Oskar Martin

I am a member and candidate with the Victorian Socialists. We preference from the left-wing side of politics first to the right-wing side of politics last.

We do not do deals with any other political parties of individuals for any reason, and would leave the likes of the far right, such as One Nation, at the very bottom of our preferences.

I am for an immediate moratorium on AI data centres, stopping the construction of data centres in the western suburbs.

AI data centres have been rightfully called out for their corrosive impacts on the environment and nearby residential homes and community spaces – for instance the proposed GreenSquare data centre in Spotswood is only sixty metres away from the Emma McLean Kindergarten.

The only beneficiaries of AI data centres being built in my electorate and in the western suburbs are the AI companies and their bosses, who will utilise these data centres for military and surveillance usage, which are not in the interest of working-class people and communities.

I stand with local residents and community campaigners who are fighting against the construction and expansion of AI data centres.

I will fight for public transport to be made free and publicly owned.

It is ridiculous that public transport is currently run for profit – for many in my electorate and in the western suburbs, public transport is the only avenue to get to work, school and be out with their friends and family.

We need a public transport system that is accessible and expanded so that residents in my seat and across the western suburbs can have trains, buses and other modes running efficiently rather than being run down and underfunded by successive governments.

A central focus to improve air quality in the western suburbs in my campaign is to install proper filtration systems on the West Gate tunnel’s ventilation stacks.

Without filtration, the ventilation stacks are nothing more than primitive chimneys releasing untreated exhaust fumes. These fumes will be released into suburbs such as Spotswood, Newport, Altona North, Footscray, Seddon and South Kingsville.

I want to fight for proper filtration systems on the West Gate tunnel, but also more broadly I want to secure a complete transition to renewable energy in Victoria, aiming to reduce emissions by 75 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.

Transitioning right away to renewable energy will remove the dangerous effects fossil fuels has on the environment and air pollution in the western suburbs.

Homelessness and housing unaffordability is rooted in the treatment of housing as a commodity rather than a human right.

Every working-class person deserves access to housing as a human right – I am fighting for a 25% cut in rents followed by a 5-year rent freeze.

For those who own a home, the Victorian Socialists and I want to establish a state bank of Victoria that will offer to take over existing owner-occupier mortgages owing on residential properties at below market interest rates.

For homeless people in the western suburbs, I want to secure a housing first policy that offers unconditional access to permanent public housing for all homeless people in Victoria.

In my seat of Williamstown, I am opposed to the Labor state government’s planned destruction of the Nelson Heights and Floyd Lodge public housing towers alongside the other 42 public housing towers in Victoria.

Abortion is a human right for women in the western suburbs and across Victoria.

The right to abortion must be defended and expanded – currently abortion services are not freely and easily available. I will fight to make abortions available in all public hospitals.

Furthermore, I want to increase access to medical abortion by funding training for GPs and developing nurse-led models of abortion care.

Currently the law-and-order campaigns and policies promoted by the media and major parties and One Nation only serve to target and criminalise the poor and oppressed in this state.

I believe that to solve the issue of crime we need an approach that targets the roots of crime which is the economic and social inequalities people face on a day-to-day basis.

Our social justice policies would massively reduce crime, which include: universal housing, secure and well-paid employment, properly funded public education, universally accessible and preventative healthcare, and a massive expansion of community services such as neighbourhood houses and youth centres.