Cr Tina Kordrostami on putting humans first

When City of Ryde councillor Tina Kordrostami left the Greens last year over the party’s handling of the Middle East crisis and its failure to condemn the Iranian regime or terrorist groups including Hamas and Hezbollah, the backlash was swift.

She was removed from community groups she had spent years supporting, from refugee advocacy to LGBTQIA+ organisations, homelessness services and domestic violence networks.

Overnight, she found herself politically and socially isolated.

But an unexpected hand reached out. Lynda Ben-Menashe, a constituent of Kordrostami’s, got in touch to talk about the work of National Council of Jewish Women Australia (NCJWA) and floated the possibility of working together.

Kordrostami said that the idea had never occurred to her.