User Profile

Jeremy Lasek

Jeremy Lasek has many decades of experience in media, marketing, events and PR. His career began in the Illawarra with the Lake Times, ABC Radio and WIN-TV. For eight years Jeremy was news director for WIN in Canberra and was national news director before joining the National Capital Authority as head of media and events. Jeremy was executive director of ACT Government Communications, Events, Arts, Heritage and Protocol for many years, was Chief of Staff to the ACT Chief Minister and had responsibility for the Centenary of Canberra celebrations in 2013. Before returning to Wollongong, Jeremy was CEO of the National Australia Day Council (including the Australian of the Year Awards) and head of communications for the Australian Federal Police. Jeremy is a member of the Friends of Woolyungah Indigenous Centre at UOW and a regular contributor to the Illawarra Flame.

News

Champions for a bold regional museum share their excitement during steelworks site tour

The proponents behind ambitious plans for a world-class regional museum in the Illawarra have been given an up close and personal tour of their preferred location for what they hope will be a major new tourist drawcard for the region. The visionary...

Jeremy Lasek

June 2025

Opinion

What does Wollongong need to do to become a tourism hot spot?

After the NSW Tourism Association recently named Kiama as the state’s Top Tourism Town for the second consecutive year and Shellharbour as the runner-up, Jeremy Lasek examines what it would take for Wollongong to win. Congratulations to Kiama and...

Jeremy Lasek

June 2025

News

Veteran sporting champ backs calls to keep Beaton Park hall in community hands

One of Wollongong’s oldest and most successful sportsmen has joined the growing chorus protesting Wollongong City Council’s plans to empty out a popular community sporting facility at the Beaton Park Leisure Centre to allow access for the Illawarr...

Jeremy Lasek

May 2025

News

After a lengthy hiatus, Council will re-establish flood risk committees

More than 12 months after Wollongong was struck by one of the worst floods in decades, the city is currently without flood committees to provide important advice to Council about the future risk of major flood events. Historically, Wollongong City...

Jeremy Lasek

May 2025

News

NF5 community group joins calls for densities to be scaled back for big housing plans near UOW

The community representative group Neighbourhood Forum 5 (NF5) has added its voice to concerns raised about a large new residential precinct proposed for Gwynneville near the University of Wollongong. Wollongong City Council is currently considering...

Jeremy Lasek

May 2025

News

Local COVID aged care outbreak a timely reminder to get vaccinated

While many of us may thing the COVID-19 pandemic is behind us – think again. NSW health authorities have confirmed each week there are hundreds of new COVID cases reported across the state. In the Illawarra, a nursing home has notified the NSW...

Jeremy Lasek

May 2025

News

After latest drowning death, police reveal crackdown underway on lifejackets

NSW Police has confirmed it is now fining people fishing on rocks in the Wollongong local government area if they’re not wearing lifejackets. After a 12 month moratorium, in December 2023 Wollongong City Council announced it was mandatory for people...

Jeremy Lasek

May 2025

Science & Nature

New Campus Tree Walk a golden opportunity to celebrate UOW’s 50th anniversary

Nearing the mid-point of the University of Wollongong’s (UOW’s) 50th anniversary celebrations, and to celebrate the campus’s unique landscape environment, plans have been unveiled to create a special walk to highlight the special beauty of the...

Jeremy Lasek

May 2025

News

Frustrated Beaton Park fitness groups now ‘have a voice at the table’ following Lord Mayor’s intervention

Fitness groups concerned at the possibility of losing their venue at Beaton Park and a lack of consultation by Wollongong City Council have welcomed the intervention of the Lord Mayor. As reported by The Illawarra Flame last month, members of...

Jeremy Lasek

May 2025

Arts & culture

Despite the rain, Sunday’s ZZ Top show is still on, with a venue change

The curse of Stuart Park at North Wollongong as a venue for major music events has struck again. After wet weather forced several concert cancellations in the past, and created havoc for Yours and Owls, sparking a search for new venues in the city...

Jeremy Lasek

May 2025

News

Controversial Gwynneville housing plan will set a precedent for ‘future radical planning changes’, says KRAG

‘Fundamentally flawed in its scale, planning and approach’ Controversial plans from Homes NSW for a big, new housing development at Gwynneville, near the University of Wollongong, have been slammed by locals who have called for them to be scrapped...

Jeremy Lasek

May 2025

Exclusive

Local First Nations leaders won’t be intimidated by criticism of Welcomes to Country, as Wollongong Council stays its course

Two of the region’s most prominent First Nations leaders have hit back at suggestions raised in the dying days of the current federal election campaign that Welcomes to Country have been overdone. The issue, which has dominated the final week of the...

Jeremy Lasek

May 2025

News

NSW Maritime says it will act to improve safety at Wollongong harbour drowning spot, as more safety fencing collapses

Less than a fortnight after a drowning tragedy claimed the life of a Sydney fisherman, washed into the water at the Wollongong Harbour breakwall, another large section of the safety fence has collapsed. The drowning occurred shortly before sunrise...

Jeremy Lasek

May 2025

News

Continental Pool swimmers launch petition, telling Council they ‘won’t give up’ campaign for longer winter opening hours

Swimmers who’ve been lobbying Wollongong City Council to extend winter opening hours at North Wollongong’s Continental Pool have vowed never to give up despite Council voting not to proceed at this time. On the eve of Anzac Day, the day the popular...

Jeremy Lasek

April 2025