Speaker: Yue Xiu (Lynette) WEN - Candidate for City of Perth Council
Date: Tuesday ¨C 19 September 2017
Venue: Novotel Hotel
Ladies and Gentlemen, a very goodafternoon to you all. I would like to thank all the members of the press whohave graciously come out today to attend this Press Conference and extend avery warm welcome to you all for coming here this beautiful Tuesday afternoon. Iwill try to be brief with my remarks but will be available for questions at theend of this conference for those who have any.
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Friends, ladies and gentlemen, I standhere this afternoon, filled with great thankfulness to see so many of you here!I am indeed very lucky, and we are all so lucky, to live in such a great city ¨Cthe City of Perth - with communities just like this one. I want to thank youall for your generous support in my campaign thus far to run for councilor ofour great City of Perth.
There are a number of reasons why I havedecided to stand for the City of Perth election. For those who may not know me,I have lived here in Perth for nearly twenty six years now. Even though Iwasn¡¯t born in Australia, but I consider Perth as my home. I moved to Perthback in 1991 as a student and subsequently decided to stay, work and to broadenmy horizons here in this fantastic City. Perth is truly a remarkable place tolive in and I cherish each and every day of my life living here in this great City.
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Over the years, I have worked as a legalassistant, five year Articled Clerk, Lawyer, Registered Migration Agent, andwas subsequently appointed by the Supreme Court of WA as the first female AsianNotary Public to serve the local community. I am very proud of my careerachievements and firmly believe that I can transfer my skills and legalknow-how to my role as a councilor for the City of Perth.
As a career-woman, I am extremelydedicated in my work, focused, and very determined when I set my mind on a task.I sincerely believe that I will be able to channel my focus onto the various issuesaffecting Perth local residents, small businesses as well as visitors here toour great City. I am available any time of the day and am readily accessible tohelp out those who are in need of my assistance.
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I very much enjoy helping people and toassist them in their time of need. I have helped numerous people over the yearsof different backgrounds and different cultures with their legal problems.Being a multicultural and multilingual candidate, I believe I can help so manymore people here in Perth as I like devoting my time to help others. I reallylike solving problems for people and intend to do the same for the manyresidents and local businesses here in Perth, as I have done so in the past.
I have always been very active incharity work and community events to help the needy and less fortunate here inPerth. I am the President of All for Charity (Australia) Inc. and have beenhelping the needy, disabled and homeless people for many years.
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As a lawyer and notary public, as wellas a business owner myself, I have gained significant experience in dealingwith governmental departments and all of the red-tape involved in conductingbusiness here in Perth. I understand the frustrations of the local businesseshere in dealing with all the governmental requirements. Therefore, I want tofight to remove excessive red-tape for small businesses here in Perth to ensurethat they grow and improve our local economy. I firmly believe that smallbusinesses are the back-bone of our great City!
I understand the frustrations of localbusinesses here in Perth when their customers are reluctant to come to the Citybecause of parking issues such as the lack of proper parking spaces, the highcosts of parking, and the issue of their cars being towed away. I fully understandthe need for the City of Perth to be more flexible in relation to parking andwill work hard to improve the current situation at hand. I will ensure thatPerth reaches its full potential. I want to make Perth a truly global City onpar with other great cities of the world. I will do this by attractinginvestments into our City and by working to improve the facilities here inPerth. I will strive to create more facilities to meet the growing demand ofour residents and small businesses in Perth. I will also push for cheaperparking to attract more customers for local businesses here in Perth.
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I will push for better touristattractions and more local and international events held to attract visitors tothe City again. I support multi-cultural community events. I also support anincrease in after-hours activities in the City. I will work together with thetourism industry to put Perth on the global map and making our great City atourism destination for visitors not only from within Australia but also fromaround the world and especially Asia.
In addition, I hope to achieve a safePerth. This means that I will ensure that visitors to Perth as well as businessowners and residents here in Perth feel safe and secure when they are in our City.I will work hard together with local law enforcement to ensure that Perth iskept safe where the people can live, work and play together in safety and inharmony.
I will push for better security measuresincluding more CCTV cameras to monitor key areas in the City that are known tobe unsafe. I will fight for better protection of local businesses that comeunder threat of rampant theft and anti-social behavior.
Furthermore, I will ensure that our Citybecomes a sustainable City. I highly welcome the recent move by the State Governmentin introducing the single use plastic bag ban and will work together with myother fellow councilors to ensure that Perth becomes a sustainable City bygoing ¡°green¡± and being environmentally friendly. I want to strive for a Citywhere recycling is second nature. I want to push for zero littering andpollution to our visitors here in Perth.
Looking around me here today, I amreminded of when I first came here to Perth. I remember signing up to joinamazing organizations such as the Chung Wah Association, the Hong KongAustralia Business Association and the Western Australia Chinese Chamber ofCommerce. I remember that we did great things together for the local communityhere in Perth.
Over the years, we have fought togetherto make Perth a better place to live in. We organized events, we worked hard,we fought hard, and we achieved real, concrete results for the local community.
I know that we can make Perth a betterplace to live, work and play for all of us, whether you have been here all yourlife, or whether you moved here recently, and like me, fell in love with thiswonderful place and have put down your roots.
I have seen over the past 20 years, thatwhen our communities have pushed, there have been real victories that havedemonstrated what happens when we fight. But Perth can do more. So much more -and it is time for all of us to unite together and to step up our fight.
Let us work together tobuild up our beautiful City positively. Together we can:
¡¤ Fight to removeexcessive red-tape for Perth small businesses;
¡¤ Fight to reducehomelessness in Perth;
¡¤ Fight for a safe City;
¡¤ Fight for an efficient City;
¡¤ Fight for a sustainableCity.
I will fight, as I have fought, toachieve greatness for our beloved City.
And so, it is with great humility, andindeed excitement, that in front of you all, in front of my community, that Iofficially announce my campaign for Perth City council.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I cannot do thiswithout you! I again ask that you give me your full support between now and 21October 2017 as your vote will count! So I ask that you stand with me, andstand with each other, to make Perth, a City that we are all proud to call home.
Thank you very much!