I’m Eddie Lloyd and I’m asking for your number 1 vote in the NSW Greens preselection for the Senate.
I’m an Accredited Specialist in Criminal Law, an Environmental lawyer, a former councillor on Lismore City Council, a community activist, and mum to a beautiful, bright 10-year-old boy.
I was elected to Lismore Council on a Labor ticket in 2016. I tried working with my Labor colleagues to represent our community on a progressive agenda, but they continued to favour vested interests over the community. At the end of my term, I resigned and joined the Greens. I ‘ve been a proud and active member ever since.
There are many challenges ahead for Australians. I have the experience and commitment to face them head on. As a Trial Advocate for the Aboriginal Legal Service, I witnessed the trauma inflicted on First Nations people who, after 236 years are still without a voice, still being persecuted and disproportionately jailed because of fundamental systemic failures that no government has addressed.
It is appalling that – here we are – in 2024 and the same colonial, genocidal mentality that caused so much harm to First Nations people is the mentality our government and the opposition are embracing in relation to the genocide in Gaza.
Australia’s relationship with the US and the alliance of AUKUS is a threat to us all. The opposition are no different in their commitment to AUKUS, both using national security claims to hide their true agenda from Australian citizens. Nothing will change whilst we have a system of duopoly.
The election of more Greens in Parliament is how we can restore grassroots, participatory democracy. Too many decisions are being bought and sold on the black market in the corridors of Parliament by a small minority, beholden to vested interests and personal agendas.
We cannot call ourselves a democracy without transparency. We cannot call ourselves a democracy if we persecute and prosecute those who speak inconvenient truths to power. We cannot call ourselves a democracy if we have laws that permit the removal of evidence from courts before a trial has even begun. We are not a democracy without the separation of powers.
Now, more than ever we need our leaders to promote peace, not war, transparency not secrecy, truth and not spin, democracy not duopoly. Our 4 pillars of social justice, peace and non-violence, ecological sustainability and grassroots democracy are values I hold dear and are reflected in my achievements to date. I have the tenacity and the runs on the board to join our indefatigable Greens in the Senate to enact the change we all urgently need in the world. I won’t give up and I will not let you down.
