From a housing crisis in the Northern suburbs to investing in school infrastructure in the South the party today making its priorities for the region, known. Story by Olivia Blunden at WIN News, 14 March 2023.

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.

"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.

Launching his campaign for Keira in the March NSW election local resident Kit Docker called for action to alleviate homelessness, make housing more affordable and deliver real and practical transport options for all Keira citizens.

With rapidly rising rents and mortgage repayments, housing is becoming unaffordable for many people. Greens candidate for Keira Kit Docker has spoken with several Illawarra housing and homelessness service providers in the last fortnight and believes that the NSW government can do much more to alleviate this problem.

"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.

"When I was at public school, my mum couldn't afford the school fees. When it came to excursions, I felt stress rather than excitement because I knew the pressure that this would place on mum to find a way for me to attend with the rest of my classmates."

"Public schools should be free. That means no school fees, no 'voluntary' contributions, just proper government funding."

"Not every kid has the capacity to get money from their parents to go the canteen. That has a real impact on their learning. If a kid goes to school hungry they're simply not going to reach their full potential during the day."

"It seems, when it comes to public education, that the major parties look at it as an expense. Spending on public education is an investment. It's an investment in communities, it's an investment in the future of the economy."

"Federally we've just obtained the balance of power and now Labor on important policies have to negotiate with the Greens, and we've been making policy better. We're on the verge of obtaining the balance of power in NSW. I believe it's going to be a close election, I don't think either side is going to win an absolute majority."

Kit Docker, Greens candidate for Keira.

Read more in the Illawarra Mercury, 3 February 2023.

"When you have the Liberals putting up stale man after stale man as their candidates and you have no vision coming from either Liberal or Labor ... people have had enough. We saw that during the federal election. We had a record vote for the Greens and we're expecting that same rejection of the two-party system in this state election."

"In Queensland we had people telling us we couldn't win lower house seats in the federal election. We knew we could because we knew our policies were resonating with our communities and we had good local candidates out there talking with voters, explaining not just our policies but what they are about as individuals with integrity. So we absolutely believe, if not this time, then we will win these seats eventually."

Abigail Boyd, NSW Greens MLC.

"In areas like Balmain and Newtown and Ballina, where we've had Greens MPs elected and re-elected, there's been fantastic social infrastructure put in for the community. At the moment in Shellharbour it's easier to find a pokie than it is a hospital bed, an affordable house or a seat on a train."

Jamie Dixon, Greens candidate for Shellharbour.

"I wanted to run because I wanted to have a platform where I could push the major parties for real change. I'm a renter, I understand the struggles of renting and the pressure that creates on people and households - and I didn't believe enough was being done."

Kit Docker, Greens candidate for Keira.

Story by Glen Humphries in the Illawarra Mercury, 23 January 2023.

"I've had the privilege of speaking with many of the housing and homeless services in our region, and we're in a pretty dire situation. We have thousands of people in our region using these services, and many more being turned away."

"These organisations are well beyond their capacity, and they're expected to help thousands of people with funding for a few hundred, and it's simply not good enough."

"We're not here to represent developers - we're here to represent people's fundamental right to housing."

Kit Docker, Greens candidate for Keira.

Read more at the Illawarra Mercury, 20 January 2023.