By Kate Lockyer
When Holstein Wong (pictured) started out in her career as an engineer, she was hopeful that technology would provide the solutions for the problems Australia is facing.
Now, she has decided it takes political action to make change and is running as the 2024 Queensland Greens candidate for the McConnel in the October state election.
“I’ve always been a greens voter – the climate and addressing inequality are two things that made me a Greens voter,” Ms Wong said.
“But I never thought I would be politically involved until recently.
“…I went off to study engineering, and thought technology is going to fix everything, but more recently I realized that politics has a huge role in setting the agenda and providing funding for lots of essential things that we need.”
Currently she works in business development for a company that focuses on decarbonising the mining sector.
Ms Wong has been volunteering with the Greens for about five years and said the key principles underpinning her campaign are to create a good life for everybody and to ensure publicly funded essential services and infrastructure.
She has lived in New Farm for seven years, having moved from Central Queensland where she worked as an engineer.
Ms Wong said basic things like public health care and public education are really important to her, especially now she is a young mum.
“I live in a small apartment with my husband and son, and we see a lot of people like us with similar issues and things that are important to us.”
She is involved with several community organisations, being Company Secretary for social support centre 3rd Space and a member of the Rotary Club of New Farm.
Firsthand experience at 3rd Space has informed her understanding of the current housing crisis.
“When I first started volunteering, I would see the same people coming through, and in the last year or two, there’s all these new faces,” Ms Wong said.
“We’re seeing people who have never experienced housing stress before come through, we’re seeing people from further out of the local area, it’s putting a lot of pressure on services that are underfunded at the moment.”
Greens’ doorknocking data confirmed this issue is on the minds of McConnel residents.
“Renting and the housing crisis is something that is very topical right now… people are having to move further away from their jobs, and people are having to move back in with their parents because they are trying to save for a deposit and buying their first home is getting more out of reach even for people who are working hard,” Ms Wong said.
“Unlimited rent increases are really having a big impact, not just individually, but on community groups and on volunteering as well, because people are moving around so much it’s hard to put down roots.”
The Greens are advocating for a two-year rent freeze and stopping unlimited rent increases to allow wages to catch up to rental prices.
If you would like to contact Ms Wong about an issue email holstein.wong@qld.greens.org.au.
