Prior to ballot papers being mailed out EGCAN (East Gippsland Climate Action Network) submitted a climate questionnaire to all candidates – only eight replied and of them, five positively. EGCAN originally planned to publish the results prior to the commencement of balloting using a ‘traffic light’ analogy, but because of the poor response decided not to do so.
Here is my effort to fill the gap. I have divided the 21 candidates into the traffic light colors – green being climate friendly, red the most likely opponents and amber in between, unclear or not known. Within each of these groups the candidates are not ranked.
The Green group is mainly made up of EGCAN members, or supporters of more climate action by the Shire, and those that returned the questionnaire. In this group are Kendall, Urie, Greacen, Crook, Schroder, and Dutton. Schroder is a borderline case as he did not complete the questionnaire and appears to have made deals with inappropriate candidates.
The Amber group of candidates is the largest including Buckley and Simon Ellis who both replied to the questionnaire with mixed responses; Dick Ellis, White and Reeves all of whom voted against the climate emergency petition; Neophytou, Van Diggele, Neale, Allen, Stow, Rowe, and McNeill. Candidates with the Red light are Behan, Barling, and Roberts.
Depending on how the vote turns out your preferences are very important – in some instances up to your fourteenth preference may count. It is therefore very important to keep these numbers as tight as possible. We will be voting on climate for the rest of the decade as the climate emergency dictates. Now is a good time to start if you have not already done so. Remember to discuss climate at every opportunity and to spread the word.