AN audience of about 400 last Wednesday heard the policies of eight of the 10 candidates standing for the seat of Flinders in Saturday’s federal election.
Not represented at the “town hall” meeting organised by the non-political Peninsula Voice and radio station RPP FM were Pamela Engelander of the Animal Justice Party and the Liberal Party’s Zoe McKenzie.
McKenzie bowed out on the morning of the evening meeting at Mount Martha to attend a meeting she had arranged at Portsea Sorrento RSL with Senator James Paterson (“Security takes precedence”).
Labor candidate Surbhi Snowball was ill, but her campaign manager Marg D’Arcy attended and spoke on her behalf.
Each candidate was given two minutes “to make their pitch” and then answer five questions framed on the results of a survey of 800 Flinders electorate residents.
The question covered the cost of living; integrity in politics; aged care and health; climate; refugees; and distribution of preferences.
“Our job tonight is a very simple one, we just need to listen. We don’t need to agree with all the things we will hear, but we do need to respectful and considerate, to listen to opinions which may be different to our own,” Peninsula Voice chairperson Peter Orton said by way of introduction.
The meeting was live streamed by RRP FM and can be accessed through the station’s website. The program has been viewed more than 1000 times both during the live stream and since.
All candidates were invited to submit 300-word statements to The News (except for Cindy Marr and Pamela Engelander) see “Flinders candidates have their say“.
Minors join forces
ILLUMINATED signs in shopping centres, corflutes and posters are the most obvious physical indicator of the resources available to candidates.
Flinders has 10 candidates and in a bid to make up for any shortfall in three of the minor parties have agreed to hand out each other’s how-to-vote cards during Saturday’s federal election.
Supporters of candidates for the United Australia Party (Alex van der End), Pauline Hanson’s One Nation (Cyndi Marr) and the Liberal Democratic Party (Chrysten Abraham) will be handing out cards at more than 30 polling booths across the Mornington Peninsula.
It is understood the three minor parties are urging that “the majors” be placed last on ballots.
First published in the Southern Peninsula News – 17 May 2022
