Vasse Poll: Greens focus on the little picture

Dunsborough resident Michael Baldock says he will act as the voice of the community if elected on October 18.

The Greens' candidate for Vasse said unlike others in the race, he would not be forced to toe the party line.

"Often it’s not the big ticket items talked about in the campaign that define how good a local member has been, it’s how well they listen to the electorate," he said.

"My position is reliant on the local community and I’ll be representing their best interests."

Mr Baldock is a born and bred local, having grown up in Yallingup and attended Dunsborough Primary School and Busselton Senior High School.

He left the region to study engineering and spent time working on offshore oil and gas projects in Europe before returning home 17 years ago.

President of the Dunsborough Primary School P and C for the past six years, Mr Baldock said taking part in politics was a relatively recent passion for him.

"I’ve always been interested in it but never acted on it," he said.

"It started with the Busselton hospital and the location of the hospital and services of the hospital.

“During the campaign (former Greens MLC) Giz Watson was one politician we went to who was willing to ask questions in Parliament for us.

"I continued involvement in the Greens from that point on."

If elected, Mr Baldock said he would focus on "the connection between a healthy environment, good community services and a strong economy" rather than any one project.

"What happens too much is a focus on big infrastructure projects as if they’ll be the solution of all issues in Busselton, but they’re not," he said. “We’ve got to look at the issues sitting below that.”

His priorities include increasing education funding, ensuring the new hospital delivered in-demand services such as chemotherapy, delivering a 24-hour police station and improving the health of the Vasse Wonnerup wetlands.

Mr Baldock attracted 10 per cent of the vote in the 2013 election.

Click here to go mobile with iNFOGO - local everywhere