Greens candidate for Nepean, Dr Sianan Healy, is urging locals to seize the opportunity of Saturday's by-election to back a bolder, fairer future for the Southern Peninsula by voting Green.
Dr Healy said her conversations at shopping centres, at markets and on the foreshore show a community that is proud of where it lives but tired of being treated as an afterthought by the major parties.
"People here love this place - the bay, the bush, the towns - but they're also telling me they are exhausted by insecure housing, rising bills and poor access to affordable healthcare," Dr Healy said.
"This by-election is a rare chance for Nepean to change the story and choose a representative who will put the needs of local people and the health of our environment ahead of party donors and developers."
Dr Healy said too many decisions affecting Nepean were still being made in meeting rooms far from the Peninsula, with the loudest voices belonging to those with money and access.
"When planning rules are written for developers, when public housing is demolished while people sleep rough on the foreshore, and when projects that carve into precious bushland are waved through against clear community opposition, it's obvious the system is not working," she said.
"I'm standing to bring a different set of priorities into Parliament - those of renters, families, workers, small business owners and volunteers who want secure homes, a decent life and to know that the coast and bush our kids call home will still be there in decades' time."
Dr Healy said a stronger Greens presence in Parliament would mean sustained pressure on the next government to tackle the causes of the housing and cost‑of‑living crises and to treat climate and protection of the environment as core responsibilities, not optional extras.
"With more Greens in Parliament, we can push for fair rules that keep a roof over people's heads, stop public assets and public land being sold off, and make sure investment in services, clean energy and public transport actually reaches communities like ours," she said.
"Nepean needs a representative who will fight back when overdevelopment threatens our coastline, wetlands and state parks, not someone who shrugs while decisions are made to suit short‑term profits."
Making a plan to vote on Saturday
Dr Healy encouraged all eligible Nepean residents to make a plan to vote on Saturday by:
- checking their enrolment details and polling place information.
- talking with family, friends, neighbours and workmates about what is at stake at this by-election and the kind of Peninsula they want in ten or twenty years' time.
- putting 1 next to the Greens on their ballot paper and then numbering every box to send the strongest possible message for change.
"Democracy works best when people show up not just to reject what isn't working, but to back the future they want," Dr Healy said.
"If you want Nepean to be a place where people can afford to live, where we look after each other, and where Bunurong, Boon Wurrung Country is protected from climate damage and overdevelopment, this Saturday is the moment to say so and vote 1 Greens."
