I was initiated into grassroots organising by leading a community alliance during a protracted three-year campaign to protect urban fig trees in inner city Newcastle. In 2012, I joined the campaign to prevent approval of a fourth coal terminal for the city working with an alliance of more than twenty community and environmental groups. I was fortunate to participate in the 2013 Community Organising training led by the Sierra Club, which allowed me to strengthen the community networks to resist the coal and gas boom in the Hunter, safeguarding a healthy future for my three awesome children. I believe that social change requires understanding what motivates, inspires and empowers communities.

I’m currently working with a grassroots climate justice group in Newcastle. We’re experimenting with a decentralised organising model to build a powerful movement to disrupt the flow of power afforded to the fossil fuel industry in the Hunter.