Albert Park – Aleph Melbourne

Aleph Melbourne 2022 Voters Guide for LGBTIQ+ Equality – Victorian State Election

ALEPH MELBOURNE
VOTERS GUIDE TO LGBTIQ+ EQUALITY
VICTORIAN STATE ELECTION 2022
#ALBERT PARK #BENTLEIGH #BRIGHTON #CAULFIELD #CLARINDA #HAWTHORN #MALVERN #OAKLEIGH #PRAHRAN

This guide is designed to inform voters who want to select candidates who have comprehensively demonstrated or pledged support for LGBTIQ+ equality and inclusion.

This election the guide covers Victorian electoral districts (as per 2022 electoral boundaries) with 700 or more people with Jewish religious affiliation as at the 2021 census.

What to look for in candidates that PRIORITISE LGBTIQ+ equality:
* A candidate statement
* [BEST] A comprehensive LGBTIQ+ policy platform and/or unequivocal commitment to LGBTIQ+ issues (green tick)
* [OK] A policy platform that shows some level of support to LGBTIQ+ issues (yellow tick)
* Are declared as an ally or LGBTIQ+

What to look for in candidates that OPPOSE LGBTIQ+ equality:
* A warning symbol against their name in the LGBTIQ+ column
* A policy platform that is inconsistent with LGBTIQ+ equality (red cross)

What if a candidate has not declared themselves as an ally and/or does not have an LGBTIQ+ policy platform?
We recommend you contact the candidate or their party and ask them directly. They have not responded to our emails.

Feedback, corrections and updates are invited via our contact page. Information is provided here in good faith and on the understanding that it is correct.

Aleph Melbourne – 2022 State Election Guide

Albert Park Bentleigh Brighton Caulfield Clarinda Hawthorn Malvern Oakleigh Prahran

Albert Park District

Candidate (in ballot order)	Party	LGBTIQA+
DRAGWIDGE Georgie	Independent	(not stated)
TAYLOR Nina	Australian Labor Party	ALLY
SAMIOTIS Kim	The Australian Greens	ALLY
ANTUNOVIC Elizabeth	Freedom Party Victoria
BRADEA Viorel	Family First Victoria
SHERSON Lauren	Liberal	ALLY
SMART Lance	Liberal Democrats	(not stated)
WESTWOOD Cassandra	Animal Justice Party	ALLY

Bentleigh District

Candidate (in ballot order)	Party	LGBTIQA+
GNIESLAW Simon	Independent	ALLY
STAIKOS Nick(incumbent)	Australian Labor Party	(not stated)
GALLI-MCROSTIE Alana	The Australian Greens	ALLY
HARRIS David	Animal Justice Party	ALLY
RYAN Paul	Family First Victoria
TAYLOR-HAYNES Debbie	Liberal	(not stated)

Brighton District

Candidate (in ballot order)	Party	LGBTIQA+
TIMMS Allan	Independent	(not stated)
SCIOLA Nick	Family First Victoria
DEKIERE Sarah	The Australian Greens	ALLY
GIBSON Sally	Independent	ALLY
FREDERICO Felicity	Independent	ALLY
WALKER Alicia	Animal Justice Party	ALLY
NEWBURY James (incumbent)	Liberal	ALLY
CRAWFORD Louise	Australian Labor Party	ALLY
CASLEY John Tiger	Independent

Caulfield District

Candidate (in ballot order)	Party	LGBTIQA+
KALTMANN Nomi	Independent	ALLY
EDWELL Lynne	Family First Victoria
IAMPOLSKI Rachel	The Australian Greens
MYERSON Asher	Animal Justice Party	ALLY
SOUTHWICK David(incumbent)	Liberal	ALLY
HAREL Lior	Australian Labor Party	ALLY
ABELMAN Michael	Liberal Democrats	(not stated)

Clarinda District

Candidate (in ballot order)	Party	LGBTIQA+
WHITE Caroline	Independent
HASTINGS Karen	Family First Victoria
WOLFE Steve	Freedom Party Victoria
VO Hung	Independent
TAK Meng Heang (incumbent)	Australian Labor Party	ALLY
RICHARDSON Anthony	Liberal	(not stated)
MOFFETT Jessamine	The Australian Greens
LITCHFIELD Sue	Animal Justice Party	ALLY

Hawthorn District

Candidate (in ballot order)	Party	LGBTIQA+
FUHRER Faith	Animal Justice Party	ALLY
KENNEDY John (incumbent)	Australian Labor Party	ALLY
TRIANTAFILLIS Ken	Family First Victoria
PEPPARD Richard	Liberal Democrats	(not stated)
LOWE Melissa	Independent	ALLY
SAVAGE Nick	The Australian Greens	ALLY
PESUTTO John	Liberal	ALLY
BELL Stratton	Democratic Labour Party

Malvern District

Candidate (in ballot order)	Party	LGBTIQA+
NATOLI Amelia	Animal Justice Party	ALLY
NATALE Darren	Australian Labor Party
O’BRIEN Michael (incumbent)	Liberal	ALLY
STEFANOPOULOS Steve	Independent
SCHMIDT Judy	Family First Victoria
FULLER Mitchell	The Australian Greens	ALLY

