Jim Bastiras is running for the Greens in the Bragg by-election in South Australia.
“I’m a local guy” said the 47-year-old family man whose father is from Corinth, and mother from Macedonia .
“I am proud of my heritage and proud to be the father of a three-year old girl, Artemis, named after the Greek goddess devoted to the protecting nature.”
Mr Bastiras has been leading a campaign in Bragg against a quarry expansion in a catchment called the Third Creek Catchment.
“The planning system doesn’t give local communities a voice and I aim to make sure the community is heard,” said Mr Bastiras to Neos Kosmos.
“People know me I have been pushing the issue for a while, and the Greens have a strong desire to increase public participation in planning,” Mr Bastiras said.
Bragg covers Adelaide’s east and south-east, from the edge Adelaide’s ring of parklands right up into the Adelaide Hills.
It is a staunch Liberal electorate which was held by Vickie Chapman, the former deputy premier and attorney general in the recently ousted Marshall Liberal government. Mr Chapman won the seat of Bragg again in the recent SA elections, only to quit, forcing the people of Bragg to go to the polls again.
“There’s resentment in the community because she quit, forcing a $3 million dollar byelection, people don’t want to be dragged back to an election, straight after an election,” Mr Bastiras said to Neos Kosmos.
Mr Bastiras is trying to catch the Teal and Green wave that swept through the federal elections.
“There is a movement towards the Greens, and there is resentment at both Labor and the Liberals, they make lots of promises on climate change, but don’t actually deliver,” Mr Bastiras said.
Mr Bastiras took a swipe at the Labor Party, and said that regardless of Labor announcing a climate emergency, the new premier Peter Malinauskas “removed solar rebates and home battery schemes.”
“These cuts and additional cuts to council tree planting programmes are inconsistent with Labor’s rhetoric on climate change,” Mr Bastiras said.
Mr Bastiras needs to win to make any impact and that’s not easy.
“I’m the only truly local person running, the Labor candidate doesn’t even live in the electorate, he’s a guy who spent most of his time in London, he’s a FIFO, fly-in-fly-out candidate,” Mr Bastiras said to Neos Kosmos.
Mr Bastiras says that the fact that he is local and is not a traditional politician “with an army of political advisers around” has made many of the locals happy. And he he has been hitting the campaign trail hard.
“I’m a teacher, and as a local voice in parliament I will fight hard for local issues, we have been meeting over 40 locals a day door knocking.”
An issue close to Mr Bastiras is the way “local creeks are being concrete lined and turning into drains.”
“They cut large trees of importance and replaced them with a couple of short shrubs, green spaces are diminishing and all because of poor planning decisions,” Mr Bastiras said to Neos Kosmos.
He is for well planned development and said that “good planning and modern houses that maximise green space are possible.”
Mr Bastiras called the current planning laws antiquated, and said that “houses are built right next to creeks, with one metre gaps between them and the green spaces left are just enough for the wheelie bin.”
The Bragg byelection in SA will be held on Saturday, July 2.
