Trio join council race
Greens candidate hopes to build on federal poll profile
A TRIO of Geelong council candidates have thrown their hats into the ring.
A young northern suburbs candidate and two Victorian Greens members are the latest candidates to put up their hands for the next City of Greater Geelong Council election.
The Greens unveiled their first candidates less than a week after national leader Richard Di Natale announced he would be hitting the streets to support the party’s campaign.
The Victorian Greens web page added candidate profiles for Brownbill ward candidate Sarah Mansfield and Kardinia Ward candidate Lois Newman.
Ms Mansfield will be a familiar face for voters, after running in last year’s federal election, attracting about 12 per cent of the first preference voting.
She said her election success election signalled there was “a growing appetite for the Greens agenda in this region”.
“Some of my motivations are actually very similar (to my federal candidacy), I’m a GP by background and I’ve got a real- ly strong interest in public health and how our environment and our society affects people’s health,” Ms Mansfield said.
“Really local government can have one of the biggest impacts on local health through the way we design our cities and community spaces and local community services, manage our natural environment — all of those things have a really big impact on our health.
“So for me it's a way of being actually able to make a real difference.”
It is understood the Greens campaign launch will be held next Saturday.
Northern suburbs 24-yearold Robert Blaszczyk also announced he would run for election yesterday, nominating for the Windermere ward.
“I am standing for the Windermere ward because we need a strong voice of advocacy, and because we as a community deserve better,” Mr Blaszczyk said.
The financial services worker and Deakin University graduate outlined his areas of interest for the city, including youth engagement, community safety, improving our profile and “working with local business owners to implement strategies to employ and train local workers”.