Former City of Greater Geelong councillor Dr Sarah Mansfield has been elected as one of the Victorian Greens co-deputy leaders.
The Greens announced on Tuesday (April 23) Ellen Sandell as their new leader, with Western Victorian representative Dr Mansfield as one of her two deputies along with Sam Hibbins.
Dr Mansfield is the first Greens MP to represent a rural or regional area in Victoria. One of her new responsibilities will be to lead Victorian Greens’ business in the Legislative Council, where the Greens hold the balance of power.
“As co-deputy of the Victorian Greens, I will ensure that towns like Geelong and Ballarat, along with farming and coastal communities across the regions, are fairly and firmly represented in our parliament,” she said.
“I entered politics because I am passionate about addressing inequality, including regional disadvantage. The Greens are here to give a voice to all those who are feeling let down by politicians.
“Labor has no vision and no policies that prioritise our health and the health of our environment. People want an alternative to the duopoly of Labor and Liberal – the Greens are that alternative.”
The new Greens leadership said it would challenge Labor to fix the worsening housing crisis or risk losing more lower house seats at the next election.
The Greens say both major parties will continue to haemorrhage votes while they ignore the thousands of Victorians in housing stress and unable to find an affordable home.
“We are here to get outcomes on the issues that are impacting people right now across our state, like housing affordability, cost of living, the climate crisis,” Dr Mansfield said.
“We will use our power in the upper house to achieve real change for people regardless of where they live. We are not content to tinker around the edges of deep-rooted inequalities. We are here to shake things up.”
