McPherson/Federal Election 2025
OUTSTANDING GREEN LIGHT CANDIDATES
GREEN LIGHT CANDIDATES
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You can learn about how to effectively use Traffic Light Voting Guides for the upcoming Federal election by following this link to our video and familiarising yourself with its instructions:
Here’s how you can make climate a compelling issue locally.
Hand out Traffic Light A5 How to Vote cards at polling booths. Phone or text 0427 580 803 to arrange for print ready artwork tailored for your electorate. You can then print the How to Vote card using your home printer or for larger numbers use the services of a commercial printer.
This is particularly effective to help add extra reach to Green Light independent campaigns and draw in swinging voters. Vote Climate One’s assessment of candidates has the elevated status of being fiercely independent.
Check out our how our team Federally assesses Candidates and Parties
Green Light Candidates
Jeff Knipe (LCP)
Jeff qualifies as an Outstanding Green Light Candidate
Jeff Knipe is a resilient survivor, having faced and overcome two battles with cancer in the past six years. Despite enduring long-term effects and trying a wide range of pharmaceutical treatments with little success, it wasn’t until a terminally ill friend introduced him to cannabis edibles that he experienced a significant improvement in sleep, pain management and appetite.
Like many Australians, Jeff’s access to medicinal cannabis comes with an unfair cost. Although he is not impaired, current roadside drug testing (RDT) laws mean Jeff risks losing his licence—and with it, his livelihood—simply for using legally prescribed medication. He is committed to fighting for evidence-based drug driving laws that protect road safety without punishing responsible patients.
Jeff is also a passionate advocate for personal freedom and believes all Australians should have the right to grow their own cannabis to manage their health. In Parliament, he will work tirelessly to defend this right and to push for reforms that support the more than one million Australians who use legally prescribed cannabis every day.
The LCP supports the 3Rs and endorses the Climate Rescue Accord
Jennifer Horsburgh (AJP)
Jennier qualifies as an Outstanding Green Light Candidate
Jennifer Horsburgh is proud to be running as your candidate for the McPherson electorate in the upcoming Federal Election.
She has lived in this electorate on the Gold Coast since 1982 and worked as a teacher for 30 years at Palm Beach Currumbin High School. She is passionate about her community and is an ongoing volunteer for the Wildcare hotline, Currumbin Wildlife Hospital, the Burleigh parish, and the Austrian-Australian club.
She strongly supports the Animal Justice Party’s platform for the introduction of Veticare. Across Australia, families are struggling with the rising cost of living and family animals are unable to access the veterinary care they vitally need, including annual checkups, vaccinations and desexing.
“That’s why we are calling for a nationwide Veticare scheme. Like Medicare for humans, it would provide a safety net for the most vulnerable animals in our communities”
Jennifer has a particular passion for the wellbeing of all animals including farm animals.
She says, “We will remove the conflict of interest that currently exists with the Minister for Agriculture also being in charge of animal welfare. This will be done by establishing a Federal Independent Office of Animal Protection (IOAP) to oversee the protection all animals from acts of violence and harm, including inside slaughter houses.”
Many elderly people resist going into aged care accommodation because they have to give up their beloved pet. This is extremely distressing for them. Jennifer will advocate for funding for animal-friendly aged care facilities as well as refuges and crisis accommodation for those escaping domestic violence situations. This would provide safe options for many people and their companion animals.
Jennifer will prioritise an end to forest clearing, increase green spaces, push for crucial wildlife corridors and strongly advocate for ‘transitioning away from animal agriculture’ as a key part of our Climate Transition Strategy.
“Animal agriculture is a primary driver of climate change and is responsible for 83% of land clearing so we must end all intensive animal farming and assist farmers in transitioning to more sustainable and lucrative plant based business. Puppy farms are another form of intensive ‘animal farming’ and also must be stopped.”
AJP supports the 3Rs and endorses the Climate Rescue Accord
Erchana Murray-Bartlett (Independent)
Erchana is part of the Community Independents Project
Erchana is supported by a dynamic community organisation, Mcpherson Independent. The organisation was setup by Gold Coast residents to find a community independent for the Southern Gold Coast Federal seat of McPherson, and get them elected.
