Elaine Keenan - The Greens (2017 – Present)

“You have to have a bit of a thick skin sometimes, which is probably the thing I found hardest, you think how can they think my politics are so wrong, all I want to do is save the planet, and you are saying I am such horrible person?”

Elaine came to Australia from Scotland over 30 years ago to work as a Registered Nurse. She arrived as a part of a international program which brought Irish and Scottish Nurses to Australia to help with a local shortage. She has been a resident of Waverley for over 25 years.

Elaine has worked in several different areas of nursing including Accident and Emergency, HIV/AIDs, Community Health and Aged Care Management. Elaine has a Bachelor of Arts in Business majoring in Industrial Relations and post graduate qualifications in Ethics and Legal Studies, Aged Care Management and Project Management.

After nursing Elaine moved into a career in Industrial Relations and worked for six years as an Officer at Marrickville/Inner West Council.

During Elaine’s time at Waverley Council she has was instrumental in the Greens successful campaign to have Waverley Council declare a Climate Emergency, live streaming of Council meetings to improve transparency, implementation of green cycleways and electric vehicle facilities and advocating for broader national issues such as stopping the Adani mine.

Elaine was the Deputy Mayor from 2019-2023.

Listen to this interview on Amplify