newy.com.au – The Greens have selected not-for-profit worker Lucy Miller to contest Newcastle and postal worker and union representative Alex Ford to run in Wallsend at the March 2027 NSW election.
Both electorates are held by Labor. Tim Crakanthorp was returned as the member for Newcastle at the 2023 election, while Sonia Hornery retained Wallsend.
The Newcastle Greens said their campaign would focus on housing, hospitals, schools, public transport and securing a greater return for the Lower Hunter from the wealth generated in the region.
Miller is a former veterinary nurse and small-business owner who now leads programs at a local not-for-profit supporting small businesses. The daughter of a teacher and a librarian, she is also a union member.
She said housing costs were forcing younger residents from the neighbourhoods where they grew up, separating them from extended family.
“Newcastle needs investment in hospitals, public transport, and a genuine commitment to deliver public and social housing,” Miller said.
Ford has worked in farming, mechanics, accessory fitting and labouring and has spent the past nine years as a postal worker. He moved to Newcastle in 2021 and has since become a workplace union representative while volunteering in emergency services and community groups.
The Greens said Ford was arrested during the 2024 People’s Blockade of Newcastle Harbour and the charges against him were later dropped. Ford defended his involvement by arguing revenue from the region’s resources should be directed back into local services.
“I got arrested because I believe that we, the people, should be getting a fair return for our resources, and that money should be put back into the local communities to help our drastically underfunded services,” he said.
The candidates are due to appear at Newcastle Museum on Thursday morning with Newcastle councillors Siobhan Isherwood and Joel Pringle and Deputy Lord Mayor Charlotte McCabe.
