Campaign for “animals, people, and planet”

By Lachlan Ellis3

A third-party candidate for the new seat of Eureka says she is running for the state election on a platform focused on the environment and climate change.

Wendy Morrison is the Animal Justice Party (AJP) candidate for Eureka, and previously ran for the AJP at the 2018 state election.

Ms Morrison lives in Ballarat and has spent several years as a camp cook with safari companies all over Australia, and has for the past six years been employed as a legal assistant.

Ms Morrison said that if elected as the Member for Eureka at the November 26 election, she hopes to strike a better balance between animals, people, and the planet.

“Animal Justice Party-wise, I’ve been involved with them for about 9 years. Originally what inspired me to stand as a candidate back in 2018, and now in 2022, is that animals have no voice in Parliament, and what current practices allow them to be bred and commoditised into all sorts of industries,” Ms Morrison told the Moorabool News.

“I guess my interest in that goes back to 2003. I’ve always loved animals, but in 2003 I just randomly locked eyes with distressed sheep on the back of a B-double on a hot, dusty day in the middle of a drought. Something just clicked in my head that I need to help these animals, so ever since then, I’ve been an advocate for animals.”

Ms Morrison said that the health of the planet and climate change can sometimes be “put into the background”, but she hopes to bring it to the forefront of policy at Spring Street.

“I want to be a voice for animals, people, and planet, because obviously there’s disadvantaged people out there that need a voice. If I was elected, I’d firstly push for an immediate transition towards clean energy, regeneration, and rapid reduction of emissions. A lot of emissions are driven by animal agriculture,” she said.

“As far as the Moorabool or Eureka area goes, I’d be pushing for protection of wildlife, for eco-tourism and creating employment in eco-tourism jobs. The AJP’s transport policy is guided towards better public transport, and lessening road traffic for the sake of commuters and wildlife.”

For more information on Wendy Morrison’s campaign, visit https://vic.animaljusticeparty.org/wendy_morrison_for_eureka.