Meaningful climate action, affordable housing atop Bega Greens candidate Cathy Griff's list

Ms Griff implored people to make their vote count on March 25, and said that by voting Greens you were sending a strong message about climate change.

"I'd like to see people get a better understanding of the fact that we need to act now.

"This is the most critical time.

"This used to be a really safe Liberal seat and now it's swung to Labor and who knows," Ms Griff said.

Upon completing an BA at ANU and a "fester-in-Leicester" as she called it for her Masters of Mass Communications, Ms Griff launched into careers in research, strategy, policy, teaching and journalism among many others - and looked back fondly at a stint in Papua New Guinea.

"I was a volunteer teacher and then worked as a journalist in Bougainville, which was quite exciting. It was, then, a complete frontier," she said.

Nowadays a self-confessed yoga tragic and dog mother of two, Ms Griff had her hands full outside of her work as a Bega Valley Shire councillor, keeping up with her pups.

"The fact that there are two of them that are badly behaved in different ways makes me worried that the owner has some issue in terms of upbringing," she joked.

Drawn to the natural beauty of the area, Ms Griff has considered the Bega Valley home for 35 years while living full-time in the area for the last 12.

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She first lived in Tanja with her late husband, before making the move to Mogareeka last year, which she likes to call Far-South-Tanja.

Before her stint in council, Ms Griff spent a decade working in the film industry - not the sexy part she was sure to point out, but as head of policy at Screen Australia.

"It was pretty meaty, I worked on things like the US free-trade agreement about Australian content and the whole issue of keeping Australian content on our screens," Ms Griff said.

Ms Griff married the highly acclaimed filmmaker Philip Hearnshaw, involved in the production of Babe and the Happy Feet film among many others, who sadly passed away in 2012.

Never far from the set herself Ms Griff often found herself rubbing shoulders with highly influential people in the industry, picking up useful bits of advice, among other things.

"I did pick up Russell Crowe's dog once, from an airport," Ms Griff laughed.

And that opportunity was in 2016, when Ms Griff was elected as the Greens councillor for Bega.

"I thought 'I could do that'. Little did I know what lay ahead," Ms Griff said.

Fast forward to today and after six years on the council, Ms Griff has seen first hand what can be achieved at a local level, helping to roll out the Bega Valley Shire Climate Resilience Strategy 2050.

With a taste of campaign in the 2020 Eden-Monaro by-election, Ms Griff is looking to use the momentum from last year's federal election that saw the Greens primary vote increase nationally by 1.9% and swing 0.46% in the Eden/Monaro.

"I would really like to see people realising that the Greens really can make a difference to legislation and are doing so.

"We can hold the balance of power in the upper and lower houses," Ms Griff said.

While acknowledging the difference that can be made at a local level, Ms Griff said that state governments "need to cough up" in regards to the major issues of climate, housing and cost of living.

"Local government is really a creature of the state and they've got the bucks."

Above all the issues Ms Griff wanted to address leading into the election, top of the pops was confronting the climate emergency.

"Sitting here, everything green and glossy, it's pretty hard I think for people who have been through a lot of disasters here to get their head around it, and want to dwell on it either.

"In terms of the other parties, you cannot open new coal and gas projects and talk about your climate change policy. It doesn't pass the pub test. It doesn't pass the Kindergarten test," Ms Griff said.

At a local level Ms Griff has put forward motions that all new public buildings should have solar on their roofs, has worked as a waste warrior as part of the strategy that introduced FOGO, and believes the Valley is severely lagging behind on electric vehicles.

"We have one public charging station in Bega. Births, deaths and marriages happen in that queue," she said.

Another area Ms Griff has been significantly involved in during her time on the council was housing - a part of the implementation group for the Bega Valley Shire Affordable Housing Strategy.

"The only thing that's really going to cut it is building more purpose built affordable housing units, and units that fulfil the most growing demographic - the solo household or just a couple household," Ms Griff said.

"There's a huge mismatch with the housing stock we have and what is in demand."

The often touted "we just need more houses", is misguided according to Ms Griff.

"I don't know of some sort of trickle down effect, it has to be affordable."

Ms Griff has been outspoken about current local developments for multiple reasons, such as the recently topical development in Tura Beach approved more than 30 years ago she said will be detrimental to native habitats.

"The idea that those kinds of houses at Tura for example are going to make any difference to our crisis.

"We live in a very wealthy country and it's just appalling that people are sleeping in cars.

Utilising vacant buildings, increasing density, looking at short-term rental accommodation and partnerships with social housing providers are some strategies Ms Griff believes would make a difference in the Valley.

"A lot of the things we're doing have a small impact. It's about doing a lot of them.

"I understand that what I'm suggesting are not easy overnight solutions but the housing and cost of living haven't just popped out of our porridge."

Ms Griff also said that it's unfair for the burden to fall on local councils and admitted that while she voted against the recent special rate variation, it was "really hard" to do so, knowing the situation the Bega Valley council was in.

"The state government has to cough up, the situation is shameful," Ms Griff said.

In line with the Greens policy of taxing large corporations, Ms Griff put forward a suggestion to address the BVSC's financial struggles.

"It is a no-brainer that the Forestry Corporation pays no rates whatsoever towards road up-keep.

"They're using and shredding our roads and they don't contribute at all.

"If they only paid a bit of a contribution to our roads, we wouldn't have to be looking at a rate rise," Ms Griff said.

Ms Griff would also like to see a reduction in the amount of infrastructure to be maintained in the region.

Another issue high on Ms Griff's list and the Greens was to end native forest logging, looking specifically in the Bega electorate at Eden Chip Mill.

"It's mainly devoted to chips for China and recently there's been quite a lot of coverage to say that it is a big employer, but the Greens have a plan for transitioning and these people are highly skilled.

"On all fronts that industry doesn't add up.

"You can understand people are nervously clinging to their jobs, but some people have seen the writing on the wall."

Ms Griff was also passionate about addressing the state of the regional healthcare system, recently facilitating a local health forum with special guest speaker and Green Upper House candidate Dr Amanda Cohn.

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