Media

Community advocacy

Feature stories

  • April 2026 – Meet The Digital Mayors With Real Power – Gold Coast Bulletin

Story on “digital mayors” of the Gold Coast

  • 2025 – Gold Coast Bulletin Women of the Year Awards

2025 Woman of the Year Award Nomination

Planning and development

  • 26 March 2026 – ABC News – Local Growth Management Strategy

“If adopted into the City Plan, large areas of Parkwood and Labrador could see buildings of up to 10 storeys next to one-storey homes without the need for consultation. Other areas up to four storeys. Closer to the water, 55 storey-plus.” 

Cr Wilkinson had an “opportunity to stand up for his own community and missed it. He strongly backed Parkwood’s Investigation Area without [infrastructure] first, and continues to hide behind the line that ‘all councillors unanimously supported it”.

“That’s the glaring issue, and the community are asking for it to come before any future development. Rushing development without the infrastructure to support it isn’t good planning – Parkwood residents deserve the same advocacy for infrastructure first that other suburbs have received.”

Council’s Parkwood plan drew criticism this week from community advocate and former council candidate Jenna Schroeder.

“Parkwood moved forward, even though key infrastructure upgrades are still unresolved. Oxenford was stopped, because the infrastructure wasn’t close. To be fair, the Oxenford proposal was much larger in scale — and included infrastructure that falls on the State Government’s shoulders.

“But anyone who uses Napper Road regularly will no doubt question why an ‘infrastructure first’ approach wasn’t applied more consistently to Parkwood.”

“As someone involved in the grassroots campaign and state petition against parts of the amendments, I see this as a victory for community voices. Labrador was on the brink of losing its identity with almost no low-density areas left. This was a major concern for our community. Residents are eager to participate in shaping their neighbourhoods. The previous process left many feeling sidelined and unheard. We need a council who is inclusive, collaborative, and truly listens to the community’s needs.”

“I’ve spoken to the developer numerous times to address residents’ concerns about dangerous trees and broken fencing on the site, after these were raised with me,” she said. “It’s clear that the community’s fight to preserve the character and environmental value of Arundel Hills is far from over,” Ms Schroeder said.

Labrador’s Jenna Schroeder’s e-petition wants the state government to “investigate the appropriateness of the level of community engagement undertaken by the Gold Coast City Council before signing off on the City Plan amendments”.

Labrador’s Jenna Schroeder has launched a petition asking for the state government to look into whether the Gold Coast City Council “correctly and thoroughly engaged residents in the proposed amendment” of the plan.

Jenna Schroeder said she wanted to know the reason for “six months of silence since the second round of consultation” and why the plan was going back to councillors without any notice to the community of changes or results from the second round.”

Housing and homelessness

  • 20 March 2026 – New laws ban ‘anti-social’ homeless across CBD

“We know from local expertise that homelessness is complex, with around 75 per cent of Gold Coasters sleeping rough said to have diagnosed mental health concerns. This month’s Gold Coast Homelessness Symposium made it clear that housing and mental health go hand-in-hand. You can’t fix one without the other, and simply moving people on doesn’t address the underlying causes.”

“Weve already seen move on orders play out after Carey Park, with neighbouring areas like Labrador being impacted, and this will surely have the exact same result. If there’s nowhere for people to go, we will just be spreading the problem across the city.”

“We know council has moved away from its compassionate approach to homelessness. I don’t think people reporting those sleeping rough want to send compliance officers after them, they just want to help.”

“The councillor says homelessness isn’t a crime, but in the next breath encourages people to report ‘illegal camping.”

“This Facebook post is just dressing up compliance as empathy. If welfare outreach is no longer happening when compliance notices are issued, how exactly are we supporting people doing it tough? We need honesty about what’s happening on the ground. If the only real action is enforcement, then let’s not pretend we’re balancing it with compassion.”

“What’s frustrating is seeing that while there’s a growing number of people sleeping rough, our politicians are arguing about who gets the credit for housing projects, or are spending time and money changing bunting colours around housing sites from maroon to blue.”

“I don’t think the community want to see bickering and branding battles between political parties, they care about people having somewhere safe to sleep. We need innovative, compassionate, and practical solutions and all levels of government to work together on this crisis.”

“Months after the Carey Park issue, we don’t seem to be any closer to immediate solutions.”

“The council has acknowledged in its own reports that the demand for crisis accommodation far exceeds supply, and that people are cycling in and out of homelessness due to complex needs. Yet instead of coming up with solutions to help people, they’re expanding compliance patrols.”

“I’ve been on the phone to mental health support lines to try and help one woman who is on the streets and suicidal. They’re telling me there’s nowhere for her to go other than a few days – and then what? She’ll be back in her car. The only advice the mental health support line could give me was to call an ambulance when I knew where this woman was. Moving people on and on is surely the definition of insanity.” 

