It has been a privilege to serve as Deputy of St Helier District 2 and I am now standing for re-election in St Helier Central.
I was born and raised in Jersey and had a career as a Mathematics teacher before being elected to the States in May 2018, when I became the first States Member of Portuguese heritage.
For me, ensuring Jersey is a place where we all have equal access to the services and support we need in order to achieve, inspire and flourish, has never been more important.
Health:
Islanders’ health continues to be a real issue.
Ensuring we have affordable, easy, and early access to quality health services is paramount.
In this last term I was a member of the Health and Social Security scrutiny panel. We completed two in-depth reviews on mental health and maternity services, gathering evidence from the public and their experiences, which highlighted some real issues in our healthcare service and resulted in the government implementing several of our recommendations produced in the reports.
I was successful in getting the government to set up a compensation scheme for people suffering from Mesothelioma after contact with asbestos. I also brought forward proposals to make GP appointments free for children aged between 4 and 17 years, which, unfortunately, was rejected by the assembly.
If re-elected, my first steps would be to bring back proposals for free GP visits for young people as well as for those with long term life illnesses.
A holistic approach to health is needed; good healthcare recognises the link between physical, mental, and social wellbeing. Factors such as unaffordable and sub-standard housing or inadequate work conditions all have an impact on people’s health.
Transparency
The public are often left frustrated, disillusioned, or confused by systems in place.
In the past four years, I have supported numerous individuals and families with wide ranging issues and had positive outcomes. This has taught me that often the lack of information and awareness of rights is what holds people back; this is not acceptable.
Empowering people and ensuring they understand their rights, and have access to all the information they need is vital. I will ensure that Government communicates more clearly and in an accessible and consistent way to everyone.
Experience:
In this last term I was Chair of the Privileges and Procedures Committee (the body that oversees the running of our Assembly), the Political Education and Awareness Committee and Vice Chair of the Diversity Forum, as well as part of the Covid Response Community Taskforce team.
I also successfully completed a course in Parliamentary Governance which increased my knowledge and competence to do this role and serve you, the public, to the best of my ability.
It has been a steep learning curve with COVID and Brexit, but the party and I have worked extremely hard to continue to support our constituents. This election could be a real turning point for achieving tangible changes.
Please vote Reform Jersey to make change happen!
