty out of control, and I think a young person’s perspective on that is particularly important.
‘But in general, we as a collaborative Council, will make better decisions for having greater diversity and youth is one of those things for sure’.
Cr Hauge is currently working as a civil engineer – she feels it’s a good idea to keep her foot in that engineering world.
‘I worked for Sydney Water for some time. Then I started, but did not finish, a PhD – a chance to upskill coming back to the Northern Rivers during COVID-19 – that was looking at climate adaptation and specifically regional water supply systems. I did a lot more about how engineering interacts with community and society. I did projects in Nepal and projects in Uganda during my undergrad.’
Dunoon dam
Bringing plenty of technical knowledge to the table, Cr Hauge, along with Cr Ndiaye, has been appointed to the Rous County Council and has strong opinions about the proposed Dunoon dam.
‘I am firmly opposed to the Dunoon dam. I campaigned against it with Water Northern Rivers a couple of years ago. There are so many reasons I oppose it as a project.
‘I can give you three really good reasons – they’re all critically important and resonate differently for different people. The first one obviously being the cultural heritage and the Widjabul Wia-bal being very clear about the importance of that place.
‘The second one being the environmental value and the unique ecosystems, that would be destroyed if we dammed that gorge. But the third one, wearing my engineering hat, it is just a poor decision in terms of a resilient water supply for our region.
‘It’s a second dam in the same catchment as the existing dam, and it’s putting all of our energy into only surface water within that one catchment, which is about as narrow an option as you can get.
A resilient supply
‘I think when we think about a resilient supply, it’s always going to be a diversity of options – different sources, and smart water options. So I’m firmly opposed to the Dunoon dam.’
As well as water, Cr Hauge says her priorities this term are to address the housing crisis and support community resilience and enable water security in the face of the climate crisis.
‘These are all interwoven challenges, and I believe Council must embed meaningful community participation to ensure our community is sustainable, liveable and resilient,’ she said.
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