Greens candidate Tim White wants more public housing in Hammond

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Greens candidate Tim White wants to solve the Murraylands’ housing crisis.

The answer, he said, was simple: the state government needed to step in.

“We want to focus on public housing,” he said.

“People with low incomes are finding it quite difficult to enter the housing market – that’s the group most in need.

“I’m aware that Murray Bridge is ... going to experience quite a bit of growth in housing over the coming years; we’d like to see a good portion of that housing pool used for people on low incomes and built within the public housing sector.”

That investment would come with a price tag attached, he noted.

The Greens proposed to make big corporations pay their fair share of tax to cover it.

He also wanted more spending on health, he said, and a moratorium on any new mines in food-producing areas such as the Murraylands and Adelaide Hills.

The Greens would not close existing mines, like the copper mine at Kanmantoo, but would otherwise protect prime land for farming, especially in water catchment areas.

Mr White, a social worker from Adelaide who works in South Australia’s outback on a fly-in, fly-out basis, was named the Greens’ candidate for Hammond last month.

He is no stranger to politics – in fact, this will be his seventh tilt at a state or federal election.

He has already been named the Greens candidate for Grey, in the north of the state, at the upcoming federal election.

But an unlikely victory against Liberal MP Adrian Pederick is not his goal.

Not for 2022, at least.

“In Hammond, the Liberals hold a significant lead,” he said.

“It’s a long-term project for another party to take that seat.

“But it’s time now to work on that.”

Meet the candidates for Hammond

Murray Bridge News will host a public forum with the candidates for Hammond at the Bridgeport Hotel on the evening of Wednesday, March 16.

• Book your free ticket: www.eventbrite.com.au.

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