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

Regional mayors go bush and return with backing for the regional escarpment track

An ambitious proposal for an epic new walking track stretching 150 kilometres across the top of the Illawarra escarpment took a significant step forward today. The project’s champion, former Kiama Mayor Neville Fredericks invited regional mayors...

Jeremy Lasek

4 hours ago

News

Yours and Owls prepares to welcome 20,000 music lovers at Flagstaff Hill

Meanwhile, the Flagstaff Hill site, described by the event organisers as one of the best in the world, was a major construction zone on Monday when the bump in began. Two large stages are being constructed on the site and the first bank of portaloos...

Jeremy Lasek

February 2025

News

Hawks finals mania growing: playoff opener sold out amid big moves at Beaton Park

After a history-making year in which the Illawarra Hawks finished the regular season on top of the NBL ladder, it’s now down to the business end as the playoffs begin on Friday, 28 February. The high-flying Hawks will go into the game against...

Jeremy Lasek

February 2025

News

State, local politicians get behind the grand escarpment walk project

The grand vision for an epic Illawarra escarpment walk linking the Royal National Park to Wollongong’s north with Cambewarra Mountain in the Shoalhaven is gaining significant support. The proposal which was first proposed in the 1970s and has been...

Jeremy Lasek

February 2025

News

Community forum seeks new stormwater plan to help protect our suburbs from future flood disasters

At its first meeting for the year, Neighbourhood Forum 5 (which provides advice to Wollongong City Council on issues relating to the city centre and central suburbs) has urged Council to develop a detailed Stormwater Asset Management Plan...

Jeremy Lasek

February 2025

What's On

Huge numbers expected for iconic Hindu festival at Helensburgh temple

Up to 10,000 people are expected to attend the colourful 10-day ‘Siva Mahotsavam 2025 Festival’, which begins in Helensburgh on Monday, February 17. Mahotsavam means ‘great festival’ and the Sri Venkateswara Temple in Helensburgh will come to life...

Jeremy Lasek

February 2025

News

Grand escarpment track plan gets seal of approval from leading local photographers

Support continues to grow for plans to create an iconic walking track, stretching more than 150 kilometres along the Illawarra escarpment. Former Kiama Mayor, Neville Fredericks resurrected the proposal, first raised in the early 1970s, to connect...

Jeremy Lasek

January 2025

News

Shellharbour Mayor steps up to support iconic escarpment walking track

A bold plan, dating back more than 50 years, to create an epic world-class walking track along the Illawarra escarpment has a new champion in Shellharbour Mayor, Chris Homer. The proposal, first raised in the early 1970s by the South Coast...

Jeremy Lasek

January 2025

News

After decades waiting, new hope for a cafe/visitors centre at Wollongong Botanic Garden

A campaign running more than four decades that would see a permanent cafe built in Wollongong’s Botanic Garden appears to be edging closer to reality. This story dates back to the 1970s and the Illawarra Flame thanks members of the Friends of...

Jeremy Lasek

January 2025

News

Youth vote will be crucial in the upcoming election: Maddy Yerbury

As speculation continues about exactly when Australia will go to the polls in the 2025 federal election, young voters are uniting to demand their concerns are heard as the political parties and would be politicians pitch for our votes. One such...

Jeremy Lasek

January 2025

News

UOW fire expert says destructive LA fires reinforce we now face a Global Fire Crisis and Australia could be next

While recent rains in the Illawarra may have reduced any immediate bushfire risk this summer, experts from the University of Wollongong (UOW) say the devastating wildfires in California demonstrate there is no cause for complacency, especially as...

Jeremy Lasek

January 2025

Exclusive

Former Kiama mayor reenergises vision for iconic escarpment walk to rival anything in the world

“Our vision is to create a spectacular, iconic walking track which would rival any other in Australia.” It’s now more than 50 years since former Kiama mayor and prominent community volunteer Neville Fredericks first heard of the vision for...

Jeremy Lasek

January 2025

News

WIN News legends reunite and share memories of a special time in local television history

Four decades ago, they were Wollongong and the Illawarra’s top A-listers. Over the summer break, former WIN-TV (Channel 4) news anchors, Michael McRae and Susie Elelman reunited at a television reunion with former colleagues. In the late 70s and...

Jeremy Lasek

January 2025

News

Thank you Illawarra for supporting the Torres Strait’s Ride Revolution

In November the Illawarra Flame shared the story of a remarkable Port Kembla mum who had started a ‘Ride Revolution’ on the Torres Strait Islands where her husband is working. A keen cyclist herself, mother-of-two Sarah Tedder began a fundraiser to...

Jeremy Lasek

January 2025