GREENS candidates standing for the three state seats on the Mornington Peninsula in the Saturday 26 November election say are united on issues facing the Mornington Peninsula.
Making up the peninsula’s Greens team are Esther Gleixner, Nepean; Paul Saunders, Hastings; and, Harry Sinclair, Mornington.
They say they are committed to protect the environment and the peninsula’s green wedges and do not want the area changed from being classified metropolitan to regional.
They are also campaigning for “more affordable” housing and “integrity” from politicians.
“We are all strongly opposed to attempts to change the Mornington Peninsula to regional by dollar driven developers,” Saunders said.
“The current green wedges and metropolitan status is working. We have to keep it that way, or the peninsula will never be the same again.”
Gleixner, a former Labor supporter, has lived in Flinders for 45 years and says her social work has led to “a passion for social justice”.
“Our lifestyle and the beautiful environment we all love down here is at risk if we don’t step up and do something,” she said.
“With no new coal and gas and a clear plan investing in 100 per cent renewable energy by 2030, the Greens is the only party with realistic policies to address the climate crisis now and for future generations.”
Saunders works at Chisholm TAFE and has been lived at Balnarring with his family for 19 years.
He says he is passionate about protecting rural and coastal environments and has been involved in many environmental groups and causes across the peninsula.
He says retaining the peninsula’s metropolitan Melbourne classification and the green wedge protection that comes with it “is crucial to the three electorates, their wildlife, pristine hinterland and coastal environments”.
Sinclair, at 21 the youngest of the three candidates, believes young people are in “desperate need” of better representation in parliament.
Having grown up in the Mornington electorate and studied political science at the Australian National University in Canberra, he wants priority given to “tackling the [peninsula’s] housing crisis”.
“Across the peninsula and the state, the Greens are pushing for universal housing. We will build more affordable homes and introduce a rent freeze to relieve stress on tenants,” Sinclair said. “We also desperately need our fair share of public housing to address homelessness on the peninsula.”
He said the Greens policy of 100,000 new public homes across the state would “undoubtedly help us out across Mornington, Nepean and Hastings” electorates.
The Greens team is also “pushing” their party’s policy of expanding the powers of the Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission (IBAC) “to ban dodgy donations and have greater accountability and integrity in government”.
They want “people to have hope and confidence in government again, to know that their vote is powerful and, if elected, Greens MPs will represent their electorates and community with integrity.”
Having Greens MPs across the peninsula would draw attention to issues the peninsula has been struggling with for decades under Labor and Liberal governments.
First published in the Southern Peninsula News – 13 September 2022
