West Party Launches Election Bid

One of Melbourne’s more interesting political movements has officially kicked off its state election campaign, with The West Party holding its campaign launch and fundraiser last night.

Wyndham TV gained exclusive access to the event at Whitten Oval in Footscray, where the party marked its recent registration with the Victorian Electoral Commission and turned its attention towards the November state election.

Almost the entire slate of lower and upper house candidates attended, alongside party members from across Melbourne’s west, including local business and community figures.

Party founder and Werribee candidate Paul Hopper was the first speaker of the night, outlining the party’s reason for existence.

He pointed to what he described as decades of neglect by the major parties, including poor roads, inadequate infrastructure and funding disparities across Melbourne’s west.

Williamstown candidate Gill Gannon also addressed the launch, drawing on her experience working in government and running a small business.

Plans To Grow Well Beyond November

“What I see in The West Party, and what I hear from people every single day, is that there’s a real appetite for change from the two-party system that we’ve had for a long, long time,” she said.

“I’m passionate about my community. I’m not a career politician, and never had it on my bingo card in life that I would do something like this.”

Gannon said the party’s immediate challenge was building its profile ahead of the November election.

Upper house candidate Joe Garra, who, like Hopper, has previously polled strongly as an independent, rounded out the speakers.

Garra said the party intended to grow beyond its first election campaign and contest future elections across Melbourne’s west.

The West Party is targeting 11 lower house districts: Footscray, Kororoit, Laverton, Niddrie, Point Cook, St Albans, Sunbury, Sydenham, Tarneit, Werribee and Williamstown.

The party is also fielding three candidates for the Western Metropolitan Region in the upper house as it contests its first Victorian state election on 28 November.