Picking up Clover’s baton
By his own admission, he’s seen by some as “the gay marriage dude,” but Alex Greenwich is at pains to point out that he’s far from being a single issue guy.
In fact, to meet the would-be Member for Sydney over coffee at the Tropicana Café in Darlinghurst is to be subjected to a barrage of plans, ideas and opinions.
Asked why he’s standing to represent the state seat, he responds with: “It’s vital Sydney has a strong Independent voice and I feel I’m able to contribute my energy and experience to being a strong voice for Sydney.”
A bit general, perhaps, and certainly on-message, but he quickly moves to list a plethora of issues he feels Sydneysiders want addressed.
“There are issues that people in Sydney feel passionate about that are statewide, such as education, and Barry O’Farrell’s $1.7 billion cuts to education, and hunting in national parks,” says Mr Greenwich.
“Then there are the grassroots, local issues: things like having an Inner City public high school, having regular overnight trains in Kings Cross, being able to take companion animals on public transport, and slowing down traffic on Oxford St and Harris St in Pyrmont.
“And then there are issues which are both local and statewide, such as public housing and the way the O’Farrell Government is neglecting public housing.
“Sydneysiders are passionate about their community,” he asserts. “They want schools, they want slower traffic, they want their values represented in Parliament and whether that’s gay and lesbian law reform, animal welfare, standing up for public education – those are the things that are important to Sydney.”
He certainly says the right things but the key question is: can this 31-year-old recruitment consultant – who was until recently National Convenor of same-sex lobby group Australian Marriage Equality – deliver the goods?
Clover Moore, Member for Sydney for the past 24 years, certainly thinks so. On the day she resigned from Parliament, her hand forced by the O’Farrell Government’s ‘Get Clover Bill’, she anointed Mr Greenwich as her preferred successor.
“Clover is my political hero so having her endorsement really encourages me,” says Mr Greenwich. “And the only condition she put on that endorsement is that I would work hard.”
And again, Mr Greenwich is at pains to make a point: he’s no Clover puppet, he says.
“If I wanted to be told how to vote, I would have joined a political party. I would have joined the Greens, Liberals or Labor. I wouldn’t have chosen the Independent route.”
Mr Greenwich says that Independent route is the key difference between him and his opponents.
“The point of being an Independent is to represent your constituents instead of having to tow a party line. I’m able to work for Sydney rather than working for a major party.”
And while he’s generally avoided sledging his opponents, he can’t resist adding: “As an Independent, I won’t be distracted by internal factional warfare. And that’s what we have on offer with both Shayne [Mallard] and Chris [Harris].
“We’ve seen the way Shayne shafted Adrian Bartels to run in this by-election. We’ve seen the way Chris has been a factional warrior and attacked his colleague Cate Faehrmann.
“My concern is if either of them get elected, they’ll be distracted by internal politicking rather than actually getting on with the job.”
Whether Mr Greenwich gets the chance to ‘get on with the job’ isn’t clear. Clover’s endorsement bodes well for him – but as election analyst Antony Green has pointed out: “It is hard to believe that all of her vote would transfer to Greenwich. Moore has more than three decades of on the ground local activism … and Greenwich does not.”
But win or lose on Saturday, this won’t be the last we hear of this enthusiastic political wannabe.
“There’ll be a state election in two-and-a-half years,” he notes. “If I don’t get up this time, I’ll certainly seriously considering running again next time, because I really want to work for the people of Sydney. If I miss out this time, I’ll try again.”
