Hi, I’m Christine Tonkin

Wembley has been my home-base for over 35 years – in the same street in which my grandparents once lived.

While Wembley has been my home, I have spent a lot of my work and personal life traveling and building experience in many corners of the world.

• Working in Queensland for the State Government,
• Living in Belgium to undertake study and research,
• Working in Dublin on secondment to the Irish Government,
• Working as an international civil servant in Copenhagen with the United Nations Development Programme - a role that took me all over the world, 
• Living and working on the “edge” in a peacekeeping mission in Sudan
• Enjoying working in old Vienna at the International Atomic Energy Agency and hiking the Wienerwald
• Supporting a major public sector reform in Trinidad and Tobago
• Undertaking projects for the Asian Development Bank in Papua New Guinea and Bangladesh 

AND spending a lot of time in Canada with my Canadian husband

Throughout this nomadic existence, my home in Wembley was the anchor in my life - the place that has always brought me joy.

So for the best part of 35 years I have been privileged to compare and contrast the changes in my community with what I have experienced in many different places around the world. In that time I have also developed a skill-set and perspective that helps me to listen and better understand and address the things that matter in my community.

It is this broad range of experiences, from a world stage, that I bring to my work as your local representative.

What am I doing to help the Churchlands community:

• Organising events and opportunities for community engagement and fighting social isolation
• Engaging with local educational institutions to improve the quality of opportunities, through better resources, improved facilities and more help for our next generation to reach the potential they seek and deserve
• Listening to residents from our widely diverse community, through regular community surveys, open forum discussion events, a welcoming office, social media engagement, and many hours doorknocking each week
• Championing efforts for improving infrastructure and amenities across our community
• Working with local members of the community including environmental experts to ensure our nature reserves, parks, and wildlife can thrive amongst us