THEATRE entered the Flinders electorate campaign last Tuesday with members of the Western Port Sybil Disobedients group delivering “reading material” to candidates of the two major parties.
Labor’s Surbhi Snowball met the Sybils troupe at Mornington for the handover, but Liberal Zoe McKenzie was not available.
Organiser Talei Kenyon said she had “popped” in to McKenzie’s Rosebud campaign office four days earlier and been told while the candidate “may not be available” on 3 May, but the delivery could be dropped off at the office between 10am and 4pm.
The office was closed when the Sybils arrived at 1pm but they decided to take a photograph anyway “in fairness … as we do not want to promote one candidate above another”.
Kenyon said the Sybils wanted both candidates “to be reminded that many voters believe that this is the climate election and want to know what their plan is”.
Snowball and McKenzie have been given copies of Saul Griffith’s The Big Switch and a Summary For Policymakers of the latest report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Kenyon said members of the Sybils had been “alarmed by Senator Matt Canavan’s statements that the 2050 net zero climate policy agreed to by the government last year is now dead”.
“Most Australians want urgent action on climate change, and make sure that these candidates understand Australia’s bright future with renewable energy,” she said.
“Getting this right now will ensure a safe and secure future for our kids, jobs in new industries and drive a strong, future-proofed economy [which] is the Sybil’s election message.
“Like so many of us who are deeply concerned about what is happening to our climate, we are waiting for someone to call this the climate election.”
First published in the Southern Peninsula News – 10 May 2022