McPherson has been a safe seat for decades. Ann Wason Moore of the Gold Coast Bulletin said:
“With the Gold Coast considered the conservative capital of Australia, the major parties all but ignore us. Here’s why embracing the independent movement might pay-off”
Let’s make the Gold Coast Count!
Our organisation was formed off the back of the McPherson Matters Listening Report. This was a community project run over 7 months, with 49 kitchen table conversations and 250 participants. The big outcomes of this report were:
- the community did not feel represented by the major parties
- we need to tackle housing affordability and the cost of living
- deep concern about the challenges for younger generations
- we need integrity and honesty in our government
- we want leadership who thinks long-term and tackles climate resiliency
Amanda Kennealy (Greens)
I grew up in the Palm Beach Currumbin area during the 1970s and made my Surf Life Saving Bronze medallion with Tugun Surf Life Saving Club in 1984. We’ve seen a lot of changes since then! I love our wonderful community, our shared connection to this beautiful pocket of the world.
I am passionate about protecting and preserving our local area, for this generation, our children and their children. Caring for our natural habitat is what has compelled me to step up and be the Greens McPherson candidate for the 2025 Federal Election.
Volunteering holds a special place in my heart. For many years I have been volunteering in my community through the Surf Life Saving movement, school P&C’s, sporting team management – living my mantra – ‘Its not what the community can do for me, but what I can do for my community’. I believe volunteers are the backbone of our lucky country. We are so fortunate to have such wonderful humans caring and nurturing our communities for all to thrive.
As a lifelong learner, with a Bachelor of Education/Arts degree and a Diploma in Health Science, I believe education is a right for every human. As a secondary teacher on the Gold Coast, I encourage students to enrich their lives with further education, but some cannot afford it. That’s why I’m passionate about the Greens plan to wipe student debts and make University and TAFE free.
We believe that universal access to high quality education is fundamental to the development of a fair, economically and socially just society; the quality of your education should not depend on your parents’ bank balance, where you live or your race, gender or sexuality. The Greens are fighting to fully-fund our public schools, so no child slips through the cracks.
We have a plan to tackle the cost of living crisis by making the supermarket price gouging illegal, stopping the big banks price gouging, freezing and capping rent.
Right now, hard working people are paying too much for the basics, while 1 in 3 big corporations pay no tax. The Greens will make billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share of tax to fund the things we all need. I believe in living in a society that puts people before profits, ensuring a more comfortable existence for all.
We cannot keep voting for the same two parties and expect a different result. When we harness the collective power of people, we can fundamentally transform politics. You have the opportunity to vote for change. We must take strong action on the climate crisis and tackle this from the ground up, by being the voice for our local native neighbours. By fixing our broken environment laws and protecting our precious and unique natural ecosystems, we will preserve our region’s natural wonders for generations to come.
TRAFFIC LIGHT VOTING GUIDE ASSESSMENT WARNING
The team at Vote Climate One may change our Traffic Light voting advice right up to shortly before election day. For instance it is very difficult to access ranking information from parties or candidates who have no public email, phone number or little internet profile. In these cases, we apply the precautionary principle with a Red Light ranking until further information and commitment to climate rescue comes to hand.
Please contact us if you have local information which could effect our rankings. Phone Rob 0n 0427 580 803
The major parties have let the Australian public down when it comes a serious policy commitment to action on the ecological and climate crisis. Consequently, we have assessed both the Labor party and the Coalition as Red Light parties. Nevertheless, in relation to our Traffic Light Voting guides, the Labor party has been ranked orange ahead of the Coalition which remains a stubborn Red Light proposition.
The House of Representitives
Labor is ranked Orange for the House of Reps. The opportunity for a Green Transition, sparked by the influence of a progressive cross bench holding the balance of power in a Labor minority government, is our bet bet for climate rescue.
The Senate
Likewise our senate Traffic Light Voting Guides also promote Labor ahead of the Coalition using an Orange Light status. This stategy will help discourage the worst senario for climate action which would result from a combative Coalition/right wing party majority in the senate.