Sydney “prospective Green,” says Brown

Leong’s primary vote was higher than any other Greens candidate in the 2004 election, so there was no wonder that Greens Leader and Tasmanian Senator Bob Brown was by her side in Newtown, to support Jenny as she, once again, began her bid for the seat of Sydney in the upcoming federal election.

“This seat is not safe Labor, this seat is prospective Green,” Senator Brown commented amongst fellow supporters and passers-by on King Street.

“We’ve got a very strong, intelligent candidate,” he said. “And as we go to the election and people see how Rudd is lining up with Howard, [they will] be looking for alternatives.”

Brown noted the difficulty faced by Leong in breaking through to the House of Representatives, but is hopeful that if it does happen, it will be in the major metropolitan seats of Sydney and Melbourne.

Brown stressed that, even if people vote for Jenny Leong and she does not get in, then their preference for Labor or Liberal is still a whole vote. “People should vote one Green, two Labor,” Brown said. “It sends the message that people like the Greens’ policies best.” Even if Labor is re-elected in the seat of Sydney, another increase in the primary vote for the Greens will serve as a wake-up call that voters prefer Greens’ policies.

Jenny Leong is campaigning strongly on the need for better tertiary education. And with 15 % of her electorate being full-time students, it is no wonder that she is focusing on education. “The Greens are committed to providing all Australians with the opportunity to access high-quality, free public higher education,” she says.

Ms Leong knows the effects of the federal government’s changes to the tertiary education system, having just completed her term as President of the University of Sydney’s Postgraduate Association, where she represented the needs of 14,000 post-graduate students. Leong experienced, first hand, the impact that increases to higher education and the introduction of voluntary student unionism have had on students across the country.

“Both major parties have put more and more barriers in front of ordinary Australians who want to study at a higher level,” she said. “They have transferred the cost of education to individual students instead of seeing it as a public investment.”

“Like many people in Sydney, the Greens want a change of government and a change of direction for Australia,” Ms Leong said.

With the prospect of the federal election being called in the next fve weeks, it will be a tough fight for Jenny Leong to communicate to her constituents that she presents a real alternative to the major parties.

“By changing to Rudd, we’re changing the model but not the brand,” Senator Brown said.

Ms Leong said that the Greens are committed to the issues like climate change and abolishing Work Choices. And with a clear focus on equality and justice, Jenny Leong said there would be no better representative for the seat of Sydney.

Photo: Nicholas McCallum -Bob Brown with Jenny Leong in Newtown

Source South Sydney Herald September 2007 - www.southsydneyherald.com.au