Other advocacy

  • 25 February 2026 – Hot Tomato – Trump Tower

“If there’s enough of a risk that they will tell people to avoid contact when prompted I would have expected at least temporary signage so the wider public can make informed choices rather than people unknowingly putting themselves and their pets at risk.”

  • 8 January 2026 – Sunrise & 9 News – Caravan and boat parking issue

“Feeding is putting the birds at risk. It’s clear the community cares. After I shared a post (to a Facebook community page) explaining that feeding the birds is doing more harm than good, people were highly engaged and genuinely wanted to do the right thing. The response was overwhelmingly supportive and people were shocked to hear how often the swans are getting injured.”

Community leader Jenna Schroeder said “It’s a reminder that while we can’t control the weather, we can control how we show up for our neighbours — and Labrador does that incredibly well.”… “We’ve seen fallen power lines, particularly near Labrador State School, and people in the community have been stepping up to help each other out.”

Community leader Jenna Schroeder said the most common concerns raised in the community were suspicious behaviour, hooning and break-ins to cars and homes. Ms Schroeder said one of the biggest frustrations from residents was that while the council was taking some action, the City was not engaging with the community who were there on the ground and dealing with the issues every day.

“An example is the deployment of mobile CCTV cameras or ‘anti-hooning trailers’, which are being placed in the wrong locations, so haven’t been effective,” she said. “The community has local knowledge about where issues with crime are actually happening, but the lack of consultation before decisions are made is obvious.”

Community advocate Jenna Schroeder, who highlighted the issue during the 2023 campaign, welcomed the decision. “During my campaign, I highlighted the Division 7 office location as an unnecessary expense and difficult for residents to access due to limited parking. This isn’t the first time I’ve raised community concerns that have set the agenda. I campaigned for community consultation on more dog off-lead areas and an upgraded Silver Bridle Park (Molendinar) – two processes that have now officially begun. Recently, I also called for better planning and oversight around Napper Road, given the significant proposed development in the area, which has since been acknowledged by the councillor.”

“Ms Schroeder decided to meet the comment head on, calling it out for what it is in a subsequent post headlined ‘Why don’t more women run for politics?’. Unquestionably, we are all worse off if talented and hardworking women are discouraged from representing their communities because they know it will make them a target for vile abuse.vMs Schroeder has set a good example for all of us this week, men especially. There is too much misogyny evident in comments both on and off online” It’s incumbent on all of us to call it out.”

“Council need to address such issues promptly to ensure the safety of our community, but it’s also crucial people are aware of local safety concerns,” she said. “Labrador 4215 has been instrumental in highlighting the issues most important to our community – you quickly see what issues are at the top of people’s minds and the common issues people feel the council need to be aware of. “It’s largely what motivated me to run for council in Division 7.”

“Labrador is a multicultural community and we won’t be sharing the offensive material and giving it any more exposure. Since founding Labrador 4215 I have always been committed to promoting a safe and inclusive community for all residents.”

(Jenna) said those managing such community groups had a responsibility to weed out false information. “It’s more those people who aren’t engaging, on the fence, who are reading a lot, who might just be making up their own minds quietly. It’s important to give them the best chance of reading correct information.”

Suicide Prevention

As the Project Lead for the Gold Coast Suicide Prevention Collaborative, I’ve played a key part in managing the annual Gold Coast Wellbeing Week:

2024 Division 7 campaign

  • 23 October 2023 – Announcement

“There’s so much I’ve learned over the last few months. When you speak to someone, it can strengthen or change your opinion,” she says. Ms Schroeder estimates she has met hundreds of residents, leading her to prioritise some issues above those passion projects she had earlier pitched as important. “My original vision, which was formed from my previous involvement in the community, has evolved and strengthened the more I’ve spoken to people,” she says. “That’s exactly how I envision becoming a councillor — always engaging, listening and evolving.”

  • 25 March 2024 – Hotly contested Div 7 swings back to Schroeder

  • 3 April 2024 – Result announcement

“This was an extremely close election, and while I would have loved to become our councillor, I’m still extremely proud of my campaign and how well I did at the polls,” she said. “After the first votes were tallied, I was only 2.4 per cent behind Joe as the front runner. For me and my volunteers, who were mostly local mums, this was an absolutely mind-blowing result. On election night we were so thrilled as an independent candidate with a grassroots campaign, I could do so well against such a well-oiled machine.”

Small business ownership

Paws at the Park is the Gold Coast’s award-winning dog market event, and the largest of its type in Australia. I co-founded the event together with another small business owner, Lia Ferguson.