MEMBER for Macquarie Louise Markus wants to see young people find employment, small business prosper and mobile communications improve across the Hawkesbury.
The Liberal Party’s Louise Markus has been the Member for Macquarie since 2007, and before then was the Member for Greenway.
Mrs Markus was a social worker for over two decades before moving into politics.
The move to politics was a natural extension of her social work according to Mrs Markus.
“For me that [serving the community] is what I have always done,” she said.
Mrs Markus said her long time occupation as a social worker allowed her to see people’s lives destroyed by Labor policies, and it convinced her she needed to run for office.
“I saw the impact every time Labor came into government while I was working as a social worker,” she said.
“I saw people who should never be dependent on welfare, because they tried to plan for their future, who needed food parcels.”
Mrs Markus said she wanted to see young people succeed, and the recently announced PaTH program, was one way to ensure that happened.
“[PaTH] is about preparing young people with skills like how you go into an interview or prepare a CV, followed by an internship with a real employer,” she said.
“I think that young people need to be supported and provided with opportunities to develop the skills and the connections that is going to step them into a future job opportunity
“It is the responsibility of all of us to do whatever we can to help young people step into their future and we need to believe in them and place value on them.”
Mrs Markus said she also wanted to see small businesses succeed.
“Under the Coalition there is always greater opportunities for jobs, and increased opportunities for businesses to grow and create more jobs,” she said.
“The budget is managed more efficiently, effectively and more targeted, there is greater opportunity for funding to strengthen the community.”
Mrs Markus said one of her personal goals was to see mobile communications improved in the Hawkesbury and Blue Mountains regions.
“We live in a disaster prone area and in communities like this access to mobile communications is how emergency services personnel receive a call out and it is how people receive warnings,” she said.
“If landlines and power, and when other services fail, access to mobile communication is critical.
“You have distances to travel and isolation and it is important to have access to mobile communications.”
She added she thought the Hawkesbury’s tourism potential was untapped.
“It is really important that we gain access to the growth that is happening in tourism,” she said.
“There are opportunities for tourism to flourish in the Hawkesbury.”
