Community organisations call on Bronwyn Pike, the ALP candidate for Melbourne and currently the sitting member, to intervene and call off her entourage of Ministerial staff, union officials and employees who have been accompanying her to community election forums and disrupting proceedings.

This organised disruption appears to be targeted chiefly at Kevin Chamberlin, Independent candidate and one of the chief threats to Bronwyn Pike, in what is turning out to be a closely fought campaign for the seat of Melbourne.

Community groups perceive this campaign as being designed to stifle debate and intimidate other participants at the meetings and so prevent opponents of Bronwyn Pike from getting their message across to the public. This tactic was clearly evident at the Royal Park Protection Group meeting held last week in North Melbourne where the focus was on the opposition to the Labor Government’s - and therefore Bronwyn Pike’s - approval for the construction of the 2006 Commonwealth Games Village in Royal Park. It was also in evidence at the meeting of the combined residents’ associations at the Melbourne Town Hall last Monday.

Residents are concerned that tonight’s public forum to be held at the Church of All Nations in Carlton will be derailed by ALP ‘heavies’. An additional worry is that speakers (who include election candidates) at the Protest Picnic in the Park with Bob Brown scheduled for this Sunday 24 November 2002 on the controversial Royal Park Hospital site for the 2006 Commonwealth Games Village might be subjected to ‘special treatment’ from ALP supporters.