Election day is almost here, and Star Mail has sent out a short Q and A for local Aston hopefuls ahead of the big day.
Aston is considered a marginal Labor seat with a 3.6 per cent hold and there are currently nine candidates listed on the AEC ballot.
Four candidates have sent responses through, currently Aston is held by Labor’s Mary Doyle, who won the previously held Liberal seat in the 2023 by-election.
Liberals are nominating Manny Cicchiello in an attempt to reclaim the outer eastern division, which the party previously held from 1990 to 2022, Green’s have announced Reuben Steen, while Family First have put forward Craig Manners, Trumpet of Patriots have named Steve
Desveaux and the Libertarian’s will see David Fawcett run. There are two Independents, Andrew William and Mark Grondman, as well as John De Wacht for Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party.
Greens Rueben Steen offered these responses:
1. What’s one thing you would like Aston residents to know about you as a person or as a leader?
I’m a local university student and factory worker, and I’m passionate about fighting for equality in our community. If you’re worried about the cost of your mortgage, rent, or food, you’re not alone. I’m sick of watching our community being ripped off by big corporations making massive profits and I’m committed to fighting for outcomes for everyday people.
2. What do you believe are the three biggest issues facing the electorate?
The biggest issues I’m hearing from Aston voters are the cost of living crisis, the housing crisis, and of course, the climate crisis. The Greens have practical solutions to address the cost-of-living crisis. We are fighting to put dental and mental health into Medicare, to make sure that you can see the GP for free, and to wipe all student debt and bring back free uni & TAFE. We know that one of the biggest stresses on voters in Aston is the cost of housing – whether it’s your mortgage, or your rent. The Greens have a plan to regulate the banks to deliver lower mortgages, and to make unlimited rent rises illegal. On the climate crisis, we’ve seen that the Labor government has approved over 25 more coal and gas projects. Dutton’s dangerous nuclear agenda will delay climate action and keep coal and gas in the system for longer. Both major parties support logging in our native forests. We can’t keep voting for the same two parties and expecting a different result. They have taken millions in donations from coal, oil and gas corporations to fund their election campaigns. To keep people safe, we need a massive expansion of cheap, reliable renewable energy. I’m fighting for publicly owned renewables and to end the billions in handouts to coal, oil and gas companies.
While you get ripped off, one in three big corporations pay $0 tax. We should tax them to get:
Dental into Medicare
Cap rent increases & lower mortgages
See the GP for free
Wipe all student debt & bring back free uni
Make supermarket price gouging illegal
Free childcare for every family
and stop the major party’s new coal & gas
3. What are some of your key policies both locally and nationally that you would like to highlight?
The number one plan the Greens have to address cost of living is to treat housing as essential, instead of profit for big property developers. Labor and the Liberals are funded by big banks and the property industry who are profiting from the housing crisis.
They’re giving $176 billion in tax handouts, including in negative gearing, to the wealthy property investors. Renters and first home buyers don’t stand a chance.
4. What’s your number one policy to reduce cost-of-living pressures?
The Greens plan will tackle the housing crisis, not tinker around the edges. We will stop unlimited rent increases, regulate the banks to deliver lower mortgages, scrap the tax handouts to wealthy property investors with more than two properties, including negative gearing, and invest in a government build of good-quality homes sold and rented at prices first home buyers can actually afford.
We know this plan is possible because it’s what the government did after World War Two. In 1945, the government directly built 26 per cent of all homes nationally. The only way to get real action on housing is to vote Greens.
5. Nothing changes if nothing changes. We can’t keep voting for the same two parties in Aston and expecting a different result. The Greens are fighting for low-rate mortgages, cheaper groceries, cheap renewable energy and more public and affordable housing. If you want real action on the cost of living crisis, the housing crisis, and the climate crisis, you have to vote for it. The major parties have taken your vote for granted for far too long – this time, vote 1 Greens.
