Candidates attend progress association

It's not often that residents get the chance, face to face, to hear and question a group of candidates for election to their Lower House seat in State Parliament.

But this is what happened at a meeting of the Koolemong, Point Clare and Tascott Progress Association at Point Clare Community Hall last Friday night.

At the invitation of the local Progress Association, candidates for Peats were each allotted 10 minutes to try to convince audience members to vote for them.

Speakers were Save Our Suburbs leader Tony Rescei and local candidate Mark Ellis, The Greens' Vickie Brooke, The Democrats' Geoff Ward, Independents Peter Moore and Chris Holstein, and sitting member Marie Andrews.

The Liberal candidate Debra Wales withdrew at the last minute.

The current member confined her talk to specifics in terms of projects and practicalities relating to revenue and division of powers between the commonwealth and the states.

The challengers, on the other hand, spoke more broadly, with issues such as transport, infrastructure, insurance, social welfare, education, development and the environment all rating a mention.

By contrast, questions from the floor were mainly concerned with the affordability and practicality of the ideas spoken about.

Organizers considered it to have been an interesting initiative and something that might be repeated with future elections.

Keith Kearney, February 18