By Xavier Smerdon
THE Greens have officially arrived in Wyndham with a stand-alone branch of the political party being formed in Point Cook last week.
Wyndham Greens spokesperson, Bro Sheffield-Brotherton, said the municipality was the last one in the western suburbs to welcome its own branch.
Mr Sheffield-Brotherton told Star that the people of Wyndham deserved a better option when it came to who represents them.
“We have suffered for too long under the big old parties neglect of our needs as they focus their efforts on enticing voters in marginal seats,” Mr Sheffield-Brotherton said.
“We feel that they (Liberal and Labor) have become Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum in a sense.”
Mr Sheffield-Brotherton, who lives in Hoppers Crossing, said Wyndham was struggling to cope with the astonishing growth in population taking place.
“Particularly in this area there are a range of economic and social issues that are exacerbated by the growth that we’re experiencing,” he said.
“In the future we will be getting more and more people trying to raise families out here and we need more infrastructure.”
Mr Sheffield-Brotherton represented the Greens at last year’s State Election in the seat of Tarneit.
The passionate environmentalist said the three biggest issue facing Wyndham were public transport, health and schools.
“We live 4.7 kilometres from the Hoppers Crossing train station and 4.7 kilometres from the Werribee train station, and it really just doesn’t work for us to catch the bus because they are so infrequent,” he said.
“We aim to play our part in moving beyond the stage of the western suburbs being taken for granted by Labor and written off by the Liberals to start getting a fair go for Wyndham.”
Mr Sheffield-Brotherton said he would probably run for a seat on Wyndham Council at the next election.
