Winemaker stands for South Ward

WINEMAKER, farmer and Greens endorsed candidate Jackson Snep is vying for the South Ward seat in the 2020 Ballarat council elections.

Growing up on his family’s farm and eventually managing Welshmans Reef Vineyard with his father, Mr Snep has cultivated a strong connection to the land and his regional community.

Because of this, he said he’s always had an interest in being involved within the community, in politics and in making a difference.

“I had been wondering for a while about what I could be doing for my community and over the summer with the bushfires, I felt like I had to do something,” he said.

“Rather than worrying about it and whinging about the government, I figured there’s no better time than now to get involved.

“There’s a point where you need to step up and try and make a difference yourself.”

Aside from his professional winemaking work, Mr Snep also manages Big Hearted Wines, a social enterprise which supports grape growers in the central Victoria region.

Through this work, he said he has experienced the effects of climate change first-hand on food production, businesses, families and our environment.

“The initiative started because we were trying to help local growers in need, that’s when we first saw the issue,” he said.

“This kind of work is all about helping your neighbours and looking out for those in need.

“My big focus though is looking out for climate issues because there are some small things council can do here like getting our energy from renewable sources and promoting clean manufacturing and electric vehicles.”

Although climate action and promoting green industries are at the forefront of his campaign, it’s not the only South Ward issue he is focused on solving.

With a bachelor of business and a background in corporate audit and compliance under his belt, Mr Snep said he seeks to solve South Ward’s economic issues by encouraging small business and local economies from within the council.

“I do have another focus on governments and integrity of council as there’s been a few challenges around that lately, so with my background I hope I can bring a bit of scrutiny to our council offices,” he said.

“If I was elected I would also hope to try and push more local businesses and local industries so we wouldn’t be as dependant on outside businesses to promote a stronger economy.

“Because a stronger economy would result in more jobs and better qualified jobs.”

As a young candidate himself, he said he hopes that he can be a voice for his demographic and bring a progressive perspective to the future council.

“Being in touch with the younger demographic and acknowledging the issues that affect them like the housing market and the casualization of work would help inform my public work,” he said.

“Ballarat is in need of fresh faces and new perspectives.

“I think that South Ward could do with a bit of a shakeup so I hope I can bring a bit of diversity in terms of age and political perspective to the table.”