By Parker McKenzie
The official launch of Claire Ferres Miles’ campaign to become an independent federal member for Casey was marked with an announcement of funding from Climate 200.
The campaign launch event on Sunday 6 February at Kalorama Memorial Reserve was attended by around 90 community members.
Ms Ferres Miles said everyone in attendance was there because they believe federal politics does not represent the community’s values.
“Our voice has been silenced. Our vote has been taken for granted. I believe that we expect our leaders to be honest, and have integrity,” she said.
“We want smart evidence-based climate policy. We believe in equality, accountability and transparency. We want to be hopeful that our future can be different.”
Voices of Casey announced at the launch they have received a “substantial” donation of money from Climate 200, which is more than $10,000.
Climate 200 is an Australian fund donating to politicians and campaigns supporting action on climate change. Donors to the fund include Simon Holmes à Court and Mike Cannon-Brookes.
Ms Ferres Miles said the way to change the current “negative, tired old style of politics” is to turn up and turn apathy into action.
“We have courage and we step forward. We volunteer, not for ourselves, but we volunteer for our community,” she said.
“Perhaps for the first time like me, we become active citizens in who will represent us. We roll up our sleeves and we join the Claire for Casey campaign team.”
Voices of Casey spokesperson Fionn Bowd said to beat the major parties, they will need to recreate the party structure.
“We need to let the electorate know that Claire is here. We need to let the electorate know that this is a community candidate,” she said.
“This is not a single issue independent; this isn’t all about having just one thing that we care about. This is about what the community cares about,
“We know that 80 per cent of Australians care about climate change and climate action. We also knew that 70 per cent of Australians wanted equality of marriage. But how long did it take us to actually get that?”
Voices of Casey supporter Adriana Alvarez said Ms Ferres Miles was a person of vision, wisdom, kindness and insight.
“I think someone like Claire, who is a true listener and will be a true community voice, can reengage us all in the political process,” she said.
“That’s what we need, not about just saying well it’s hopeless and I’m not going to pay attention. I think a lot of us do that, so I want to be hopeful again.”
With 21 May being the latest date of the next federal election, Voices of Casey have 75 days at most to put together a campaign to challenge for a seat held by the Liberal Party since 1984. The seat of Casey is located in the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne and extends into the Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges.
