Candidate Profile: Jo Holder

BY DAN BISHTON

Jo Holder will be running on the Labor ticket in next month’s council election.
A member of the Art Deco Society’s executive, she has also led many community actions including the campaign against the Cross City Tunnel road closures and the bid to save St. John’s Church.
‘In terms of council, my particular interests are to do with heritage, council planning policy and late night trading,’ she says.
A Darlinghurst gallery curator and art writer, Holder established and directs the Cross Art projects, an interdisciplinary art space encouraging dialogue across different strands of cultural disciplines, including work from Top End artists focused on the Northern Territory intervention.
Holder says that recognising and maintaining local diversity within the inner city is a priority for council; both in terms of heritage and development as well as socio-economic diversity. This means maintaining public sector services and accessibility for all residents. She opposes the proposed truncation of the 311 bus route.
‘Council [should be] maintaining its community centres, and revitalising them; centres like Reg Murphy and Mary McDonald, not closing them – which it has been trying to do.’
Holder supports a move towards greater council transparency through localisation, something she sees as lacking from Clover Moore’s time as Lord Mayor.
‘Certainly I know and share the frustration of resident groups in terms of dealing with council,’ she says.
‘I think they should’ve introduced wards by now, as they were meant to – not delayed them until 2012. That gives people more access to councillors, and makes councillors more local and more responsible.’