Dr Mehreen Faruqi, Deputy Greens Leader and Senator for New South Wales, is excited to announce the preselection of Omar Sakr as the Greens candidate for the federal seat of Blaxland currently held by Labor Education Minister Jason Clare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An award-winning Arab Australian poet who was born and raised in western Sydney to Arab and Turkish Muslim migrants, Sakr will bring a desperately-needed, authentic community voice in parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Senator Mehreen Faruqi:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m so proud and excited to see Omar running for the Greens in Blaxland. Omar will bring the authenticity of western Sydney and its rich multicultural community into the halls of parliament. And that\u2019s exactly what we need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s never been clearer that the two major parties have lost touch with the community as they prioritise corporate interests while millions struggle to make ends meet in this cost of living crisis. That\u2019s why it\u2019s so important that voices like Omar are in parliament – voices from the community that fight for the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWestern Sydney has been taken for granted for far too long. Mortgage and rental stress is high, it\u2019s getting harder to see a GP for free, and public schools are underfunded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Greens have a plan to make corporations pay their fair share of tax to fund things we all need like affordable homes, fully funded public schools and making sure people can see their GP for free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLabor does not care about western Sydney. Labor\u2019s inaction on Israel\u2019s genocide in Gaza has traumatised Arab and Muslim communities in western Sydney, and they teamed up with the Liberals to pass horrific anti-migrant laws. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWith people like Omar alongside me, we can keep fighting even more strongly for marginalised communities who have been left behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe can\u2019t keep voting for the same two parties and expect different results. There is a better way. If you want change, vote Greens.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Omar Sakr:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m running for election as a Greens candidate in the seat of Blaxland, where I live with my family, because I\u2019m disgusted and horrified by the Labor government\u2019s refusal to sanction Israel in accordance with international law, as it carries out a genocide in Palestine. This \u201cfriend\u201d of the government has killed and maimed hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, to say nothing of the indiscriminate bombing that killed 4,000 in Lebanon, where my mother was born and where some of our relatives still remain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLabor and the Liberals are united in their disregard for the rights and lives of Arab and Muslim people, they are united in attaching Australia to the US\u2019s doomed and ruinous forever wars in the Middle East, which we don\u2019t need to have any part in, nor should we. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s harder and harder to distinguish between Labor and the Liberals these days, but there is a clear difference in the Greens, who have stood on their principles, and who continually champion justice, which is why I\u2019m honoured to have been preselected by my local Greens group and to represent this party. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI want a better, fairer society for my children to grow up in, one with a sustainable future, quality education, accessible housing and healthcare that encompasses all of the mind and body, not just the parts deemed cheapest to cover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBlaxland has the highest mortgage stress rate in the country and I\u2019m one of the people experiencing that. Most of my family are struggling under extreme rental stress as well. And this is why I\u2019m getting involved, we need serious change and we need it now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBlaxland deserves a federal MP who actually represents them. They won\u2019t get that in a Labor or Liberal MP, but they will get that in me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dr Mehreen Faruqi, Deputy Greens Leader and Senator for New South Wales, is excited to announce the preselection of Omar Sakr as the Greens candidate for the federal seat of Blaxland currently held by Labor Education Minister Jason Clare. An award-winning Arab Australian poet who was born and raised in western Sydney to Arab and … Continue reading “Greens preselect award-winning poet Omar Sakr in Blaxland”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30555"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30556,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30555\/revisions\/30556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}