Full house for Sydney’s final forum

Full house for Sydney’s final forum
Image: (From left) Victor Taffa, Patrice Pandeleos, Chris Brentin, Edwina Lloyd and Alex Greenwich at the public forum.

By James Elton-Pym

The controversial 1.30am lockout laws and the evictions of public housing tenants at Millers Point were front and centre in a fiery meet-the-candidates forum for the seat of Sydney hosted by Alternative Media Group, the publisher of City Hub, last Tuesday.
Sitting independent MP Alex Greenwich, Labor candidate Edwina Lloyd, Greens candidate Chris Brentin, Liberal candidate Patrice Pandeleos and independent Victor Taffa fielded questions from the public in the packed upper level of the Beauchamp Hotel on Oxford Street.
Several members of the Lockouts Save Lives community group, which will spend election day handing out how-to-vote cards ranking candidates based on how strongly they support lockout laws, asked the sitting MP why he didn’t support the legislation.
Mr Greenwich said he thought lockouts were an effective punishment for rowdy venues but should not be applied across the board.
“I would have liked to see them imposed on poorly run venues a lot sooner . . . but we need to have diversity in our nightlife,” he said.
Mr Brentin, the Greens candidate, said lockout laws were not the answer. Rather, responsible service of alcohol restrictions needed to be properly enforced.
“Why the hell do we have [these laws] if no one is going to enforce them?” he said.
Both the Labor and Liberal candidates strongly support the lockouts. Ms Lloyd said Mr Greenwich was not listening to voters.
“Your view, Mr Greenwich, is against not only every single expert in town… but your own community disagrees with you,” she said.
Ms Pandeleos said the “doctors and the community” had spoken and supported the legislation.
Voters also questioned the candidates on the NSW government’s move to evict public housing tenants from Millers Point.
Ms Pandeleos, speaking over shouts from the crowd of “it’s disgusting” and “shame”, said while the evictions had been a “very difficult decision”, each tenant’s removal would generate enough capital to pay for social housing for four more on the waiting list.
Mr Greenwich said Labor shared the blame for the Millers Point situation and accused the previous state Labor government of “eviction by neglect” at the site.
Mr Brentin and Ms Lloyd condemned the sale of the land.
“What’s going on in Millers Point is absolutely disgusting, and what’s even more galling this evening is Mr Greenwich has not even come out and ruled out forming a hung parliament with the Liberal party,” Ms Lloyd said.
One questioner asked whether Mr Greenwich was truly independent given his close ties with former Sydney MP and now Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore.
“I’m a true independent, but I’m also proud to have Clover’s endorsement and support,” Mr Greenwich said.
Ms Lloyd turned to Mr Greenwich and said “Alex if you truly think you’re an independent I think you need to go to Co-Dependents Anonymous”.
Patrice Pandeleos, the Liberal candidate, attended a previous meet-the-candidates forum at Paddington Uniting Church on March 19, despite initial suggestions she would not attend.
This comes amid reports that her recently replaced campaign manager told organisers Ms Pandeleos was not allowed to go to such events under Liberal party policy.
Patrice Pandeleos told City Hub she had “always been able to attend forums, despite popular opinion”.
Her new campaign manager said he had been working with Ms Pandeleos for four weeks, but would not confirm whether his predecessor was fired.
“I’m not answering questions about the last campaign manager,” he told City Hub.

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