Greens bid for Vaucluse

The upcoming state election is bound to be a test of the Greens’ recent federal success, and one seat to keep an eye on in will be Vaucluse. Held by the Liberal party since 1945, with its current MP, Peter Debnam, holding it for the past 17 years, Vaucluse seems almost unassailable.

Greens member and Woolhara councillor Susan Jarnason disagrees with this assessment though, and has put herself in the running for the seat.

Jarnason has been an active within the Greens since 1991 and is a councillor for Paddington Ward. The Greens Wentworth candidate for the 2007 federal election, Jarnason is now making a bid for the Liberal-held seat of Vaucluse with a focus on health, climate change, responsible development and transparent governance.

Having worked in mental health care over the past 20 years she’s passionate about the importance of adequate funding for mental, migrant and indigenous health.

Originally from Canada, Jarnason compares the state of healthcare between her country of birth and Australia, as well as pointing to the United States as the endpoint of the trend towards letting the private sector fill the gaps in public health.

“I have a great respect for the private sector’s contributions, but as businesses they have to exclude people, they don’t have the same duty of care the public sector does,” she said.

She points to state Labor’s recent decision to sell off land surrounding the Royal North Shore hospital as a sign that Labor is unwilling to uphold its duty of care.

That ties into one of her biggest concerns for the seat of Vaucluse – the risk posed to it by over-development – pointing out Bondi’s impending Hakoah Club redevelopment and the widespread opposition to it that followed its announcement.

“There’s an unsavoury connection between developers and the major parties; there was almost unanimous opposition to the development but with the Part 3A powers they overruled it,” she said.

Aside from getting rid of those powers, which allow the Department of Planning to bypass local councils in approving development, Jarnason says reducing the ability of developers to influence decision-making with donations would help prevent conflicts of interest.

To this end she supports a ban on donations over $1000, as well as the introduction of public funding for campaigns to ensure an even playing field for candidates which she says is vital for “a real democracy”.

As for her chances at winning the seat, she’s realistic but sees room for hope.

“There’s been a swing to the Greens in recent years, enough so that the major parties have started debating issues we’ve raised, even if they do that it’s a different kind of win for us.”