Over 100 interested community members came down to our latest Collective Conversations event, Candidates Q & A, at the Vic Park Bowls Club. 14 plucky candidates, plus one by proxy, showed up to tell us who they are and what they care about - and everyone was keen to hear what they had to say.
Each candidate had 3 minutes to tell us why we should vote for them, with Banksia Ward followed by Jarrah Ward. Each had their own interests, passions and goals if they become a councillor, and interestingly varied backgrounds. All se
emed aligned in their wish to contribute to building a great future for our community.
Then we moved onto the questions from the crowd. Harold Rossiter Park and the synthetic hockey turf was a topic of much interest to the spectators, and the candidates generally didn't support it and advocated for further work with the hockey club to try to find them an alternative location.
Other questions included values assigned to trees and environmental sustainability, Town wages, community consultation and political affiliations.
All in all, we learned a lot about the people who want to represent our community on Council. Plenty of good options - now we all just need to remember to vote!
A big shout out to Community Forum Vic Park who co-presented this event with us, to the parents of Lathlain Primary School who provided us with an awesome democracy sausage sizzle, and to the Victoria Park Carlisle Bowls Club for the venue!
NOTE: All candidates were personally invited to join us at the event. Two candidates did not attend. One candidate sent her apologies and had someone read out her statement by proxy.