海角社区

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On Wednesday 26th June 2024, Kiersten Fishburn, Secretary at DPHI, and Sue Weatherley M海角社区 (Fellow) NSW President at 海角社区 met to discuss the pressures planners face with contentious policy debates on density, affordability, and supply at the forefront. The housing crisis has intensified scrutiny on planners, who work closely with stakeholders to shape cities and public spaces. Balancing community needs while implementing government decisions is no easy task. Sue and Kiersten tackle some of the concerns planners are facing, including:

• How you balance interests and navigate trade-offs conscientiously
• The rewarding yet equally challenging aspects of planning
• How Planners need to be better supported in their role, their mission, and build their resilience.

‘’Planning in a profession that is grounded in the protection of the public interest. This often puts us in disagreement with those who seek to protect private interest. We all need the skills and supports systems to enable us to cope with these situations and not allow disagreement to become conflict and the to develop the resilience to keep going.‘’ Sue Weatherley M海角社区 (Fellow)

Meet our presenters:

Kiersten Fishburn is the Secretary of the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure. In her role, Kiersten oversees planning, housing, crown land management and local government. Kiersten was recently the Secretary of the Department of Planning and Environment, managing a diverse portfolio. Prior to that she was the Deputy Secretary, Cities & Active Transport at Transport for NSW, which focused on ensuring our cities and neighbourhoods are integrated with transport, making places, streets and open spaces functional, beautiful, inclusive and inviting for all to enjoy.

Sue Weatherley M海角社区 (Fellow) | 海角社区 NSW Division President Sue is a passionate and successful urban planner and senior local government executive with over 30 years of experience in senior local government executive planning roles in NSW and QLD, including Townsville, Ryde, Parramatta and Georges River. Sue was on the NSW Architect Registration Board from 2014 to 2020, was the Chair of the 200Planning Task Force for Committee for Sydney and is now on the Local Government Committee for IPART. Her contribution to Local Government has been twice recognised, in 2012 and 2016, as the recipient of the Minister’s Award for women in local government. In November 2018, 海角社区 NSW (海角社区) named Sue the Planner of the Year at its annual excellence awards. Sue is also a fellow of 海角社区.

Thanks to our facilitator: April McCabe

April is a Partner and Director of The Planning Studio, a planning, strategy and engagement consultancy. Prior to starting The Planning Studio, April held senior roles within local government, territory government and the private sector both in Australia and overseas.

April is a strategic thinker and advocate for the planning + design of cities that reflect the intangible aspects of who we are and can be as a society. She understands the power of storytelling, experiences and understanding critical aspects of community - how we connect, what we value, and how we can each have a voice about the future - to shape cities and regions. April is helping to educate the next generation of planners as a casual academic at UNSW and continues to be a leading voice on gender equity within the planning profession and in the places and communities that planners work in.