I’m Shane Bazzi. I live on unceded Gadigal land. I’m asking for your #1 vote to put a diverse voice with lived experience into NSW Parliament.
I was born and raised in South West Sydney, which shaped my values of community and resilience. I now live in the Inner West with my partner Keith and assistance dog Bella.
I’m a gay, disabled, Lebanese-Australian activist, renter, sexual assault survivor, and unionist. I don’t just understand our values and policies on paper - I’ve lived them; dedicating my life to building a compassionate, fair, progressive society, and dismantling systems of oppression and inequality. I’ve worked as a public-school teacher, in the union movement and for the Greens.
I’ve been a Greens member since 2016. My activism began in 2004 at Villawood Detention Centre. I’ve volunteered on Christmas Island and worked alongside refugees and whistleblowers on Manus Island and Nauru to shine a light on the cruelty of offshore detention. I’ve campaigned to Bring Them Here, Let Them Stay, advocated for LGBTIQA+ rights, and to ban greyhound and horse racing.
Peter Dutton sued me for defamation in 2021 over a tweet. I fought that battle and won, proving I can stand up to powerful bullies. I’ll bring that courage to Parliament, speaking truth to power. The Minns Government’s draconian anti-protest laws and racist, Islamophobic rhetoric regarding Israel’s genocide in Gaza are deeply personal to me. Israel’s airstrikes in Lebanon killed members of my family and destroyed our home.
As an anti-genocide activist and son of a Lebanese Muslim migrant, I’ve experienced anti-Arab racism and Islamophobia. I’ll always defend human rights, civil liberties, and stand in solidarity with the anti-genocide movement. NSW is experiencing housing, cost-of-living, and climate crises, and a health system under significant strain.
I know what it’s like to live paycheque to paycheque, the anxiety of unfair rent increases and the fear that asking for repairs will lead to eviction. We can be a compassionate society prioritising people over profit. We can cap and freeze rents, invest in public, social and affordable housing, and provide free, accessible public transport.
Everyone should be able to access the health care, including mental health care, they need, regardless of income or postcode. We can stop new coal and gas projects, transition to renewables and end native forest logging.
Our Parliament should reflect our community. We need more People of Colour, First Nations, LGBTIQA+, people with disabilities, renters and working-class people in Parliament and our party room.
We can elect four Greens to the Legislative Council in 2027, and with your #1 vote, I can be that much-needed diverse, compassionate, courageous community candidate in Parliament.
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Shane Bazzi
