Good to see the Canberra Liberals preselect longtime Assembly hopeful Jacob Vadakkedathu as their number one Senate candidate and Hayune Lee, a defence analyst of Korean extraction, as their number two candidate. If Jacob is successful, he will be our first non-white Senator. Now I must confess a little bias here, as I have a Korean son-in-law called Lee and a tiny bit of Indian blood on my mother’s side.
Jacob has an impressive CV, being the inaugural President of the Federation of Indian Associations of ACT, and he was also the founding President of the Gungahlin Community Council. He runs a firm that provides business management and financial services. He is a former public servant. His priorities are improved infrastructure and a fairer share of Commonwealth resources spent in the ACT. He will face an uphill battle against the still-popular David Pocock and Labor’s Katy Gallagher, who, despite a few blunders, should get back in, due to this being a strong Labor town. However, many people, even in the ACT, have been hit hard by the cost-of-living crisis, and Albo is not exactly covering himself in glory. So, it may be closer than you think.
On to local matters. The five candidates I saw push their wares last week at the Polish Club for pre-selection with the Independents for Canberra in Kurrajong and Murrumbidgee all seemed worthy contenders. For Kurrajong, we had my old mate Craig Emerson’s son Tom, a co-founder of the party, throw his hat in the ring. Tom works for David Pocock (and even looks a bit like him, although not so bulky – I think Tom was a 5/8). Tom used to run a fitness centre, so he has a small business background too. Sara Poguet from Red Hill is also running for that electorate, and she seemed enthusiastic and very keen. Sara runs Chez Freds restaurant in Braddon and helps older people in our community.
In Murrumbidgee, Indigenous leader Paula McGrady is seeking preselection. She has extensive experience working in youth protection and youth crime areas and has worked at our youth detention centre Bimberi. Anne-Louise Dawes is another candidate. She doesn’t like Canberra bashers and has done a lot of volunteer work with the disabled. She presented well. Finally, I thought Nathan Naicker, a federal public servant, was the best presenter of the night. He lives in Denman Prospect with his wife and two children and is of South African Indian extraction. He is passionate about health and thinks the government needs to listen to doctors and nurses more.
I couldn’t get to the Brindabella preselection. I understand the Independents for Canberra committee will now select two lead candidates in each electorate.
Canberra needs a change, and in my view, Labor needs a clean-out and a term in opposition for its own sake after 23 years in government. Labor is not helped by its coalition partners the Greens whose policies have largely been detrimental to the ACT.
