By Parker McKenzie
Claire Ferres Miles has joined the numerous independent candidates around Australia vying to shake up politics at the next federal election.
Inspired by the success of independents in parliament like Helen Haines and Zali Stegalls, Ms Ferres Miles was endorsed and selected to run by the Voices of Casey community group.
Speaking to the Star Mail, Ms Ferres Miles said she believes there are three key issues for the people of Casey at the federal election.
“The first one is accelerated ambition and action on climate change, with a particular focus for Casey in terms of community resilience to respond and recover from extreme weather events,” she said.
“The second is around integrity and the public stewardship of public money. What I’ve heard from the community is that they want an equitable, evidence based process for the disbursement of public money, and I support the establishment of a federal ICAC,
“The third issue is around a quality and the respectful treatment of all people in terms of irrespective of culture, gender or sexuality.”
The Upwey resident and mother of five has lived in the electorate for 25 years.
Ms Ferres Miles said she believes the people of Casey have been taken for granted by major parties, and any characterisation of the Voices groups as a new political party should be rejected.
“I am standing to represent residents in the community of Casey. There is no political party, there is no leader and there is no structure,” she said.
“I was endorsed by the Voices of Casey, which is a community-led community group that was formed specifically to select and support an independent candidate that would represent the views of the Casey community.”
Ms Ferres Miles said being accessible to the public is the number one priority for her.
“Part of my offer to the residents and the people of Casey is that if I am the representative, I will be available. I see this as the start of a three-year conversation with my community,” she said.
“We’re already looking at what are the best ways that people could engage with me as their representative in terms of having a physical office, — so people can come and drop in and see me — using technology in terms of surveys of policy, choose that people may be interested in town hall meetings, markets and social media.”
Ms Ferres Miles said the election is an incredibly important moment for the people of Casey.
“Your vote is very important in terms of the future trajectory of our country, so I invite people to contact me and to let me know what they think is important, and how they would like me to represent them in Canberra.”
