Rodney Cocks - Labor candidate for La Trobe
Published 12 months ago in Where I Live.Last Friday, at the local branch meeting of the ALP, I met Rodney Cocks, the Labor candidate for my electorate (La Trobe) for the upcoming federal election.
Now, much as I am a party member, I did not have the highest expectations of Mr Cocks to begin with… I had never met him, and as far as I knew then, he was a “star candidate” with a flashy CV who did not live in the electorate.
But I am not afraid to admit I was wrong on this one. Mr Cocks greeted every person there, and demonstrated an ability that I have NEVER seen in a politician before - the ability to be brief in talking about himself. After introducing himself and talking a little bit about the campaign, Mr Cocks opened the floor to any questions or comments us branch members had, and he and his campaign manager answered them simply and listened to all suggestions.
It was easy to see that while he had worked overseas as part of the army, and written a book, Mr Cocks was very in touch with the different concerns of the electorate, including fears about nuclear power plants or waste dumps, Howard’s IR laws and their effects on the family, and many more. Also, I asked him, and despite what I had read elsewhere, Mr Cocks definitely does live in the electorate of La Trobe.
All in all, I was very pleasantly surprised by our Labor candidate, and I think the rest of the branch members were too. Rodney Cocks is an approachable and friendly person, an enthusiastic campaigner, and someone who actually cares about the La Trobe residents, not just about being part of the government. He is campaigning full time, so if you live in La Trobe and see him around, have a chat.
Originally I thought I’d just vote for him because I want a Rudd Labor government, but now I’m proud to say I’ll be voting for Rodney Cocks in the election because I really think he will make a great MP for La Trobe as well.
4 Responses to “Rodney Cocks - Labor candidate for La Trobe”
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Wonderful - but vote Green (Richard DiNattalle) in the Senate because Mr Cocks wil get nothing through if the Libs and Family First are in control of the upper house
I’m with Peter here too, I intend to vote Greens to make sure that who ever is running the Country has a check on their power….Perhaps we wouldn’t have a Terrorist under every bed if the current Liberal party had had a half way decent opposition!! Mr Rudd is just a very young Mr Howard in the making….Conservative, measured, smiles a lot but really appears to have little substance in the way of an alternative Leader of Australia.
Good luck with your hopes for Rodney Cocks. As an ex ALP Member just recently I took off the rose coloured glasses and settled for the genuine article. People who care about the environment as a world stage, not the selfish lot we have on both sides now!
give me a break Peter, that is the worst rationale i have heard for voting for the greens. I mean c’mon! bag them for not thinking about fiscal responsibility, bag them about being a one issue party that has no concept or credibility in education,childcare, health, justice or infrastructure.
I am not in the “cocks” camp. I am interested in La Trobe as I am a punter and I bet money on this seat being held by the Liberals - which is looking dodgy, cause of the Rudd & Cocks wave…
If we don’t get the Greens a voice in Parliament we won’t have much environment to worry about, the fiscal dollar, sirmunchalot….Society worries far too much about the dollars and not enough about Mother Earth….We are so very greedy about our use of natural resources that if we don’t care now, it will be too late, later!….The Egyptians, The Romans, The Incas were all once great Civilizations that were broken up and disappeared forever because their politicians and decision makers got it WRONG!
Could it be they thought only of the here and now and nothing about who would come later? Future generations!
Think outside the square sirmunchalot! Have a vision for our grandchildren!