Gold Coast Election 2020: Queensland Greens name 20yo Zai Harris as Mermaid Beach candidate
A 20-year-old hospitality worker has been named as the latest candidate to contest a sought-after Gold Coast seat.
Gold Coast
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A 20-YEAR-OLD hospitality worker has been named the latest Queensland Greens candidate to take on the Gold Coast.
Law student Zai Harris was announced as the party’s candidate contesting the seat of Mermaid Beach in the October election.
Mr Harris, who plays rugby league locally and volunteers at a community legal centre, backed party plans for transport and economic recovery.
“The Gold Coast needs a major economic boost to get our community moving again,” he said.
“The Greens plan for free public transport, a bus on every major road corridor every 10 minutes.
“And a fast-rail network connecting the Gold coast to Brisbane will put more money in people’s pockets, increase travel around the city, reduce traffic congestion and car pollution, and make our neighbourhoods and communities thriving places to live.
“We will revitalise local club sport by guaranteeing a free season of club sport for everyone under 18 so that every kid gets the chance to play, regardless of their parents’ ability to play.”
Mr Harris is now the fifth candidate standing against incumbent LNP MP Ray Stevens, alongside Labor’s former diplomat Dr Carl Ungerer and One Nation’s Stephen James.
Suphakan Somsriruen from the Motorists Party and Deb Lynch from Legalise Cannabis QLD are also running in the electorate.
The Greens have also selected 23-year-old IT professional and software engineer Alan Quinn as their Southport candidate.
Mr Quinn contested the seat of McPherson in last year’s federal election.
He said the Gold Coast had been hit hard by recession post-COVID.
He said: “We will help struggling families by investing in free health care and education, create thousands of jobs through an investment in renewables and social housing, and establish a free breakfast and lunch program for every state school on the Gold Coast.”
EARLIER:
GOLD Coast election candidates are bracing for voters to head to the polls weeks in advance as the countdown to election day begins.
There is just a month left before the official polling day on October 31, but the majority of the Glitter Strip is expected to vote when pre-poll opens on October 19.
The Electoral Commission of Queensland has already received 500,000 postal vote applications so far, and tipped early voting as the “predominant” voting channel.
The early vote means many candidates are preparing for an “election period” rather than an election day, according to Currumbin Labor candidate Kaylee Campradt.
Ms Campradt has already faced the March by-election against standing LNP MP Laura Gerber, and said her second campaign has been “very different”.
“Obviously we’ve learned a lot about COVID since the by-election, so I’m encouraging people to pre-poll and request postal ballots to get it done,” she said.
“I imagine a lot of people will take up the postal vote and the result of the election (likely) won’t be known on election day.
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“I’m really looking at it like there’s two and a half weeks until election day. Monday the 19th is when everything starts.”
More than 50 per cent of Queensland residents may choose to vote early, with 13,000 additional ECQ staff employed to manage the election.
Political experts believe the early vote may impact the outcome of some of the Gold Coast’s closest seats, with Professor Steve Stockwell believing the method of campaigning has changed entirely
He said: “Typically candidates would start putting their case out in the last week, now you’ve got to do that a lot earlier in this situation.
“It does have an impact on the election overall and you can see it already, campaigns are getting on the front foot much earlier getting out their positions.
“The way people vote is affected by where they’re at the moment they vote, so it means people are making up their minds much earlier.
“Rather than having a campaign which climaxes on election day you actually need a campaign which makes its points all the way through.”
Bonney MP Sam O’Connor echoed Ms Campradt’s statements about October 19, adding he doesn’t envy first-time candidates taking on the campaign race.
“It’s a different feeling having an office (as an MP), last time I was running things out of my little apartment and my ute I was going around in,” he said.
“I was working five nights a week at the footy club to pay the bills and doorknocking every day, it’s a lot different when you can solely focus on this with an office to support you.
“I wouldn’t want to be a candidate compared to an incumbent this time. (The pandemic) has brought things forward a few weeks.”
The State election will be held on October 31.
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