Pittwater LIfe December 2019 Issue

Who
Cares,
Wins
Life Stories
Justene Gordon’s life vision
is for a fair, honest, caring
and supportive world... and
she’s more than doing her bit
at a local level.
Story by Rob Pegley & Lisa Offord
Born, bred and spending her whole
career in community services on the
Northern Beaches, perhaps nobody
knows the Peninsula better than Justene
Gordon. And probably nobody works
harder than she does, to literally foster a
sense of community locally.
Justene cares about her community. It
doesn’t take long to get a sense of that. She
exudes a passion and enthusiasm when
talking about Pittwater youth, and their
struggles.
If you ever wonder if titles such as Warringah
Council Citizen of the Year or the
Pittwater Community Service Award are
deserved by the people who receive them
(as Justene did in 2016 and 2018), then
spend an hour chatting to Justene Gordon.
You’ll see that she deserves all that and
more.
Although she’s far too humble to say as
much.
Born in Wheeler Heights and now living
in Cromer, Justene’s life may have only
moved a kilometre up the road, but she’s
covered a lot of ground on the Beaches.
Similarly in her working life, she started
with the not-for-profit Northern Beaches
youth support service Burdekin 20 years
ago, and after a few detours is back there
now as Executive Officer.
“As a 17-year-old, when I thought about
what I wanted my life to look like, I didn’t
want it to be about sitting at a desk on a
computer making money for other people…
surely there had to be more to life,”
Justene said.
So the Cromer High student who described
herself as a “very sullen and emotional
teenager – I was probably struggling
a bit with mental health issues but you
didn’t really name any issues you had 20
or 30 years ago…” considered what made
her happy and what she enjoyed doing.
“I was always the one sober at parties,
looking after friends, counselling friends
and being honest,” she said.
“I stood up for my rights and was passionate
about opportunities for women. I
was proud to be voted ‘biggest feminist’ in
Year 12, although it was only when I went
to university that I learned that on the
spectrum of being a feminist I was pretty
pathetic.
“University women had a whole new
level of feminism, which I found interesting.
“This solidified my desire for a fair,
honest, caring and supportive world and
a social work degree gave me the best and
broadest opportunity to do this,” she said.
With degree in hand and at age of 22,
she joined Burdekin – “the first local job
that came along” – and she married Angus,
who she had met at Church.
Burdekin’s remit was – and is – to
provide a broad range of youth support
services that help to prevent young people
from becoming homeless. Hopefully providing
prevention strategies, rather than a
cure. Beds are available for people already
homeless, but the emphasis is on repairing
family relationships and giving youngsters
coping mechanisms and living skills.
Justene loved her role as a case worker,
but after leaving to have three children,
she wasn’t sure she’d ever return to the
workplace (her mum had been a stay-athome
parent, and her whole career was
based around nurturing children).
“To be honest, I found it a bit boring and
needed more,” Justene shares.
She started teaching Community Services
at TAFE part-time so that she could be
available for her children. Then she joined
the board of Burdekin in 2008. Five years
later she became the Chairperson.
The timing proved important: there was
a changing landscape in the welfare sector
and for the first time, organisations were
forced to tender competitively against
each other.
“I guess I learnt that the world of welfare
wasn’t as kind and generous as I thought,”
Justene says. “There were only so many
contracts to be awarded and Burdekin
missed out. The result was that we were
facing closure.
“I decided I didn’t want that to happen,”
she adds.
Supported by high-profile local MPs
Mike Baird, Rob Stokes and Brad Hazzard,
she took up the fight as President.
“Rob Stokes gave me the bit of advice
that changed things for me,” she shares.
28 DECEMBER 2019
The Local Voice Since 1991