The Greens are the change that Ballarat needs.
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That is the message to come from the party’s candidate for Ballarat Alice Barnes.
She previously ran as the party’s Wendouree candidate at the 2014 Victorian election and says the Greens can play a vital role in the upcoming election.
“I think we need to turn Ballarat green,” she said.
“I think the people of Ballarat expect more of their politicians than has been delivered at a state and federal level and obviously we know there has been a lot of drama at local councils.
“I think I have really good skills and am really passionate about climate change and refugees in particular, that is why I decided to stand.”
Ms Barnes said she believed residents were warming to the views which the Greens held.
“I don’t think we changed our tune over the past 15 to 20 years but I think the community has kind of caught up with the ideas we are promoting,” she said.
Ms Barnes was previously a youth councillor with the City of Ballarat and is a volunteer for the soup bus.
“I have been involved with the community since I was a teenager,” she said. “Now I have returned to Ballarat after going to uni down in Melbourne and living overseas for a few years, teaching in various countries, I have gotten involved again.
“I think it really important to play a role in civic life and I think I have the skills to be able to make a contribution.”
While some see Catherine King’s 4.9 per cent margin from the 2013 federal election as hard to reel in, this may not be the case.
“The first time she (Ms King) got in, she got in due to Greens’ preferences and I think the Greens are playing a really interesting campaign game this time around and we are really important players in the political landscape and I think that will be true in Ballarat as well,” she said.
Ms Barnes highlighted tackling climate change as her most important issue
“I am a Ballarat girl born and bred and I think this is a wonderful community that I am really proud of and get to rant and rave about on a daily base through my full time job at Sovereign Hill,” she said. “But I think if this is to be a prosperous, successful and safe community in the decades to come we need to start preparing for what the climate has in store for us.”