James Griffin is the Member for Manly and former New South Wales Environment and Heritage Minister.
James was elected to the NSW Parliament in 2017 to represent the seat of Manly.
He has served as the Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment, Parliamentary Secretary for Health, Parliamentary Secretary for Veterans, Chair of the Legislation Review Committee and Chair of the Legislative Assembly Committee on Environment and Planning.
Before he became a Member of Parliament James was a Director in Professional Services firm KPMG Australia.
James served as a member of the NSW Cabinet as the NSW Environment Minister and NSW Heritage Minister.
During his tenure as Environment Minister he:
• acquired the largest ever parcel of land for addition to the National Park Estate in the history of the state (1.08 million acres in size),
• implemented an historic state-wide ban on problematic single-use plastics,
• released Australia’s first ever Natural Capital Statement of Intent, and
• funded one of the largest harbour restoration projects of its kind in the world, to improve ocean quality and marine biodiversity in Sydney Harbour.
As the State Member for Manly James has spearheaded the construction of Australia’s first hospice for young adults in Manly. He has not only garnered important government funding for the project but also participated in a vast array of local fund-raising efforts by the local community. James is proud of the Manly and wider community for their contribution to this national first.
In addition, he has ensured that the NSW Government did not ‘sell off’ the former Manly Hospital site and he continues to work alongside the community reference group to create a Health and Wellbeing precinct on the site.
More than $118 million has been invested into local public schools since James' time as Member for Manly. This includes upgrades to Manly Vale Public School, Curl Curl North Public School, Harbord Public School and significant projects at various other schools. In addition, the Community Northern Beaches (formerly Manly Community Centre) benefited from James’s advocacy during its transition from its former location to its new premises in Raglan St. As Patron of the Northern Beaches Womens' Shelter, James has lobbied for and secured and expansion of their services.
James was instrumental in supporting the local Manly electorate businesses through COVID, working closely with Manly Business Chamber, Council, and others to ensure business resilience and post COVID success.
In his maiden speech to Parliament James outlined his vision to make a lasting, positive contribution for the good people of Manly and to the state of New South Wales and he continues to work towards that goal each and every day.
James moved to Manly with his family in 1997. Growing up in Manly, James joined the Manly Life Saving Club, became the Junior Club Captain, played rugby for the local Seaforth Raiders Rugby team and commuted to high school in the City on the Manly Ferry every day for seven years.
James lives in Manly with his wife Elissa and two young pre school aged children.
James attended the University of Notre Dame graduating with an Arts Degree.
He is a McKinnon Institute for Advanced Political Leadership 2022 Scholar and member of the Asia Society’s Asia 21 Global Young Leaders Initiative (2021/22).
What has James done as your local MP? Here's a snapshot:
Schools and Education
• Funding for upgrades to early childhood learning facilities totalling $10,000 for each preschool or not-for-profit long day care centres (Quality Learning Environments program – September 2019)
o Harbord Kindergarten – upgrade to playground
o Manly Vale Community Kindergarten – new cubby house
o St James Kindergarten – new outdoor play area and water play wall
o Manly Community Pre-School – gardening incursions
o North Harbour Children’s Centre – sustainability workshops
• Funding for Seaforth Public School P&C totalling $50,000
o Sensory nature playground with challenges to develop children’s motor and problem-solving skills for use by the entire community (My Community Project 2019)
• Funding for Balgowlah North Public School P&C totalling $35,000
o Construction of a synthetic sports field to allow all year use by children and the North Balgowlah community.
• Upgrades of Manly Vale, Curl Curl North, Harbord and massive investments in Manly Village, Manly Selective, Mackellar and the start of formal consultation on the upgrade of Balgowlah Boys.
Local Sporting Clubs, Tourism and Events
• Secured the WSL Sydney Surf Pro for Manly Beach from 2020-2022
o Event upgraded to a QS 10,000 as part of WSL’s Challenger Series, up from 6,000.
o Expected return over three years is $3.7 million in visitor spend for NSW with more than 4,000 visitors and 25,000 visitor nights.
• Secured funding for Surf Life Saving NSW totalling $200,000
o Funding for 129 new OTK oxygen resuscitating kits, including a new kit for evert surf life saving club on the Northern Beaches (Minister for Health discretionary funding – July 2019).
• Secured funding for Volleyfest for Manly Beach in 2020
o Funding for Volleyball Australia to deliver the event in the build up to the Tokyo Summer Olympics in 2020, and will include a 5-day slate including the Australian Senior Beach Volleyball Championships, Australian Olympic Team Selection camp, NSW School Beach Volleyball Cup and NSW Junior Beach Volleyball Championships.
o Volleyball Australia also committed to host a 3-day National Beach Volleyball Tour event in a regional coastal area in 2020.
