Understanding Community Needs

Victoria needs a new vision and strong leadership for our communities, including action on climate change, restoring environmental losses and urgent action on issues of health, wellbeing and equity in our society. This includes access for all to healthy and nutritious food, produced in a sustainable manner that keeps growers profitable and nurtures the environment, improved services for mental health and homelessness and urgent action to address drug and alcohol issues in our communities, treating them as a health issue.

Climate change and water issues are prominent in regional and rural Victoria. I understand the urgency of the investments in infrastructure that we need to make in order to design and create resilient communities. And owning rural acreage in Northern Victoria has given me an understanding of water availability issues, the decline of rural communities, the importance of habitat conservation to biodiversity and ecological stability and the threat of fires.

Working for the Greens
After dedicating 18 years to contributing to building the Australian Greens, I have extensive established networks across the state. I believe that the Greens’ messages must be relevant to both metropolitan and regional and rural populations.

My involvement with the Greens includes:

• Co-founded the Bendigo branch in 1995 - one of the most successful in regional Victoria.
• Three times branch convenor and state councillor, with active involvement in local government, as candidate, plus state and federal election campaigns. Also a member of the Victorian Federal Election Campaign Committee 2007.
• Member inaugural Policy Coordination Committee. Previous convenor of Health Policy working group and input to multiple state and federal policies.
• Presenter at The Greens School in Melbourne
• Candidacy in 2006 for the state Upper House seat of Northern Victoria which resulted in my involvement in establishing the Country Greens Network.

What I can bring to the Bendigo campaign
My qualifications and experience have developed my understanding of the public health system and policy. My particular areas of strength are in community health and wellbeing and health inequalities, community engagement, science and technology, the environment and sustainable use of the land, food system issues and women’s issues.

I have extensive media experience and a demonstrated ability to confidently initiate debate in the political arena, including representing campaigns. In the 2006 state election, as spokesperson for women’s policy, I campaigned to decriminalise abortion. This was one of the triggers for this historic legislative reform.

My Green vision for Bendigo

We can create the communities of the future now in regional and rural Victoria. We can reverse the environmental losses of recent years of conservative and backwards looking government. We can localise our efforts to help create a society based on health and education that are equitable, for clean energy such as wind and solar and connectivity within and between regional and rural centres and the metropolitan area.

The Greens in Victoria have had increasing political influence and look to further progress our broad political mandate in future.

As candidate for Bendigo East for the 2014 state election I am keen to drive that campaign.

In parliament I will speak up for Bendigo.
 

Please feel free to contact me on: 0474320825

You can also follow me on Facebook 

https://www.facebook.com/BendigoGreens

or follow me on Twitter 
 https://twitter.com/jenniferalden