Nicolette Boele: ‘A plan for a strong economy’
Boele has been engaging with the large Jewish community in Bradfield.
Teal candidate for Bradfield Nicolette Boele has called for tougher hate speech laws and believes Holocaust remembrance and education should be properly funded and prioritised.
Bradfield has been held by the Liberals for the past 75 years, but sitting member Paul Fletcher has stepped down and Boele is this time contesting for the seat against Liberal hopeful Gisele Kapterian.
Boele told The AJN she is expecting an “extremely close” election but believes people in Bradfield are ready to support an independent candidate who understands their concerns.
“I’ve released a plan for a strong economy that goes into detail about my values and policy priorities,” she said. “I stand for responsible economic management with affordable childcare and less red tape for small business; lowering supermarket prices and cutting power bills; addressing housing affordability; and taking serious climate action.
“The people I speak with know the major parties simply cannot solve these problems because they’re too caught up in petty fights and party politics to do what is best for this community and this country.”
Boele has been engaging with the large Jewish community in Bradfield and said she has been working to better understand the issues that matter most.
“I have met with several local rabbis, the senior management of synagogues, and representatives of the NSW Board of Deputies and the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.
“I recently attended a briefing at Masada College on efforts to deal with antisemitism sponsored by the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, JewishCare and the Community Security Group (CSG). I was reassured to be told of the close cooperation between NSW Jewish communities, ASIO and the NSW police.”
Boele said it was “sobering” to be advised that both ASIO and CSG have felt it necessary to raise their appraisal of threat levels and acknowledges the community’s greatest concern is antisemitism.
“Political leaders have a responsibility to call it out early and often to stop history repeating itself,” she said.
“Jewish Australians in particular have been victims to horrific antisemitic attacks once thought unimaginable in Australia. This should be an issue that incenses all Australians.”
When asked who she would support in the event of a hung parliament, Boele said she would “prioritise a stable parliament”. She said the Greens have “let us all down” by stoking division instead of maintaining social cohesion and at times they have been, “wilfully blind to the rise in antisemitism, sometimes within its own ranks”.
comments