Oakleigh District

Candidate (in ballot order)	Party	LGBTIQA+
MURPHY Dominique	Independent
DIMOPOULOS Steve (incumbent)	Australian Labor Party
SOK Edward	Family First Victoria
GRIVOKOSTOPOULOS Jim	Liberal	(not stated)
KIOUPELIS Parashos	Independent
HSIEH Hsiang-Han	The Australian Greens
FABB Loraine	Animal Justice Party	ALLY
JACOBS Tony	Freedom Party Victoria

Prahran District

Candidate (in ballot order)	Party	LGBTIQA+
LE HURAY Alice	Animal Justice Party	ALLY
LUCAS Matthew	Liberal	ALLY
CHAU Wesa	Australian Labor Party	ALLY
MENADUE Alan	Independent	ALLY
HIBBINS Sam (incumbent)	The Australian Greens	ALLY
EMILSEN Ronald	Family First Victoria

Candidate statement: Kim Samiotis – Greens candidate for Albert Park

The following political statement has been supplied by Kim Samiotis who is running as a candidate for Albert Park District in the 2022 Victorian State Government election.

Aleph Melbourne will endorse all political candidates who unconditionally support equal rights for LGBTIQ+ Jews and whose values align with ours.

Kim Samiotis
Candidate for Albert Park

My name is Kim Samiotis (pronouns: she/her) and I’m The Greens candidate for Albert Park.

Thank you to Aleph and your community for the opportunity to make my commitment to LGBTIQA+ people in Melbourne’s Jewish community.

The LGBTIQA+ community has been my family since I was born. One of the longest, most stable and loving relationships in my life has been my aunts’ who finally married this year after celebrating their 40th anniversary. I was a teenager when my Mum came out and I witnessed the incredible courage that the community must summon to define their identity in our community. For me, these relationships have always been so normal and healthy and I will always fight for recognition, support and inclusion for queer and gender-diverse people. Who we love, how we identify and the shape of our physical form do not define the goodness of a person.

I am proud to be a member of the Victorian Greens, a party that has always stood with the LGBTIQA+ community across our state. We have fought hard for equal rights and safety for all and I remain committed to continuing the journey towards true equality alongside my LGBTIQA+ colleagues, friends and family.

To begin the next steps of this advocacy, The Victorian Greens have launched our Rainbow State Action Plan to further strengthen our equal opportunity and anti-vilification laws. We will make vilification and public harassment a crime to better protect marginalised Victorians from all minorities and to support victims of hate crimes.

We’ve included a Rainbow State Fund of $200 million over the next term for community-controlled organisations to facilitate their focus on key areas of need such as mental health, youth services, homelessness and sexual health.

We will work to ban deferrable medical interventions on intersex children and continue to work with the LGBTIQA+ community to identify the next essential areas for reform, including adoption, assisted reproductive treatment and surrogacy, to make sure that our laws protect everyone. 33% of LGBTIQA+ people report experiencing anxiety in the last 12 months and 57% report experiencing high distress in the last 4 weeks. Community connection and dependable support can aid these people when they’re most in need.

You can read more about the details and funding for our Rainbow State Action Plan here:

greens.org.au/vic/rainbowstateplan

We are all more alike than those who peddle fear and hate would allow us to believe. Everyone deserves to feel safe from discrimination in their daily lives and to be able to access support and services that meet their needs.

To Aleph members, the Jewish community, and LGBTIQA+ communities across Victoria, The Greens stand with you and I will work tirelessly to represent you in parliament if elected to represent Albert Park at this coming election. No matter what, I will always be by your side, marching, speaking and advocating on your behalf with the love and care that I feel for my own family.

Thank you, Aleph, for your support and may your community advocacy continue with great success.

Kim Samiotis
Greens Candidate for Albert Park

Aleph-statement-Kim-Samiotis-Greens-for-Albert-Park

[PDF]

Candidate statement: Cassandra Westwood – Animal Justice Party for Albert Park

The following political statement has been supplied by Cassandra Westwood who is running as a candidate for Albert Park District in the 2022 Victorian State Government election.

Aleph Melbourne will endorse all political candidates who unconditionally support equal rights for LGBTIQ+ Jews and whose values align with ours.

I believe that everyone should feel safe and included in our society, regardless of gender or sexual identity. I am a proponent of LGBTQIA+ organisations and admire the work that Aleph Melbourne does to support the community.

Animal Justice Party MP Andy Meddick, who is currently elected in the Western Victoria region, has been working to create more LGBTQIA+ safe spaces in Victoria. If elected, I will campaign for more safe spaces in the Albert Park district. I would be honoured to provide a voice to the LGBTQIA+ community in Parliament.

The Animal Justice Party’s policies are as follows:

Gender and sexuality equality is a fundamental human right and that the health, safety and wellbeing of women, girls and gender-diverse people is paramount.
Reforms are essential to address the causes of gender and sexuality inequality and to protect people against gender and sexuality based violence.
Women and gender-diverse people must be supported, encouraged and empowered to be present and/or prominent in all areas of society, including politics.
Everyone must be supported in informed decision-making with respect to gender and sexual identity;
There must be zero tolerance of sexism, homophobia, queerphobia, transphobia, misogyny and all types of violence (including gender and sexuality based violence) and we must work toward gender and sexuality equality and respect in all areas of society.
Gender-inclusive language should be used.