Perth Voice Interactive

Sally Palmer is no stranger to heartbreak.

On the eve of migrating to Australia with her husband and two young boys in the 1980s, her husband died suddenly of a heart attack while playing cricket.

The distraught widow decided to push ahead and continue with the fresh start in Australia with her then-seven and nine-year-old sons, leaving bittersweet memories in England.

Thirty years later Ms Palmer has built a career as a real estate agent, has two grandchildren and served as a Bayswater city councillor from 2007-2011.

After two years’ cold turkey she’s keen to get back in the fray, seeking election to the council under a banner of compassion and social justice.

Formerly a central ward councillor she’s seeking election this time to south ward, where she’s up against local cafe owner John Rifici and Jahanna Frederickson

“Life has taught me that compassion is a necessity in all walks of life,” she says.

“You really need it as a councillor and I feel that I am a people person that can engage and help people in the community.

“Last week I saw a disabled man in his gopher knocked over by a car, but nobody came to his aid, it made me really sad—where’s that sense of the good samaritan gone?”

During her last stint Ms Palmer spearheaded a community campaign opposing a concrete batching plant being built close to homes, on the fringe of the city’s light industrial zone.

The campaign attracted a record number of people to council chambers: The council rejected the proposal for Collier Road after receiving 400 protest letters.

“The plant would [have been] located over the fence from Joan Rycroft Reserve, where there is a playground and kids’ play soccer and cricket,” she says.

“Young children and dust don’t mix.”

In March Ms Palmer contested the state seat of Morley for the Greens.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK