By Dongyun Kwon
Healesville-Yarra Glen Uniting Church is going to host a forum where locals will be able to meet federal election candidates for Casey.
The forum will be held at the Memo, Healesville on 28 April, starting at 7pm.
Labor candidate Naomi Oakley, Liberal candidate Aaron Violi, Greens candidate Dr Merran Blair, Independent candidate Claire Ferres Miles, and Animal Justice candidate Chloe Bond will come to the forum to communicate with the voters.
Family First candidate Dan Nebauer hasn’t confirmed if he is going to participate in the forum or not.
Healesville-Yarra Glen Uniting Church Council treasurer Dale Prentice said the most of the candidates forums in Casey have been held or organised by Uniting Churches including the first one in Tecoma and the last one in Healesville.
“We have traditionally held the Darren Honey Centre forums for the state government for the last five elections, and the Anglicans ran the federal one last time, but without a minister there, we’ve stepped up to fill that space,” he said.
“We would, traditionally, as the Uniting Church, have run the forums for both state and federal elections.
“What Uniting Church has considered very important is that candidates have the interaction with their community.”
After the Welcome to Country and other formalities, each candidate will give a brief three-minute introduction. Then, the forum will move into a Q and A session.
Healesville-Yarra Glen Church Council chairman Bruce Argyle will be the MC of the event.
Mr Prentice said the Healesville forum will be the largest candidate forum run in Casey, accommodating up to over 200 people.
“We found somebody who is very neutral to be the MC for the event. The feeling of comfort of the candidates is very important to us, so that they can really express their views clearly without feeling like they’re under attack,” the forum organiser said.
“We’ve put in the free ticketing for people to pose their questions when they book their ticket, and then we will go through all their questions, and try and group questions together because we’ve only got one hour.
“The MC will ask questions on behalf of the audience. With a tiered auditorium, it’s very difficult to move around with the microphone well in that time frame.”
The questions, that have been submitted so far, are under the themes of energy, cost of living, climate change, incarceration of minors and Indigenous children, and immigration.
“This is the chance for the Healesville community to hear their candidates, but if people beyond want to come, that’s fine,” Mr Prentice said.
“It’s really important that we understand as a town how we’re represented at Canberra because we hear federal comment, but we don’t often get engagement at that community level.
“This is our chance to ask the candidates questions that are pertinent to Healesville and its surrounds, and to understand how we as a town are represented by our candidates federally.”
To book a ticket, please visit the following website, events.humanitix.com/healesville-meet-the-candidates-for-casey
