Recording
As many of you know, the Nature Conservation Council (NCC) and WEPA co-hosted an online electoral forum on Wednesday night (2 February) which was a great success. We had around 140 participants at any one time. We’ve had many people contact us since to check whether the Forum was recorded. Yes, it was! So you can settle in with a cup of tea and a biscuit and watch it here: https://youtu.be/64KQOM3EoqE
Candidates and Set Questions
We are very grateful to the five candidates who agreed to participate: William Bourke (Sustainable Australia Party); Penny Hackett (Reason Party); Tim James (Liberal); Larissa Penn (Independent); Lynne Saville (The Greens). Only one candidate – Sam Gunning, Liberal Democrat Party – did not respond to our request. The participating candidates started the night by responding to the four set questions we issued prior to the forum.
Questions from the ‘floor’
Following the candidate’s presentations, we opened up to the audience which had a wide range of environmental issues to raise with the candidates. We would recommend you take the time to listen to them on the attached recording. Due to a glitch in an earlier notice about the finishing time for the session, Tim James had to leave us earlier in the evening. He was able to answer a number of questions put to him earlier in the evening and agreed to take questions on notice. We have sent him a list of the questions asked of the other candidates after he left the meeting and hope to post his answers on our website, but see below if there are other issues you wish to ask him about.
Follow up Questions
The participants welcomed follow-up questions – listen to the recording and if your environmental query wasn’t answered then you can contact candidates as follows:
William Bourke (Sustainable Australia Party) hq@sustainableaustralia.org
Penny Hackett (Reason Party) pennyhacket@reason.org.au
Tim James (Liberal Party) tim@timjames.com.au
Larissa Penn (Independent) larissaforwilloughby@gmail.com
Lynne Saville (Greens Party) Lynne Saville – Greens Candidate.
Pre-Polling and Postal Votes
Everyone has an opportunity to vote before 12 February. Here is a link to the pre-polling sites in Willoughby.
Please note that for the first time ever, the NSW Electoral Commission will send a postal ballot to every registered voter in the Willoughby electorate in the coming week.
Number Every Box!
Voting is optional preferential. You can vote for one candidate by placing a 1 next to their name. There are so many good candidates in the race we would encourage you to number each candidate so your vote can be passed on as a candidate is excluded.
The election will be held on Saturday 12 February. Voting is compulsory. More information about voting and the polling sites can be seen here: Election Day voting centres in map view