Campaign Trail Hots Up - Candidate Launches And Election Announcements
This weekend just past was our busiest to date for campaign events with candidate launches, policy announcements and a flurry of information stalls, door knocking, postering and leaflet distribution undertaken by our electorate teams.
On Saturday I was in Western Sydney where our candidates joined me – Phil Bradley, Paul Taylor, Astrid O'Neill, Debbie Robertson, Suzie Wright and Carmel McCallum - on visits to some key electorates.
We then all met at Spaghetti Junction, where the tangle of fly-overs merge the M4 into the M7, for a press conference to launch our ‘Sustainable Transport in Western Sydney’ policy. There was a strong media roll up. Check out the coverage in the Sun Herald.
Our plan is to revitalise rail freight and minimise the number of large trucks thundering through Western Sydney, which are increasing air pollution, worsening congestion and posing a safety risk. This shift, along with providing public transport services for commuters, is achievable if we have governments with the political will to shift spending from motorways to rail infrastructure.
This is a link to our announcement.
In the afternoon I joined Jack Mundey and the Greens candidate for Watson, Christine Donayre, for the launch of her campaign. Local supporters joined us and Christine spoke strongly about her commitment to the community and plans for the election campaign.
On Sunday I joined a big crowd for one of those events that remind us all what communities are all about. Curl Curl Lagoon Friends were celebrating 30 years of impressive achievements. Not only have they undertaken bush regeneration and restoration work that have created one of Sydney’s jewels, but also they have undertaken impressive advocacy work over the years.
And there could be a name change to Curl Curl Common – we all agreed not only does it sound good but it captures that sense of public space for the public, and in this case for an increasing number of native species. A blue-tongued lizard was spotted in the park last week.
I then headed off to Parramatta to join the Tamil community and supporters at a very moving ceremony to remember Black July, which refers to a period of terrible brutality in 1983 against Tamils living in Sri Lanka.
