2016-06-19
Mark Riboldi
Greens candidate for Sydney Sylvie Ellsmore was recently described by Rupert Murdoch's Sydney imprint The Daily Telegraph as “a blue-haired karate-chopping Greenie (who) wants to kung fu kick Labor's deputy leader Tanya Plibersek out of her seat.”
Martial arts mixed metaphors aside, the Greens winning Sydney is improbable but not impossible. The Liberals have a strong base vote that hovers around 30 per cent across all levels of government, but the final 70 per cent of the vote shifts around between the Greens, Labor and Independents.
“We're under no illusions how difficult winning this seat will be,” Sylvie says. “One of our core campaign aims is to strengthen capacity amongst Greens activists, so if we don't win this time we're in a much better position to do so next time.”
Labor's deputy federal leader Tanya Plibersek is regarded as having a strong personal vote – the Greens' Senate vote was six percentage points higher than that for the house of reps in 2013 – but Labor's power base in Sydney has been steadily deteriorating.
The City itself has long been Independent, with current-Lord Mayor Clover Moore beginning in state parliament as the Member for Sydney in 1988, and then replaced by Independent Alex Greenwich in 2012 when the NSW State Government changed the law to kick Moore out of parliament.
The primary shift has come on the western fringes of the electorate, once the heartland of the Labor Left at local, state and federal levels, but increasingly going Green as demographics and Labor Party policy shift further away from the values of their traditional voters.
“The Greens have been representing the community at a local government level in Sydney for over 20 years,” Sylvie says.
“Our track record of listening to and working with residents to build the type of strong, caring and diverse communities we all want to live in - means the Greens have been at least as good as Labor on inner-west councils for almost a decade, and now we have two strong state members, Jamie Parker in Balmain and Jenny Leong in Newtown.”
The other federal electorate these state seats and council areas cross over into is Grayndler, where Greens candidate and local firefighter Jim Casey is giving another Labor 'Left' leader, Anthony Albanese, a real run for his money.
“The seat of Sydney might not go Green at this election,” Sylvie says. “But there's little doubt it will at some point soon.
Sylvie is a Native Title lawyer and former local councillor (on Marrickville Council, before NSW Liberal Premier Mike Baird undemocratically sacked 42 councils across NSW in what is widely regarded as a move to remove local opposition to major planning projects like the WestConnex toll-road - a major election issue.)
Sylvie's record on council speaks for itself. More successful motions than any other councillor, including launching initiatives to introduce a Refugee Community Passport, ensuring affordable housing in major public developments, and tripling funding for bike paths across Sydney.
She recently spoke at the 2016 Juanita Nielsen Memorial lecture, where she drew strong parallels between the Green bans movement against developer greed in Sydney in the 1970s and the growing direct action and civil disobedience around WestConnex – highlighting that we are coming into a time where government disregard for democracy and the will of the community is at an all-time high.
Sylvie is a proud unionist, has a background in environmental, planning and heritage law and is a volunteer karate teacher at her local dojo in Darlington. Oh yes, as you can see she also has blue hair.
If you're in Sydney and want to volunteer on the campaign, visit the campaign website. Donations are also very welcome.