On hospitals and health: Greens candidates for Wollongong, Cath Blakey, and Keira, Kit Docker, pledged to implement nurse to patient ratios, including for midwives, as well as a 15 per cent pay rise.

On housing: "Governments at a state and local level could aim higher, citing her push to increase the city's housing targets to see a 30 per cent affordable housing target in new developments."
"Housing should be for people, not for profit."
Cr Cath Blakey, Greens candidate for Wollongong.

Another questioner raised the issue of family law courts and the separation of women and children. All candidates agreed more needed to be done in this area, particularly in including the issue of domestic violence and consent in education – Story by Connor Pearce at the Illawarra Mercury, 2 March 2023.

Abigail Boyd, Greens spokesperson for treasury and energy, said the proposals would "deliver affordable renewable energy for every household."

"We must take back control over our power supply and ensure that we are never again at the mercy of the private market for our energy needs."

Cath Blakely, Greens candidate for the seat of Wollongong, said the plan "will immediately provide cost-of-living relief by lowering power bills, and lays out a plan for electrification by getting one million homes off gas."

"Energy bills are skyrocketing across the state, plunging people into energy poverty, but neither NSW Labor nor the Coalition have any credible plan to reduce energy costs for households."

Story by Lisa Cox in The Guardian, 2 March 2023.

1 March 2023

Greens Housing spokesperson Jenny Leong MP has called on Shadow Planning Minister and Member for Wollongong Paul Scully MP,  to make a clear commitment to higher affordable housing targets, given Wollongong Council’s ALP councillors joined with Liberal councillors at Monday night to vote down the Greens proposal for strong affordable housing targets instead settling on very weak targets.

"Existing animal race tracks at Dapto, Bulli and Kembla Grange hold potential as parks or sporting facilities. There needs to be a conversation in the community about what new purposes these facilities could serve. We can re-imagine these spaces as all sorts of things."

"I think the Dapto community's ready to move beyond animal cruelty and gambling. There are lots of things going on in the West Dapto area that would build a strong community identity without greyhound racing.

"Racing industry reforms have failed to adequately address issues of animal wastage and injury. I am hopeful that the Greens will gain more seats in the upper house come the election and be in a stronger position to make our plan reality."

Cath Blakey, Greens candidate for Wollongong in the 2023 NSW state election.

... the Greens outlined a plan to end greyhound racing in NSW over the course of one year and horse racing over four, as well as ban rodeos and petting zoos. Racing industry workers would get support to gain new skills and employment and race tracks would be repurposed, with a commitment that at least 60 per cent of tracks would become green space ...
Story by Natalie Croxon in the Illawarra Mercury, 28 February 2023.

"Our local community fought to save the free Gong Shuttle. We know free and frequent services have high patronage. Free public transport helps to reduce car journeys and make cities run more smoothly."

"The other benefit of ditching tickets is that it ensures equitable access, keeps buses running on time, and the costs are offset by savings on ticketing systems and fare enforcement."

Cr Cath Blakey, Greens candidate for Wollongong.

"Free public transport will save us money by scrapping our expensive ticketing system, reducing spending on roads and cutting costs associated with fare evasion like court costs."

"If elected, I will work with the new government and our Greens MPs to ensure we put public transport back in public hands and make our buses and trains free, frequent, and accessible so everyone can use them."

Kit Docker, Greens candidate for Keira.

Story by Glen Humphries at the Illawarra Mercury, 27 February 2023.

"We need, immediately, the shark net at Garie Beach to be pulled out of the water, because there's no patrols happening at that beach at the moment. It's not a high use beach."

"It's absolutely useless and all it is doing is trapping animals and causing marine wildlife carnage."

"At the moment the Department of Primary Industries has to seek an exemption under the Biodiversity Conservation Act, to kill threatened species and that is just absolutely horrendous."

"The Joint Management Agreement says that they have to reduce the threat to animals and that's not happening. We're seeing Loggerhead Turtles, Leatherback Turtles, Green Turtles as well as rays and dolphins and non-target sharks all getting caught in shark nets and it's terrible."

"When there's an animal caught in the net [sharks] can really sense the distress. It actually seems to be attracting sharks rather than stopping them from getting into the beach."

"Wollongong's got seventeen patrolled beaches and we've got five with shark nets and we know that there's not a greater instance of shark attacks on the twelve other beaches that are patrolled but don't have shark nets."

Cr Cath Blakey, Greens candidate for Wollongong.

Listen to the ABC radio interview here.

"How many more innocent dolphins, turtles, rays, whales and other marine animals have to die before this government removes outdated and ineffective shark nets?"

"The Greens are campaigning to remove shark nets from all beaches across NSW in favour of modern, more effective shark risk management."

Cooper Riach, Greens candidate for Heathcote.

Read more in the Illawarra Mercury, 25 February 2023.

Read more in the South Coast Register, 25 February 2023.

Greens NSW have named Wollongong City Councillor Cath Blakey as the candidate for the NSW seat of Wollongong in the coming NSW election.

"Rising GP fees, long hospital wait-times, shortage of health staff, nursing home bed block and poor quality aged care were some of the hot topics during the 90-minute Greens community health forum at Fairy Meadow Community Centre."

Read more in the Illawarra Mercury, 9 February 2023.

"The more Greens we have in both houses of parliament, the more opportunity we have to push the next government to go further actually deliver the safe nurse to patient ratios that the nurses union is demanding.

We have an opportunity at the next election to have enough Greens in parliament to make that happen."

Dr Amanda Cohn, Greens candidate for the NSW Upper House.

Read more in the Illawarra Mercury, 6 February 2023.