Around 300 supporters have packed the house at the Eatons Hill Hotel in Brisbane's north last night, to celebrate the campaign launch of Community Independent candidate for the Federal seat of Dickson Ellie Smith.
Ellie Smith was joined by volunteers, supporters and members of the local community to show that people were now ready for a positive change in Dickson.
The venue capacity had to be increased at the last minute to help cater for extra demand from local community members to attend the people powered campaign launch event.
At 1.7 percent, Dickson is the most marginal seat in Queensland, having been held by the Leader of the LNP Peter Dutton for the past 24 years.
Ms Smith was chosen to run as the community independent earlier this year through the local grassroots group Dickson Decides.
In a short period of time support for the grassroots campaign has surged with a large supporter and volunteer base.
Early research shows voter recognition of Ellie Smith as an independent candidate in Dickson has already climbed past 50 percent.
Ellie Smith campaign
- More than 300 registered volunteers
- Almost 2,000 supporters signed on
- More than 600 individual donors
- More than 260 public and volunteer events
Ellie Smith said:
"It was incredible to see the groundswell of support on display here in Eatons Hill.
“There is real excitement here in Dickson because people are now seeing what real grassroots, community representation looks like.
“For too long people in Dickson have felt like they could only choose between the two same old parties.
“Now they can choose a genuine community based, independent candidate who will stand by them and put them first, not their own ambition or political party.
“We are a volunteer based, community organisation and that’s our real strength.
“We’ve only been actively working on the ground for about 10 weeks, but we’ve built an incredible base of local supporters.
“That’s what inspires me each day to get out and work my hardest to show people how I can be a positive change for Dickson.”
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