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