Daisy Karamanlis is helping to improve road safety for students in the Adelaide Hills.
The 10-year-old has successfully petitioned Council for a safer footpath between Lenswood Primary School and the Lenswood General Store, after expressing concern to her family and friends about it.
“Children would walk down and they’d kind of slip over and I’ve had some previous events myself actually, where I’ve walked down there and slipped on pieces of gravel,” Daisy Karamanlis told ARN’s Jennie Lenman and Adam Connelly.
After petitioning community members and writing a letter to the Adelaide Hills Council with support from her mum, Daisy was invited to speak in the council chamber to convince elected members to invest in new footpaths in the area.
When asked about the experience, Daisy said it was daunting but rewarding.
“It was actually kind of nerve-wracking in bits, it kind of made me feel a lot prouder than I probably would have been at the start,” Daisy said.
Councillors then agreed to have maintenance work undertaken along the walkway and unanimously agreed to a proposal for “further improvements” in their next annual business plan.
Daisy’s mum, Emily Shipway, says she is immensely proud of her daughter.
“I’ve tried to instil in my girls, instead of having a whinge about something, to do something about it. Daisy actually wants to be a politician, that’s her dream. So I said, ‘why not start now by trying to make positive change in your community?’,” Emily Shipway said.
Independent Kavel MP Dan Cregan is Daisy’s favourite politician and Daisy tells us she wants to become a State-based MP in future so that she can advocate for issues in her community while also being close to family.
Hear Daisy and Emily’s chat with ARN’s Adam Connelly & Jennie Lenman via the audio play window below:
