Bonnie was born in Lismore but grew up on the Beaches. Her extended family has been based on Bayview for over 50 years and her great-grandfather resided in Manly. She is grateful to live here, connected to nature and community. In her spare time, she enjoys surfing, creating digital content and making music with friends.
In Bonnie’s senior year of high school, she used her role as school leader to create Feeling Fresh, which was a preventative mental health program. Since graduating she has operated a small tutoring business to support herself while studying at the University of Sydney.
During Bonnie’s studies in Politics/International Relations and Socio-legal Studies she was accepted into the prestigious Dalyell Scholar Stream. She also received the Charles Perkins Summer Scholarship to undertake research into Indigenous perspectives on the Voice to Parliament Referendum and has recently participated in the selective Student Learning in Indigenous Communities program.
Bonnie believes that the people on the Northern Beaches have a unique connection to the land and that communities are ready for inclusive, climate-conscious, energetic leaders. She stresses that she is excited at the prospect of making that happen.
Contact
Bonnie.Harvey@northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au
Inauguration speech 2024
It is 3:23 in the morning and I can't sleep. My great-grandchildren are keeping me awake. My great-grandchildren come to me in my dreams. What did you do when the planet was plundered? What did you do when the Earth was unravelling? Surely you did something when the seasons were failing, when the mammals, the reptiles, the birds were dying. Did you take to the streets when democracy was stolen? What did you do once you knew?"
Now, I didn't write that, but I really love it. The founder of The Greens, Bob Brown did. And I'm really proud to stand here before you today as a member of the Greens Party, a party which has and I hope always will represent ecological sustainability, social justice, peace, and non-violence and grassroots democracy. I hope when my great-grandchildren are told about me, they're told that she did everything she bloody could. And that she went wherever she felt she could make the most change. And that begins here on Northern Beaches Council.
You should really clap now. On the Northern Beaches, we are spoiled by nature, and for some of us, we are also by nature, quite spoiled. I see it as my job to maximize the privilege that has been afforded to me by living here, to show other people that it is not only a privilege, but such a pleasure to be able to work on issues such as climate change, housing, domestic violence, we've heard a lot about tonight, our endangered fairy penguins.
I hope to show people that when you give to community, community gives back. And when you give to country, country gives back. All the while remembering that our beautiful houses and surf clubs and yada, yada, yada is built on stolen land and that we will not have justice until voice, truth and treaty is acquired by the First Nations of Australia.
Next, I realized after listening to everyone else's speeches that I should have prepared a whole bunch of thank yous. The people who helped me get elected, you know who you are. Thank you very much, and to the rest of my Councillors, I am so excited to work together. I think we've all realized that a life lived in service is a life worth living because we create a world worth living in. A world in which we all have hope.
Thank you.