Our pledge: politics for the people, not private interests

The Illawarra Greens have today announced their candidates for the state and federal elections, with an industrial engineer, 2 university professionals, an economics student and a shearer set to represent the party.

“We have an incredible team of candidates here and I know each one of them will be standing up for the Illawarra. For too long corporate interests and corporate money have too much influence over how decisions are made, while the community misses out,” Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi said today.

“The big end of town has infected politics and skewed decision making away from the best interests of our community.  Why else are we still waiting for a serious climate policy when everyone knows this is the most serious challenge of our generation,” Kaye Osborn, candidate for Keira said.

“As an engineer, I know that we have the technical capacity to reduce climate change impacts o our land and water.  What we don’t have is the political will.  Renewable energy is rapidly replacing fossil fuel power, but the transition is being slowed by out of touch politicians who are far too cosy with the coal industry,” said Rowan Huxtable, candidate for Wollongong.

“Everyone in our community deserves the opportunity to live a good life. To have a home, a job, an education.  Health care in times of need. Instead of providing for everyone, the major parties have let the gap between rich and poor get wider.  That’s not economic management, that’s economic injustice,” said Mitchell Shakespeare, candidate for Heathcote.

“Well resourced public education is the key to raising people out of poverty and allowing them to reach their potential.  Education should be free, and equally accessible to everyone; regardless of where you are geographically, economically, or socially. Successful educational outcomes start with quality early childhood education and care,” said Jamie Dixon, candidate for the state seat of Shellharbour and the Federal seat of Whitlam.

“We live in a city of a quarter of a million people.  And yet we have a train that runs just once an hour or every 2 hours on weekends.  It’s simply not good enough in the 21st century.  Wollongong deserves a decent public transport network, including fast and frequent trains.  It’s not enough to replace a few carriages, we will be campaigning for a proper 21st century public transport network,” said Ben Arcioni, candidate for Wollongong.

High-res Images of Candidates

More information:

Mithra Cox (Illawarra Greens) 0425 351 844

Matt Hilton (Senator Faruqi) 0423 106 247