Text & Images © Kerrie Pacholli

The entire two hour event was filmed by Henry Greener producer of THE SHTICK

The Macnamara Candidates’ Forum was held on the 30 April 2019 in the heartlands of St Kilda at Memo Music Hall and there was standing room only.

Produced and organised by Serge Thomann of unChain Inc. and sponsored by Memo Music Hall and the Vineyard the proceedings started at 7pm sharp and the race was on.

Local candidates’ Steph Hodgins-May (Greens), Kate Ashmor (Liberals) and Josh Burns (ALP) had an initial ‘timed’ four minutes to share their prospective party’s Policies on many issues across the board.  

Moderator for the night, John Daley captained a well oiled and rhythmic flow which made for a fast paced delivery from our three Macnamara Candidates for this coming Federal Election on the 18 May 2019.   

The pressure was on and all three candidates held their positions; perhaps breaking a little sweat at times, as they were succintly probed by a couple of highly distinguished keynote speakers.

Professor Michelle Foster inaugural director of the Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness at the Melbourne Law School lead the charge; raising the bar from the get go about respective party policies on refugees and social-economic rights. The Greens call for a “Charter of Human Rights”, The Liberals were more about growing “The Pie” to allow small business to accommodate and Labor assured us that Penny Wong,  Minister for Foreign Affairs will be all about sorting out the mistakes from the past and pushing for a closure of Naru.

Next keynote speaker was Lyn Allison the last former federal parliamentary leader of the Australian Democrats. She delivered pointed questions on policies around corruption, secrecy and accountability.  Stating that Policies across the board are usually decided by a hand full of long time colleagues and it is not good enough.  There needs to be Indigenous representation and protection of the natural environment.  She is calling for a National Integrity Commission.  All parties did there best, however the Greens shown bright with enthusiasm aligning themselves toward Labor, maintaining a cautious eye on accountability.

We then heard from four independents in Stephen Armstrong for the Sustainable Australia Party.

Ruby O’Rourke for children’s rights. Helen Paton from the United Australia Party and Independent Chris Wallis proudly single and all for sustainability and easing traffic congestion.

Staying on schedule, there was an equally fast paced Q & A from the audience to the candidates via Slido.com through the evenings Moderator.

In summary the ALP want to stop politics of fear and move toward innovation and collaboration. The Greens see fossil fuels as ‘got to go’, wanting to move toward 100% renewables. The Liberals are wanting to continue to grow “The Pie” through standard support to private enterprise and small to large business.

Henry Greener from The Shtick filmed the entire two hour event. You will have the opportunity to hear from the main Candidates but also from a few of the unprecedented Independents bidding for a seat and voice at the Policy table. He all also be interviewing organiser Serge Thomann on THE SHTICK.