I am long term resident of Canberra having first moved to Canberra in 1972. Since then I have spent a number of years overseas, finally returning to the region permanently in 1985. First attending the ANU for several years, and then making a career within private industry in the ICT sector, I have worked with several prominent and locally successful companies, as well as being a director of my own company.

Being one of the earliest "pioneer" residents of Gungahlin District in the mid-nineties, I became increasingly concerned, disillusioned and perturbed with the lack of services, facilities and the arrogant and reactive approach taken by successive governments not only towards Gungahlin but all the other ACT town centres and regions.

To counter these effects, I became actively involved with a number of community groups across Canberra, and continue to engage with these groups in a genuine attempt to make a real difference.

Before the 2001 ACT Election, in an attempt to make a difference, I became one of the founding members of the ACT Equality Party. The party had a membership of community-minded individuals who were dedicated to community values and providing quality solutions through a commonsense, no-nonsense and grassroots policy framework. The ACT Equality Party sought to actively participate in the provision of quality government, with a focus on providing long-term benefit for all ACT residents, and promote issues that reflect community values and ensure equality of social and economic opportunity and to achieve this I ran as a candidate in two territory Elections. Though the ACT Equality party has since been disbanded, a number of its members are still active on various local community issues and it was indeed instrumental in applying constant pressure on Government to achieve change and reforms in a number of areas.

Ultimately I believe that the government of the day (of whatever persuasion) must be held responsible, accountable and the community needs a real voice that is heard so that current inequalities and issues can be properly addressed and resolved, and this the reason why I still remain vocal today.

I recently started the Canberra Votes website canberravotes.com in an attempt give community groups and concerned and individuals a proper voice.

Often these groups (and individuals) champion issues or positions affecting their own communities of interest. Unfortunately getting a sympathetic ear of the mainstream media can often be hard to achieve. Complex issues are simply broken down in to the "8 second grab" and the intricacies of the issues are never successfully conveyed to the wider public.

The Canberra Votes website will attempt to redress that imbalance by allowing the groups and individuals to express their stories, at their own pace, in their own words. Occasionally there may even be stories that I just find interesting. Hopefully this new impartial approach to reporting will start to make a real difference