Greens Turn Up The Heat In New Stunt
Illawarra Mercury
Friday March 23, 2007
YOU'VE got to hand it to the Greens when it comes to interesting election stunts. A week or so back, they highlighted the lack of toilets on CityRail trains by dressing in nappies on Kiama Railway Station.
This week's effort targeted the effects of global warming.Kiama candidate Ben van der Wijngaart and his merry band went to the home of Greens stalwart Warren Holder and unfurled a banner showing how much of the home would be lost to a rise in sea levels in 20 years.They then arranged for free screenings of Al Gore's movie An Inconvenient Truth at Albion Park, Gerringong and Bomaderry.KIAMA might be the closest thing to a marginal seat in the Illawarra, so you'd think the candidates would want every vote they could get. But sitting MP Matt Brown failed to take any how-to-vote cards with him while campaigning at the Mayflower Retirement Village in Gerringong on Tuesday.Maybe it was because one of the home's residents is his number one fan (and we're sure, top campaigner) - his mum.ALEX Darling is running a relatively low-key campaign in Shellharbour, when you contrast the number of his posters with that of Labor rival Lylea McMahon.But the Wollongong Lord Mayor appears to have gone for quality. The few places we've spotted posters have been in high-profile locations - near the Lake Illawarra entrance, in the middle of Shellharbour village, and the one pictured above, greeting motorists on the freeway near Kanahooka.Though we do wonder if motorists more interested in buying this land might instead think he's the man to call ...And what about the most talked about billboard we've come across - that of Fishing Party Kiama candidate Garth Bridge.Elections are a time everyone talks about family values, but Mr Bridge has gone one step further and included his nephew Nathan on his posters.
© 2007 Illawarra Mercury