A long relationship
"I want to make sure that everyone has the opportunity to practise their faith as safely as possible."
Matt Thistlethwaite is “very proud” of the longstanding relationship he has had with the local Jewish community in Kingsford Smith. It’s a relationship that goes back to his days as a student at Mount Sinai preschool, and he was in attendance at the school’s recent 40th anniversary event.
The incumbent Labor MP since 2013 said launching a mural next to the school on Harmony Day last year – a project he commissioned after Jewish students were subjected to an antisemitic attack on a bus in 2014 – was “probably the proudest thing that I’ve done with the Jewish community”.
He also spoke of his support for the Safer Communities Fund.
“I want to make sure that everyone has the opportunity to practise their faith as safely as possible,” he said.
With Kingsford Smith being one of the country’s fastest-growing Jewish electorates, Thistlethwaite said the influx of young Jewish families “enriches our community and enlivens it”.
“They’re involved in community groups, in sporting organisations, and they support philanthropy in our area and that’s a wonderful thing.”
On policy, he cited cost of living and spoke of Labor’s childcare and housing policies. If Labor wins government, he said a new Medicare clinic will open in Randwick to take pressure off the local hospitals. He also promised action on climate change.
On Labor’s platform to recognise Palestine, which he supports, he said there will be a process of consultation, “And that will involve members of the Jewish leadership.
“We want to see an enduring and just two-state solution based on the right of Israel to live in peace … and reflecting the aspirations of the Palestinian people to also live in peace within their own state.”
He will take part in the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies candidates debate this Sunday, May 8.
Prepoll opens on Monday, May 9.
List of voting centres.
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