This election marks the fifth time the 51-year-old social worker Alex Kaur Bhathal has run for the Greens in the seat since her first tilt in 2001.
“As a qualified social worker with 30 years in the social welfare sector, my professional experience includes clinical practice with young people, community development and policy. I’ve been passionate about refugee and migration rights advocacy. As a Sikh Australian, I’m also actively involved in Australia’s rapidly growing Indian and South Asian communities” Alex Bhathal Image
During her conversation with at the Election Exchange, Alex Bhattal talked about her background and about the Greens Party campaign for this election including Social Equality, fair treatment of asylum seekers and Global Warming.
When asked “What Greens commitment was to the migrant community?’ , Alex said that Greens recognise that the migrant community makes a huge contribution to the nation each year and they will be looking at making the Family Re-union better for the community so that people can live between two countries if they need to. She also talked about reviewing the Migration Visa Charges for Australia and making it more affordable.
When asked about Greens chances in these elections, Alex was confident that Greens has high calibre candidates throughout the nation and that it is looking good for her own seat of Batman in Melbourne too!
Alex's father is a Punjabi Sikh. Her grandmother is from Jahangir village, near Verka, north of Amritsar. Her grandfather Arjan Singh was from Bhanodh village, outside Ludhiana. He joined the British Army and after WW1 and was recruited to the Police in British Malaya. He was the Chief of Police in Malaya before and after the Japanese occupation of WW2. In 1960, Alex's grandparents went back to Punjab where they built a home in Chandigarh. Alex's father came to Australia in 1952 at age 17. He studied medicine at Adelaide University.
Here is some information about Alex’s profile as presented on http://alexbhathal.com/
I live in Preston with my GP husband Peter and my two school aged boys Ravi and Paddy.
For the past 30 years I’ve been a passionate community advocate fighting for the issues you care about – from strengthening Indigenous and multi-cultural services to social housing, action on global warming, marriage equality, access to higher education and fairer treatment for people seeking asylum.
I’m a qualified social worker with a Masters degree in Criminology. I’ve worked as a lecturer and tutor at RMIT University and as an Australian Postgraduate Award recipient I’ve undertaken doctoral studies in the social impacts of global warming.
I’ve published and presented on climate displacement at UN forums and is active in the global climate justice movement. In 2011 I worked as the Australian Greens’ National Climate Campaigner.
A qualified social worker with 30 years in the social welfare sector, my professional experience includes clinical practice with young people, community development and policy. In my most recent role, I coordinated refugee youth programs in Victoria for a large NGO.
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I’ve also been passionate about refugee and migration rights advocacy, having visited immigration detention centres for many years and worked on the People’s Inquiry into Detention. A Sikh Australian, I’m actively involved in Australia’s rapidly growing Indian and South Asian communities.
Like you I want a local member who puts people ahead of politics, and I have a track record for getting results for the local community. That’s why I want to be your Australian Greens representative in Canberra for Batman.
Along with fighting for the issues I’ve always been passionate about, as your voice in Canberra I will stand up for a fairer tax system that pays for the health, education and infrastructure services we need, as well as investment in small business and local jobs in the new economy.
