The Independents for Canberra team: Mark Richardson (Ginninderra), Anne-Louise Dawes (Murrumbidgee), Sara Poguet (Kurrajong), Nicole Lawsonn (Brindabella), Thomas Emerson (Kurrajong), Dr Vanessa Picker (Brindabella), David Pollard (Yerrabi), Sneha KC (Yerrabi), Paula McGrady (Murrumbidgee). Photo: IFC.
Independents for Canberra has finalised its team to contest the ACT election in October, announcing its lead candidates in the electorates of Kurrajong and Murrumbidgee.
Restaurateur Sara Poguet will join IFC co-founder Thomas Emerson in Kurrajong.
Originally from Perth, Ms Poguet has lived in Canberra for the past 25 years and owns the Chez Frederic restaurant in Braddon.
She is a single mother and has been recognised by the Australian Institute of Management as one of the top 30 Australian managers under the age of 30.
Ms Poguet said she wasn’t convinced the current governing parties were acting in the community’s best interests.
“During election campaigns, I’ve noticed the Labor-Greens members roll out grand plans and ambitious commitments that repeatedly fall short,” she said.
“That’s why I’ve joined Independents for Canberra. We will be there to hold the government to account.
“Our approach is simple: transparency, action and integrity. Our commitment is to provide real change for Canberra.”
Deputy chair of the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body Paula McGrady and public servant Anne-Louise Dawes have been endorsed as lead candidates for Murrumbidgee.
Ms McGrady is a Goomeri/Bigumbul woman who has called Canberra home for more than 20 years and served in the community sector in areas such as family and domestic violence, sexual abuse, youth justice, homelessness, education, counselling and support.
She said she put her hand up as a candidate because she was tired of seeing the system fail the people who most needed it, and that she was ready to move into politics to create positive change.
“I love people. I love what I do. I want to do more,” Ms McGrady said.
“To feel safe and to live without fear is something we all deserve as a human right. We know we are failing the most vulnerable and marginalised people across our community but nothing ever seems to change.
“People should feel that what affects them does matter and I will be there making sure that is the case as their representative.”
Ms Dawes is a descendant of the Dawes and Franklin families that moved to the Brindabella region before Canberra was formed.
A career bureaucrat, Ms Dawes has developed a strong interest in social justice and equality, and a deep working knowledge of both levels of government.
She grew up on the north side before moving to Chifley, where she raised two children.
Ms Dawes said she saw in Independents for Canberra something fundamentally different from what she’d experienced elsewhere.
“A lifetime of supporting ministers, good and bad, as a senior public servant showed me how much can be achieved if people are honest, authentic and act with integrity,” Ms Dawes said. ”Sadly, these qualities are increasingly rare in politics.”
She wants Canberra to live up to its potential as a city of innovation.
Mr Emerson, a small-business owner and staffer for ACT Senator David Pocock, said he was humbled to have both Ms McGrady and Ms Dawes join the movement, with Ms McGrady choosing to run for the Assembly under the IFC banner rather than pursuing another term on the Elected Body, and Ms Dawes opting to join the independent movement having been courted by other parties.
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