Last week, The Saturday Paper published an article with polling showing that the race in Kooyong is neck and neck.

Peter Dutton agrees: he said recently he believed that at the next federal election, the Coalition would win Kooyong back.

Peter Dutton and his party have already swung their well-funded organisation into action in our neighbourhood by hosting fundraisers, knocking on doors, and letterboxing.

It is clear already the next election will be extremely tight.

My team and I are ready. Given what’s at stake this election, we have no choice but to be ready.

While the major parties have ignored the community’s urgent calls for sensible, substantial cost of living relief, we’ve worked with the community to deliver meaningful results, like wiping $3 billion from 3 million Australians’ HECS debts.

The major parties have spent much of the past two decades failing to address the housing crisis. At the next election, our community will have a historic opportunity to break the two-party deadlock and enable the changes needed to give the next generation hope of owning their own homes. 

The major parties also continue to jeopardise our climate and our economy with their inaction on climate change. Our community’s efforts in the last election helped deliver the Climate Change Act. Our community’s efforts this election will help to deliver stronger climate action to power the prosperous new economy of the future.

We’ve shown the major parties a different way of doing politics which empowers communities, works constructively across Parliament, and cuts through the party structures to deliver real change. 

If you are wondering what you can do today to help us keep Kooyong Independent, head to my website and sign my corflute pledge. 

Last election, we didn’t have the big billboards my opponent had; but we had 3,000 corflutes out in the community. We’re going to need that again – plus more (!) – to win next time.

Click here to sign my corflute pledge and help us reach our target of 1,000 corflutes.

In this newsletter, a few important upcoming community events — we have a local police forum, and a community meeting about the new housing plans for the old VicRoads site on Denmark St. Plus, a recap of quite a wonderful Town Hall with Senator Jacqui Lambie in front of 650 constituents last Sunday.

Police Community Forum

Many from our community have reached out to local police and my office this year with distressing stories of crime - particularly burglary. I have been in close contact with the Boroondara Police Commissioner, and we have talked about how best to address this really concerning situation for our community.

We need to do what we can to minimise burglaries in Kooyong and we must also invest in ways to reduce young people’s involvement in crime. In coming weeks, I am hosting the National Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds at Parliament House as she presents the Australian Human Rights Commission’s report into youth justice.  

Meanwhile, in Kooyong, the Victoria Police are holding a community forum on 22 August to respond to your questions and concerns about crime and community safety. The police do a fantastic job in our community, and it's great to see them offer us an opportunity like this.  

Click here to RSVP for the forum.  

I'll see you at the Grace Park Hawthorn Club from 6:00-9:00pm on Thursday, 22 August. 

Obviously crimes need to be reported to the police, but if you would like to raise an issue with me as your local Member of Parliament, please get in touch at [email protected].

A Fascinating Town Hall With Senator Jacqui Lambie

This past Sunday, I had the pleasure of hosting a Town Hall event with Senator Jacqui Lambie in front of 650 constituents at the Hawthorn Arts Centre. It was a wonderful afternoon.

The conversation covered everything from Senator Lambie’s career in the Army to how we work together to challenge the major parties. Senator Lambie brought her trademark candor and honesty to the conversation. She’s built a reputation for being a politician who’s not afraid to tell the major parties exactly how she feels — and to hold them to account with devastating effectiveness – and that was on full display on Sunday. 

The event was a powerful reminder of why more and more Australians are looking to vote for Independents and minor parties. A healthy democracy represents and reflects the best interests of Australians from all states, backgrounds and life experiences. While we don’t always agree on every issue, Senator Lambie and I share a commitment to representing our communities and challenging the status quo in Canberra.     

Click here to watch back the livestream of the Town Hall.

Disappointing plan proposed for old VicRoads site in Kew  

You may have heard that the Victorian Government recently announced plans to rezone and redevelop the old VicRoads site on Denmark St in Kew.  

Late last year I wrote to the Victorian Government to enforce the point that, if it intended to turn the site into housing, it should ensure that a significant proportion of the apartments were affordable.

Last week’s draft proposal requires only 10 per cent of the new housing to be affordable. It’s yet another state government infrastructure proposal without independent assessment or transparent costings. This is not the way to address the housing and rental crisis. Governments need to act to ensure that nurses, teachers, and police officers can actually afford to live close to the communities that they serve.
 
The Victorian Government appears on the verge of missing a golden opportunity. It hasn’t yet undertaken adequate community consultation or been nearly transparent enough about its plans. Given the Allan government’s recent walking back of a number of affordable housing projects – and sale of public land to developers – our community needs to work together on the re-development of the Denmark St site.  

If you want your voice to be heard, click here to RSVP to our community forum on the VicRoads site from 7-8:30pm at Kew RSL on Tuesday, 27 August.

I’ve invited the Premier and Victoria’s Housing and Planning Ministers to join as well.

I’ll collate the feedback from the community, take it to the Victorian Government, and provide a platform for you to suggest any next steps you’d like me to take – after all, we are the ones who will live with this decision’s consequences for decades.