By Oliver Winn
The candidates of Casey hashed it out at the Alpine Hotel on Tuesday night for this Federal election’s Politics at the Pub event.
In front of an estimated 90 Warburton locals, Labor’s Naomi Oakley, independent Claire Ferres Miles and Greens’ Merran Blair and Animal Justice’s Chloe Bond sat alongside current Liberal member for Casey Aaron Violi to discuss their plans for the electorate.
The Alpine Hotel hosted the last federal election’s Politics in the Pub, and this event proved to be as lively and passionate as the last.
Warburton local Melanie Audrey MC’d the event and said the environment was lively, direct and passionate.
“We had a full room – less than last time, but still a full room – and it was a very energised space,” Ms Audrey said.
The Coalition’s nuclear plan didn’t wash well with the room and riled up the crowd, but Ms Audrey said she facilitated the crowd’s questions so every candidate could respond.
“I wanted each of the candidates to have a chance to respond to each of the questions. So, even though that particular question was directed at the current member, we threw to the panel, so the audience got a sense of the contrasting views on it.”
The discussion covered all the major talking points of today – housing, cost of living, the war between Israel and Palestine – but the local question surrounded Airbnb and the housing supply in Warburton.
Warburton resident Larry Henning said this was the second Politics at the Pub she’s attended since the 2022 federal election and that the crowd was more aligned this time round.
Ms Henning noted how the informal pub environment helped each candidate loosen up, revealing the person behind the party’s candidate.
“As the candidates became more familiar with the audience, you could start to see a bit of their true personality come through, which is quite endearing,” she said.
Ms Audrey said the interactions between each candidate were fairly courteous and polite, but there was still some good-natured banter between them.
“Naomi from Labor and Aaron threw a few barbs at each other but it was all pretty good-natured,” she said.
The crowd stayed civil, with the tension remaining at a manageable level.
“Things did get heated, but it’s Warburton, politics in the pub, and I would expect a bit of heat in the room.”
Another attendee was Lindy Schneider, who said the event was a great opportunity to speak directly with decision makers of the area.
“I think that the environment that we’re in, where we’re in a really community-based situation like the local pub really lends itself to open and honest communication and sharing,” Ms Scheider said.
It just gave everybody an opportunity to see and hear from the candidates as real people.”
“I learnt a lot about every single one of them and really appreciated particularly learning around their long histories and sometimes even births in the Yarra Ranges,” she said.
The involvement of young Warburton locals was another point to note, with a large number of them turning up to ask some pointy questions.
“Obviously we’re all accountable to one another, but we’re really accountable to the young people that are inheriting the policies and the practices of today for their own futures,” Ms Schneider said.
“So that was a really nice point for me to see so many young people actively engaged in political conversation, respectfully and insightfully.”
