The Community Environment Network (CEN) will be holding two Candidate Forums at the Ourimbah Campus of the University of Newcastle (UoN) in the leadup to the March 25 NSW State Election.
Central Coast residents living in the electorates of Wyong, The Entrance, Terrigal and Gosford will have a chance to find out how candidates standing in those seats will work, if elected, to protect our local lifestyle, natural and cultural environments, biodiversity, sustainable development, local infrastructure needs and respond to the climate crisis.
The first forum, covering candidates standing in the electorates of Wyong and The Entrance, will be held on Wednesday, 15 March from 6:30pm to 8:30pm in Lecture Theatre 102 at Ourimbah Campus of UoN.
The second, covering candidates standing in the seats of Terrigal and Gosford, will be held on Thursday, 16 March from 6.30pm to 8.30pm in Lecture Theatre 102 at Ourimbah Campus.
Residents wishing to ask questions during the forum will be required to submit them via email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. before the forum.
Our moderators will then select questions to ask the candidates in a Q&A style forum.
Members of the public can register to attend the forum via cen.org.au/events and registrations will open on Wednesday, 8 March and close at 9pm on Tuesday, 14 March.
“We know that most Central Coast residents love our local area and care deeply about protecting our lifestyle and the environment, but these topics have hardly been discussed as part of this election campaign,” said CEN Chair, Mr Gary Chestnut.
“We have spent the past five out of seven years with our Council under administration, we have been told we are now one of Six Cities and that our population must grow by 88,000 by 2040 but we are one of the regions most impacted by the climate crisis in Australia,” Mr Chestnut said.
“This is the community’s chance to find out what the local NSW election candidates will do for sustainability on the Coast if elected to the state parliament,” he said.
CEO, Samantha Willis, said: “Last month we wrote to each MP and candidate setting out the top 10 issues on sustainability and asking for their position on each. These issues will also be tackled during the forums.”
SUMMARY:
Forum 1: Wyong and The Entrance, will be held at the Ourimbah Campus of the University of Newcastle on Wednesday, 15 March from 6.30pm to 8.30pm in Lecture Theatre 102.
Forum 2: Gosford and Terrigal, will be held at the Ourimbah Campus of the University of Newcastle on Thursday, 65 March from 6.30pm to 8.30pm in Lecture Theatre 102.
Public Registrations close at 5pm, Tuesday, 14 March.
These events will be run in a Q&A style. The public will be invited to submit questions in advance of the forum and our two moderators – Gary Chestnut (CEN’s Chair) and Sam Willis (CEN’s CEO) – will put a selection of questions to candidates.
Candidates will also be given a three-minute opportunity to make opening remarks and closing remarks.
In keeping with CEN’s mission to fight for Ecological Sustainable Development and oppose threats to it, the CEN Candidate Forum will be about how prospective candidates will approach the task of protecting the central coast lifestyle, our natural and cultural environments, biodiversity, ecological sustainable development, infrastructure needs and their response to the climate crisis.