• Announced funding for Club Weldon totalling $50,000
o Funding for a new female-friendly change and bathroom facilities, alongside the installation of a new electronic scoreboard (NSW ICC T20 World Cup 2020 Cricket Legacy Fund).
o Club Weldon is a sporting community partnership between Manly Warringah District Cricket Club, Manly Warringah Wolves AFL Club and Manly Bombers Junior AFL Club.
• Secured funding for North Curl Curl Knights and Harbord Harlequins totalling $10,000
o Funding assistance to replace sporting equipment destroyed by a fire at their clubhouse (Premier’s Miscellaneous Grants Fund – August 2019).
Community Organisations
• Announced funding for Royal Far West totalling $82,775
o Funding for the installation of fall-safe window screens at Drummond House (Clubgrants Category Fund 3 – Infrastructure Grants, March 2020).
• Announced funding for Manly Food Co-op totalling $22,954
o Funding towards new equipment, storage and signage for Wentworth St site (My Community Project 2019).
• Secured funding for Community Northern Beaches totalling $15,000
o $10,000 from Minister for Communities Gareth Ward (discretionary funding 2019).
o $5,000 for Northern Beaches Settlement Road Safety Program to assist migrants to settle into Australian life and receive vital road safety information (Community Road Safety Grants 2019).
• Secured funding for SEVENmile Venture Lab totalling $10,000
o Funded a 6-day intensive program to people who have recently migrated to the Northern Beaches and for who English is a second language (Celebrating Diversity Grants – March 2019).
• Announced funding for Be Centre totalling $10,000
o Funding assistance for Be Centre’s one-on-one play therapy for children between the ages of three and thirteen (Minister for Education discretionary funding – March 2019)
• Secured funding for the Northern Beaches Men’s Shed totalling $3,000
o Funding assistance towards new equipment to improve safety and facilities (Premier’s Miscellaneous Grants Fund – August 2019).
Public Transport and Infrastructure
• Opened the new pedestrian bridge at Brookvale connecting the Brookvale Community Health Centre, Warringah Mall and local bus stops.
o Bridge is fully accessible with lifts and stairs on both sides of Pittwater Road.
o Designed to improve traffic flow through the intersection of Pittwater Road and Condamine Street, and improve safety by removing the crossing at street level.
• NSW Government introduced the $50 Opal weekly travel cap
o Tens of thousands of regular public transport users up to $686 a year.
o Adult prices would pay no more than $50 per week, and concession cap is reduced from $31.60 to $25.
o Opal benefits already in place will remain, including the Weekly Travel Reward, the Opal Transfer Discount and the $2.50 daily cap for Gold Opal cards.
• Announced a real-time parking availability trial for Opal Park&Ride
o Enable public transport customers to better plan their journey before leaving home by showing real-time statistics through the AnyTrip app.
o Smart parking systems have been installed at Opal Park&Ride car parks at Seven Hills, Kogarah, Ashfield and Manly Vale B-Line bus stop.
Planning and the Environment
• Stopped the rezoning of land at Dalwood Children’s Home in Seaforth
o The rezoning proposal by NSW Health to Northern Beaches Council was withdrawn and all of the land comprising the Dalwood Children’s Home site will be retained by NSW Health on behalf of the community (September 2019).
• Announced funding for Sydney Institute of Marine Science totalling $199,000
o Funding towards an art-meets-science festival celebrating Sydney’s underwater forests on World Ocean Day 2020.
• Announced funding for Northern Beaches Council totalling $115,000
o $65,000 for an open coast and lagoons scoping study (2018-19 Coastal and Estuary Grants Program – planning stream)
o $50,000 for a coastal zone emergency action subplan (2018-19 Coastal and Estuary Grants Program – planning stream)
Arts, Heritage and Culture
• Supported the listing of Ivanhoe Park (including Manly Oval) Cultural Landscape on the State Heritage Register
• Secured funding for Community Language Schools across the Manly electorate totalling $31,080
o Covers Swedish, Macedonian, Finnish, Greek, Tibetan, Dutch and Spanish lessons.
o Schools which benefit include:
Manly Vale Public School
Manly Village Public School
Manly West Public School
Mackellar Girls
Balgowlah Boys
St John the Baptist, Harbord (Freshwater)
• Secured funding for Verity La totalling $20,000
o Verity La is an online journal for new and established, non-mainstream voices (Arts and Cultural Funding Program Round 1 – December 2019).
• Secured funding for the Tibetan Community of Australia NSW Inc. totalling $8,500
o $5,000 to compile and produce Tibetan text books (2019 Community Languages Schools Program).
o $3,500 for the Tibet Festival on the Northern Beaches, serving authentic Tibetan traditional food, traditional and contemporary dance and music, and culturally significant art, crafts and antiques (2018/19 Celebrating Diversity Grants – Round 3).
Secured funding for 'A Night At The Barracks' live performances
Secured funding for 'Encore Manly' and 'Play Manly'