Conny Harris

Cornelia Donata Eva Johanna ("Conny") Harris (born. 19 April 1958) is a German Australian medical doctor, Environmentalist, former New South Wales local councillor and deputy mayor on Warringah Council, and perennial candidate in state federal and local elections in NSW.
Early life and career
Conny Harris was born in Bremen, West Germany on 19 April 1958 and received her medical training from the University of Freiburg Faculty of Medicine and the University of Hamburg. After working as a doctor in Germany and the United Kingdom, Harris moved to Australia in 1994, passing her Australian Medical Council Examination that same year.
Having moved to the Northern Beaches of Sydney on arrival in Australia, Harris took positions as a doctor in the Emergency Department at Mona Vale Hospital and as a General Practitioner at Dee Why Medical Practice. Having developed a passion for the prolific bushland of the area around where she took up residence in Oxford Falls, Harris became involved in various local efforts to protect local flora and fauna.
In 1999 Harris received a grant for educating local schoolchildren in native plant identification and bush regeneration, served on the National Parks Threatened Species Committee and founded the Garigal Landcare Group in 2001. Harris also served as a director of the Manly Food Cooperative from 1998 to 2002 and as a community representative on the Northern Region Waste Management Board in 2000. Harris stood again as the Greens candidate for the neighbouring seat of Wakehurst against Brad Hazzard at the 2007 state election, where she won 12.64% of the vote. At the 2007 federal election Harris stood for the Greens in the seat of Warringah against Tony Abbott, gaining 12.53% of the vote.
When Warringah Council was to be elected once more after five years under a state-appointed Administrator following its 2003 dismissal, Harris stood as the first Greens candidate for the C Ward of the Council. Harris was elected to this position with her Greens ticket winning 16% of the Ward vote at the election on 13 September 2008. Harris was one of two Greens councillors elected to the council (the other being Dr. Christina Kirsch in B Ward) and her ward included areas of Garigal and Ku-ring-gai National Parks as well as the suburbs of Frenchs Forest, Forestville, Belrose and Terrey Hills. At the first ordinary meeting of the elected council on 14 October 2008 Harris was elected unopposed as Deputy Mayor. Harris served her single-year term and did not contest the position again when it expired in October 2009. During her time on the council Harris convinced Kimbriki Tip to eliminate e-waste from its landfill and instrumental in setting up a council fund in 2009 to buy back environmentally-sensitive land, a concept that is the first in the state to be done by a local council.
Harris stood at the 2011 state election as the Greens candidate in the seat of Wakehurst again, which was her best result so far, winning the second position with a primary vote of 14.7%. At the 2012 NSW Local Government elections on 8 September 2012, Harris stood again for her C Ward position as a Greens candidate but on this occasion was unsuccessful, noting that there was an "overall swing against the Greens because of federal policies". Prior to the 2015 state election Harris left the Greens and stood as a progressive Independent candidate in Wakehurst, gaining 4.3% of the vote.

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