Colleen Hartland, a former Maribyrnong Councillor and respected Footscray resident, will contest the Upper House Western Metropolitan Region for the Victorian Greens. Colleen has lived in Footscray for over twenty years. She has a solid track-record in local government, having represented Yarraville and Seddon residents as one of the first Greens to be elected to the Maribyrnong Council (Sheoak Ward) from 2003 to 2005.

As a Councillor, Colleen developed expertise in financial management, working with bureaucracies and dealing with the media, all important skills in the parliamentary arena.

Colleen is a public housing support worker employed by the Western Region Health Centre, and therefore works with and in the community each day. Her strong local ties are reflected in the many campaigns in which she is, or was, involved. She is a founding member of the Hazardous Materials Action Group (HAZMAG), which has been fighting for the past fifteen years to have the chemical storage facilities on Coode Island relocated. She has been a vocal critic of the EPA and Victorian Government for their neglect of the western suburbs, and was a member of Environment Effects Committees on West Point Wilson, Point Lillias and the proposed toxic dump at Werribee. Colleen chaired the Maribyrnong Drug Strategy Committee for three years and is currently campaigning for improved train services across the entire Western Metropolitan Region after initial campaigns at the Yarraville and Seddon stations indicated that the problem was not limited to those areas.

Colleen has been a crucial catalyst for change in her community. She now aims to continue striving for social justice and environmental protection in the west at the State level.

Colleen Hartland is the Victorian Greens' spokesperson for Aged Care, Welfare, Disability and Urban Environment.

To contact Colleen Hartland, please send an e-mail to colleenhartland@vic.greens.org.au or call 0400 043 881.

The Western Metropolitan Region covers an area from Craigieburn in the north to Williamstown and Altona in the south, and from Werribee, Caroline Springs and Sydenham in the west to Gladstone Park, Coburg, Moonee Ponds and Footscray in the east.

For more information on the new electoral system for the Upper House, visit the Victorian Electoral Commission's website: http://www.vec.vic.gov.au

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