By Corey Everitt
The Greens have chosen their candidate for La Trobe: Officer resident Jamie Longmuir, who says he will fight for better living standards and make corporations pay their fair share.
The 25-year-old announced his candidacy on Monday 7 April, he will contest Liberal Jason Wood and Labor’s Jeff Springfield among other contenders in the 3 May federal election.
He grew up on a farm in Officer and said his family roots in the community have inspired him to follow in their steps.
He has worked in the disability support sector as well as in the renewable energy sector.
Longmuir says it was the Black Summer bushfires of 2019 – 2020 that got him into politics, as it increased his deep concern for the environment.
“Leading scientists warn that such extreme events may become the norm by 2040 in Australia under the current climate trajectory,” he said.
“Additionally, the Great Barrier Reef has suffered massive coral bleaching, with studies suggesting that 50% of the reef has died due to rising ocean temperatures.
“This is particularly saddening as, having seen the reef firsthand in my youth, I fear
future generations may not have the same opportunity to experience this natural wonder.”
Co-founder of the South East Climate Action Network, Longmuir reports experience in climate activism with groups like Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and Rising Tide.
As the Greens candidate, Longmuir hopes to present an alternative to Labor and Liberal for people who wish for more urgent action on climate change and to see Australia’s powerful mining and fossil fuel companies held to account.
“Both the Liberal and Labor parties continue to provide billion-dollar subsidies to the declining, harmful finite fossil fuel industry, which risks undermining Australia’s global competitiveness to become a renewable energy exporting leader and our future of living in a safe climate,” Longmuir said.
Alongside halting new coal and gas projects; he and the Greens call for reducing the cost of living with such measures as including dental and mental health into Medicare, implementing rent freezes during this housing crisis and promoting publicly owned utilities in the transition to renewables.
“At the Greens we want to make multi-national corporations pay their fair share of tax and fund $514 billion for things we all need,” Longmuir said.
“Residents in the electorate of La Trobe deserve a better standard of living and a safe climate to live in, and I am ready to demand it.”
