ALISTER Henskens has been the Ku-ring-gai state member of parliament since the 2015 state election. He also has various Ministerial roles as the Minister for Enterprise, Investment and Trade, Minister for Sport, Minister for Science, Innovation and Technology, Minister for Skills and Training, and is the Leader of the House in the Legislative Assembly.
The Post sat down with Alister to discuss his campaign for the upcoming state election; we discussed why voters should continue to choose him as their representative.
Through our correspondence with the community, we understand that locals would like to see a more personable side of the politicians that represent them; so, in profiling Alister, this is one of the key things we wanted to uncover.
Alister said that he has always had a lot of different interests. His first job was as a paid musician, he also enjoyed singing and playing his guitar in pubs and clubs as a teenager. Alister said that nowadays “I don’t get as much time to play guitar as I would like” but he expressed that it was still a passion.
He has always keen on sport, having been a state representative for Basketball NSW to then going on to become a basketball coach. He now plays cricket in his spare time as well as scheduling a doubles tennis match with a group of friends once a week.
Alister also prioritises his social connections, not only in his weekly tennis matches, but he also mentioned that he participates in a fortnightly trivia night with his family and friends.
As a politician, Alister sees himself as “a very community-focused MP” who has had plenty of life experience outside of politics, which has allowed him to “come into politics with some maturity”.
With the upcoming state electorate boundary changes, The Post asked Alister how he plans on continuing to engage with his community, and how he plans to make the Wahroonga residents’ concerns feel heard.
Alister has already kickstarted getting to know his new electorate by attending meet and greet functions which Federal Member for Berowra, Julian Leeser, assisted him in organising. He has and wants to continue getting out and about, especially in school communities, sporting clubs, and getting to know the community leaders. Alister emphasised that he “always has an open-door policy” and wants to hear about what is important in the community.
One of the key concerns that our local community has raised, is the motion to re-zone residences into high-rise buildings. Many members of the community want to keep the traditional character of the area. The Post has heard these concerns, and so has Alister Henskens.
Alister wants to reiterate to the community that even though these zonings are continuing to occur, the NSW Liberal Party stands opposed to this issue. He said that “the last [state] Labour Government implemented these changes, rezoning many areas of our community before the [state] Liberal party came to power 12 years ago”. Alister said “not one apartment but in Ku-ring-gai was built by Liberal in the past 12 years, all were from zoning by the Labour Government”.
Alister’s statement overall raises the notion that despite a different leadership in the state government, it is difficult to change some of the initiatives that the previous one his put in place, and when these changes occur its difficult for the current Government not to get the blame.
The Post also enquired as to whether Alister had any considerations towards the ongoing issues regarding transport and traffic at St Ives High School. He highlighted how in his discussion with the St Ives High P&C and Matt Kean, State Member for Hornsby, that statistics showed that most impacted families are in the Hornsby Electorate. He said “I don’t believe that it’s too much in my area” and “it’s still predominately Hornsby electorate and Matt Kean’s issue.”
Alister then mention the upcoming rezoning of school catchments, where many families in the Hornsby electorate will now be able to send their children to Ku-ring-gai High School, which in distance is a tad closer. However it still does not address the ongoing issues surrounding St Ives High.
Lastly, The Post asked Alister if there was anything he wished to say to the community to show why they should vote for him. He reiterated the importance of community, the way the NSW Government has handled the community, especially throughout the covid19 pandemic, and how a change in Government may lessen the chances of an effective economic plan.
Alister said, “do you want someone inexperienced to deal with those economic issues or do you want someone in the liberal government who has a long-term economic plan for our state to keep it going and moving forward.”
