Jordan Casson-Jones: the young addition to the Greens party

The Kiama Greens council have added 20-year-old Jordan Casson-Jones to their ticket for the upcoming September elections and they think this injection of youth is just what Kiama council has been needing.

Casson-Jones, who was awarded the Young Citizen of the Year Award for suicide prevention in 2021, is second on the ticket and he identifies that one of the main issues affecting young people in Kiama at the moment is the rise in the cost of living, and he says his first focus will be on addressing that.

“My primary focus will be on relieving the cost-of-living crisis on locals as well as the housing crisis. It is my understanding that the Kiama community is a green community supportive of renewable energy and is working towards solving the climate crisis,” says Casson-Jones.

Conveying Kiama’s youth residents’ opinions and ideas has been a struggle for the council over the years and Casson-Jones hopes that he will prove to be an example that there are ways to be heard in our community.

“I would hope that coming in as a young person I can show that it can be done and that youth can make an impact,” says Casson-Jones.

Casson-Jones believes that there are many young people in Kiama with opinions and ideas, but they just don’t know how to get these things heard.

“I know of a lot of strongly minded political people in our community. In the grand scheme of things young people are faced with a lot of present issues that they are inclined to advocate about. They’re very outspoken on what they want and what they need, they just don’t know where to put those opinions,” says Casson-Jones.

The third member of the Greens party, Mark Whalan, believes that having Casson-Jones on their team gives them an edge over some of the other parties.

“Jordan at 20 years old is definitely bringing a whole new mix of values and skills and that is what this council needs, some diversity. I think there is some genuine criticism of the last council that they could’ve done more and I think a lot of them are fairly tired,” says Whalan.

The Bugle are attempting to create a youth forum to give young people a space where they can converse and express opinions and ideas that will be heard and can actually make an impact. Whalan says that this is something that is vital to the Kiama community.

“One of the big things in Australian politics is lifestyle, Australians don’t care about politics unless it affects their lifestyle personally and that applies to under 21’s in Kiama just as much. But if they want something added to the town or want to express something they don’t really have an avenue to do that at the moment. I think a regular youth forum is a great idea,” says Whalan.

If you are a young voice in the Kiama LGA and would like to be involved with creating a youth forum, please get into contact with The Bugle and stay tuned for our future articles on the subject.