Bunbury Geographe Chamber of Commerce and Industry hosts Meet the Candidates event for Federal election

Members of the Bunbury Geographe Chamber of Commerce and Industry got a chance to meet the candidates for the seat of Forrest in the 2025 Federal election last week. Mediated by ABC radio presenter Stan Shaw, six candidates answered questions from the audience and shared their visions for the South West. The panel included Liberal candidate Ben Small, Independent Sue Chapman, Greens candidate Georgia Beardman, Nationals candidate Cam Parsons, One Nation candidate Paul van der May, and Legalise Cannabis Party candidate Aaron Peete. The only two candidates absent from the event were Labor candidate Tabitha Dowding, and Trumpet of Patriots’ Peter Greenland. Audience members sent in questions via a QR code instead of directly engaging with the candidates at the meeting, unlike a similar event hosted by the Busselton Chamber of Commerce and Industry last week. As a result the overall event was more subdued, with audience members only directly interacting with candidates after the meeting. During the hour, a host of issues were discussed, such as housing, investment in infrastructure projects, upskilling, the Geographe Bay offshore wind farm, the taxation of multinational companies, and negative gearing. With early voting opening on Tuesday, April 22, a question was also asked about where each of the candidates’ preferences would go. Last week, several candidates released their how to vote cards, which gave an interesting insight into who they thought were their main competitors in the race. Out of the eight candidates for Forrest, the Liberals’ Mr Small, listed independent Dr Chapman second-last at No.7, only ahead of the Greens’ Ms Beardman, while Labor’s Ms Dowding was listed at No.4. On Labor’s how to vote card, Ms Beardman was listed as No.2, followed by Legalise Cannabis Party’s Mr Peet at No.3, Dr Chapman at No.4, and Mr Small at No.5. When asked why she wasn’t doing any preference deals, Dr Chapman said “as an independent that would be a completely false thing to do”. “It’s important that people actually recognise that it is their right and their preference,” she said. “If I was to put Liberal ahead of Labor or ahead of the Greens or ahead of anyone, then that’s implying that I support them more than another.” Similarly, Mr Peet said his party would not be engaging in preference deals. “We don’t direct preferences at all. We’re all in the same bus, we’re all heading towards the same cliff. We need to change the drivers and I believe it’s up to you guys to make the decisions on who should be driving,” he said.