4 May 2025

First of all, congratulations to Alison Byrnes and Labor for their victory in Cunningham. Alison led a respectful campaign and I urge her to do what is best for Cunningham in the next term of parliament.

The result in Cunningham as well as Whitlam and Gilmore should be seen as a referendum on renewable energy, particularly offshore wind farms.

The anti-renewables Liberal Party in all three seats peddled ridiculous mis- and dis-information about this issue. In all three seats, there were swings against them.

This is a clear indication that the Illawarra supports renewable energy, Labor has a mandate to speed up the transition and continue pushing towards a renewable energy future. Pursuing a renewable energy future is integral to combating climate change - as is stopping new coal and gas projects.

What is also clear from the result in Cunningham, the Illawarra and across Australia is people did not want to see Peter Dutton anywhere near the Lodge - or Kirribilli.

Dutton’s unpopularity, driven by Trump-style hate and divisiveness, destroyed his party nationally and was the main factor leading to Labor winning a majority.

Finally, thank you to the tremendous team of volunteers and supporters of the Greens in Cunningham. Grassroots democracy is at the core of the Greens and in 2025 we had a record number of new volunteers - young and old - and a record number of people wanting to have our signs in their front yards.

We could still end up with the most votes in Cunningham since Michael Organ and the Greens won the seat in 2002. We had strong swings at Wollongong Public School where we won the booth as well as other strong results particularly in the south of the electorate. In Cringila we had a +15.6% swing and Berkeley saw an +11.6% swing towards the Greens. These in themselves are strong achievements given our grassroots campaign, and a sign that having a Greens presence in Ward 3 on Wollongong Council is also resonating in the community.

I was also excited to see Jamie Dixon in Whitlam push the Greens to a record result. Jamie kept pushing a positive agenda despite all the chaos going on in Whitlam.

The Greens movement will continue to grow in this region. We have a strong voice on council in myself, Kit Docker and Deidre Stuart, and we will continue advocating for a more ecologically sustainable and socially just city.