Jason Ball says the Greens are 'in with a chance' against Liberal Kelly O’Dwyer
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Version 0 of 1. Jason Ball hopes to do what the Greens have only managed once before in any election – snatch a seat from a Liberal MP. Ball, an Australian rules footballer and ambassador for the suicide prevention organisation beyondblue, announced on Sunday he would stand for the Greens at the federal election against Liberal frontbencher Kelly O’Dwyer in the seat of Higgins. Higgins, a relatively safe Liberal seat in inner city Melbourne, is important for both of the parties. In the Victorian state election in November, the Greens Sam Hibbins took the seat of Prahran from the Liberals Clem Newton-Brown by a margin of 262 votes. Related: Gay footballer Jason Ball to challenge safe Liberal seat of Higgins Prahran sits within the federal seat of Higgins, which also includes the suburbs of South Yarra, Toorak, Armadale, Malvern, Glen Iris, Ashburton and Carnegie. Voters are a mix of older, wealthy, conservative-voting elite, and sexually and ethnically diverse progressive young people. “The Greens do quite well in the area, and I’m excited to have the Prahran campaign team working on my campaign as well,” Ball, 27, told Guardian Australia. “But I didn’t decide to run for Higgins for any other reason than I have lived in the electorate for eight years, and I’ve been involved with the Greens for five years, having worked on [federal member for Melbourne] Adam Bandt’s campaign.” While the results of the state election – when the Greens also took the seat of Melbourne from Labor and gained notable ground in Hawthorn, Kew and Richmond – give Ball hope, he knows it will be tough to take the blue-ribbon seat O’Dwyer holds by a margin of almost 10%. Gaining votes from progressive Liberal voters will also not be easy, with O’Dwyer supporting gay-marriage and addressing climate change. But then, Newton-Brown was also considered one of the Liberal party’s more progressive politicians and yet lost to the Greens. “I think that we are in with a chance, but at the end of the day I think policies and outcomes are more import than political parties,” Ball says. “So if we can give the Liberals a run for their money and make it a real challenge for them, that will force the Liberal party not to take progressive voters for granted anymore. People in Higgins have solar panels of their roofs, and there are doctors living in the area unhappy about children in detention and their profession being silenced from speaking up about it. “Both of the major parties have failed the people of Higgins, but we have a Liberal government in power and a Liberal in the seat, and so that’s the party we’re focusing on.” Related: Giant slayer Cathy McGowan prepares to share secrets – even with her rivals The timing was right to enter politics, Ball says. He has a severe knee injury requiring reconstructive surgery which will see him in rehabilitation for a year and sidelined from his team, Yarra Glen. Though his mother is a Labor voter and his father a Liberal voter, Ball says a lack of leadership from both of those parties on gay marriage made the Greens the natural choice for him. “I remember the first time I was gearing up to vote in 2004, when John Howard voted to ban gay marriage and was supported by Labor,” Ball says. “In that moment I never felt more rejected by both Labor and Liberal.” Ball says his increasing frustration with a lack of action from the federal government to address suicide rates, with about 2,500 Australians taking their own lives every year, prompted him to want to run in the next federal election. He has shared his own experience as being the first openly gay Australian rules footballer and the challenges that presented to highlight the need for equality and funding for mental health. “Politics is a natural step for me because I’m passionate and I want to make a difference,” Ball says. “Some people reading about me for first time just see a gay footballer and wonder, ‘What on earth does he have to offer?’ But my sexuality doesn’t define me and I have a lot to say about the national mental health reform agenda, we are losing far too many young people to suicide and yet the government is refusing to adopt all of the suggestions from the national mental health commission.” Related: Part-pension changes secure passage after Coalition agrees deal with Greens Climate change, compassion towards asylum seekers, and promoting science and evidence-based policy are other areas Ball hopes to focus on, which along with mental health Ball believes the prime minister, Tony Abbott, is failing to address. He also believes voters respect contenders who have “real world” experience and who are not career politicians. “The only thing that makes governments listen is when they’re losing votes and seats,” Ball said. “If we can make Higgins a contest between Liberal and Green voters, it will send a message to Tony Abbott that voters won’t stand for being ignored anymore.” |