Elena Pereyra

We are yet to make a final decision on preferences but will be focused on those who are aligned with our values and who aim to represent the community without obligation to corporate lobbyists and donors. We will also be deprioritising parties who are not committed to treaty and first nations justice and those that seek to weaponize and undermine our diverse community.

The Greens have objected to local projects in 2025 and 2026. We are calling for a moratorium, and compensation for communities already negatively impacted by poor planning of existing data centre infrastructure.

Our communities need an independent review of data centres to ensure energy and water demands do not undermine local security, and to review the costs of allocating land, water, power and labour to their development, particularly when there is minimal social licence for them.

Ultimately a diverse array of renewables are the only viable option for our long-term energy security so data centres electricity demand must be met by renewables.

The Greens will make public transport permanently free. Right now, by PT it takes over an hour to get across the municipality on a Thursday night, it’s actually quicker to walk!

We will fund bus reform for the west through the implementation of a strategic grid network, greater service frequency and hours of service, and integrating bus transit with key train corridors and activity centres.

We are prioritising the Footscray public transport interchange as key infrastructure for central Footscray and to enable transport integration.

We are committed to reviewing all existing air pollution sources and establishing a comprehensive response co-designed with the community and relevant advocacy groups.

The Greens are committed to a 24/7 truck ban on all local roads including Williamstown Rd. We want to strengthen controls on industrial diesel and the consolidation of polluting industries in residential areas in the west.

We support reinvigorating the Inner West Air Quality Reference Group and ensure plans like the Stony Creek Future Directions Plan (an outcome of the 2018 Tottenham fire) are funded and not shelved.

We are also calling for data centres to run off 100% newly built renewables, including no back-up diesel generators.

The Greens have committed to doubling public housing. We are calling to retain and renovate the existing public housing at Gaskin Gardens and allocate 30% of the old Footscray Hospital site to expanding public housing.

The Greens are also committing to a 2-year rent freeze and then linked to wage growth, stamp duty discounts for owner-occupiers (not investors) buying homes up to $1.6 million, and use it, lose it, or activate it legislation to address land-banking. We will pay for this by making the big corporations pay their fair share of tax.

To support this housing provision at the old Footscray Hospital site we are committing to fully funding the new urban park including collaboration with council to fund delivery across both state and council land. We are also investigating a number of different housing models to ensure a diversity of services.

I am concerned Labor is approaching the old Footscray Hospital site with a very short-term agenda that won’t deliver what our community needs. I am worried the ‘activity centres’ identified along the train corridor don’t stack up and won’t be built in the short term, leading to more land banking and that these announcements will go the same way the Braybrook Regeneration initiative went. Nowhere. With a background in housing innovation, urban regeneration, and participatory design, I am committed to much better outcomes.

The Greens support the right to choose and will always defend the right to abortion. We will also fight for better access so people, especially in rural areas, can access abortion.

We also support access to education, public and affordable housing, mental health care, living wage and social security, NDIS, and action on climate and environmental damage to ensure women and families feel confident to have children. These measures must be prioritised to ensure all women and children are cared for in our society.

The Greens have a $1 billion commitment to coordinated crime prevention, crisis outreach and frontline mental health, alcohol and other drug, and homelessness services.

We will make Footscray safer by investing in people, not just policing, by allocating up to $26 million through our Breaking the Cycle Fund in practical, community-led prevention and support, here in Footscray:

• $12 million for a 24/7 non-police crisis outreach pilot, with trained health and social workers responding to appropriate non-violent crises and connecting people with ongoing care.
• $7 million for supported housing and wraparound services for young people aged 18–21 at risk of homelessness.
• $5 million for a Venny in Footscray – a welcoming adventure playground and youth space with mentoring and support.
• $1.5 million for a local homelessness shelter and meals initiative, working with community organisations to provide emergency accommodation and pathways into housing.
• $500,000 for crisis response and de-escalation training for traders, librarians and frontline community workers.

We also have a $10 million revitalisation fund for Footscray CBD. Our Reclaimed Footscray initiative will focus on land and shopping strip activation:

• Bring empty shopfronts back to life by supporting local artists, small businesses, pop-up shops, festivals and community events through our shopping strip revitalisation plan.
• Support “Reclaimed Footscray” creating maker spaces, repair cafés and a library of things where goods and textiles can be repaired, reused and resold, creating local jobs and strengthening community connections.
• Establish a Shopping Strips Revitalisation Unit to work with councils, traders and communities to breathe new life into local high streets.
• Introduce a 2% commercial vacancy tax on properties left vacant for more than six months, encouraging landlords to lease empty shops rather than leave them sitting idle, with revenue reinvested in revitalising shopping strips.

This will be further expanded through championing land-banking reforms and support temporary community uses of vacant sites while longer-term development is pending.