Residents of Maribyrnong will know it is polling day for State elections this Saturday 26th November, so I think it's appropriate to share the responses we've had from State candidates, as they relate to protecting McIvor Reserve's public parkland, so people who support this petition, know who supports us.
 


As you know we have been lobbying Council and State representatives to support our calls to protect parkland at McIvor (and indeed all greenspace across Maribyrnong City) through our SAVE McIVOR RESERVE petition.
 
We have called for support to identify an alternate brown-field site for the indoor stadium planned for McIvor Reserve (which would be a win-win for a divided community) and asked our State members to help lubricate that process through funding or by delivering industrial/brown site options for our community.

Meanwhile, we’ve seen millions of dollars in funding pledges for sports infrastructure, from both major political parties (should they win), so we believe funds are available and that the State can contribute to the solution, if it chooses.
 
During the course of those efforts, many of you have received letters from our State members, Katie Hall and Melissa Horne, that make it clear that they believe this is a 'council problem' and there’s not much they can do. With all due respect to our incumbent members, I don’t accept their position on this.
 


Today I received a flyer from Minister Horne, telling me what terrible things the Liberals will do if I don’t vote for Labor. Having been banging my head against a beaurocratic brick wall for 7 months now, the first thing that struck me was not the lack of choice between two major parties, but the clear focus on the importance of sporting clubs, sporting groups, transport networks, infrastructure.. and sport equipment. NOWHERE is parkland, greenspace, or cleaning up the Inner West featured. Surely, it was worth one bullet point? I guess this is an indication of where the party, as a whole, thinks most votes lie?



WHO CARES ABOUT PARKLAND? WE DO!



In the last 7 months there have been a small number of State candidates who have taken the time to meet with me to discuss our concerns. Namely, Elena Pereyra for Footscray, Suzette Rodoreda for Williamstown, Jorge Jorquera for Footscray and Bernadette Thomas for Western Metropolitan Region.

I’m not aiming to tell anyone how to vote, in fact I don’t particularly care what party they are from. I just want you to know that these are the people who have actually been turning up for our community, so take a closer look at them before you go past their names on the ballot. It could make a big difference to how greenspace is treated in our community.

More about them:

Elena Pereyra - Greens candidate for Footscray - https://greens.org.au/vic/person/elena-pereyra

Suzette Rodoreda, Greens candidate for Williamstown, - https://greens.org.au/vic/person/suzette-rodoreda

Jorge Jorquera for Footscray - https://victoriansocialists.org.au/candidates/jorge-jorquera

Bernadette Thomas, Greens candidate for Western Metropolitan - https://greens.org.au/vic/person/bernadette-thomas