Forum brings candidates and business together

COMMERCE Ballarat held a State Election Candidate Forum last week, the aim of which was to allow their members to hear from and question those standing later this month.

Seated at a long table the six female and one male candidates representing Labor, Liberal and the Greens kicked off the event with a three-minute elevator pitch to the approximately fifty Commerce Ballarat members in attendance.

Facilitator on the night, Nevett Ford Lawyers director Paul Stephens then opened the floor for a Q&A session.

Andrew Kilmartin, Michaele Settle and Linda Zibell contesting Buninyong, sitting Liberal Louise Staley for Rippon and Wendouree candidates Amy Johnson, Juliana Addison and Alice Barnes fielded the questions, predominantly around the forecast growth of 250,000 residents in the city by 2050.

Ten questions were asked by the audience, four of which came from local Ballarat councillors, one from the CEO of the Pyrenees shire Council while local health, education, arts and tourism organisations dominated the rest.

Ms Staley – Liberal- suggested the use of “planning flying squads” to facilitate handling the growing pains of the city in years ahead.

Ms Barnes, Australian Greens candidate for Wendouree said “the Greens are not allergic to business” when responding to a question from Australian Industry Group’s regional manager Jim Dannock.

In what was a quiet and attentive atmosphere for most of the night, the temperature of the room rose slightly when Labor’s Ms Addison and Liberal Ms Staley responded to Councillor Ben Taylor’s question about the ‘red shirts rort.’