South Coast Candidate Kim Stephenson and Kiama Candidate Nina Digiglio (formerly Nina Cheyne) were joined by a high-ranking party member, NSW senator Mehreen Faruqi.

READ MORE: Greens name Kiama and South Coast candidates for state election

Ms Stephenson lives in East Nowra and runs a small catering business, Ms Digiglio lives in Bomaderry and works as a Parkinson’s nurse

South Coast and Kiama electorates are safe Liberal seats.

At the last election in 2015 in Kiama, Greens Candidate Terry Barratt won 11.1 per cent of the vote. Greens Candidate for the South Coast and Shoalhaven Mayor Amanda Findley attained 12.9 per cent of the vote.

Journalist: NSW is in a good fiscal position at the moment. Why should the majority of Liberal voters here change their vote when the economy is going well?

Nina: Firstly I'm going to come from the education perspective. Schools need a massive injection of funds, all the buildings in our schools need to be solarised. Teachers have come to me saying, ‘Our bills are astronomical.' We can bring them down with solar power on all our schools and can put that money to other resources for schools, money that the government hasn't given to our public schools, and they're struggling.

Nina: For a long time I've advocated for increased services and it's just been announced money's going to come to it. We got an emergency department (at Shoalhaven Hospital) that's bursting at the seams. We got a large proportion of people with mental health issues and alcohol issues that don't get best practice because they don't have the staff, they don't have the resources and they don't get timely medical intervention.

Journalist: Are you saying the government is pork-barrelling, in announcing a huge injection of funds into the hospital before the election?

Nina: I don't want to criticise any other political party, they have their agenda but what I do need to see is that people are getting good outcomes and because I'm on the ground every day. I see the struggles that people have. I'm not sure if Gareth and Andy Higgins see what I see. Those people deserve an opportunity and that's why I'm standing. 

Journalist: Will the Greens match the Liberal Party’s $434 million commitment to the Shoalhaven hospital?

NSW Senator Mehreen Faruqi: We can touch base with the health spokesperson if you want to know about that.

Staffer: There will be more to come before the election.

Journalist: Are you open to making preference deals with the major parties?

Nina: I'm going to hold (out on) that and I will take it on notice, respond when I'm ready. 

Kim: Yes, I’m about the same, sorry. Discussions are still yet to be made and of course we have different candidates (in each electorate) so that will might make a difference in our preferences. 

Journalist: Nina as a (Shoalhaven) councillor you've seen the impact of cost shifting on council. Is this something you'd like to see addressed?

Nina: So the planning laws are so weak that developers are able to do what they want in this city and we need to start protecting our environment. And buildings, there's no regulation to have them solarised so they can leave the kind of buildings they want to leave instead of the type of buildings the community needs.

We have a high rate of elderly people and people with disabilities. The housing doesn't actually suit them. I support someone on the NDIS, I’m trying to get them into appropriate housing and affordable housing. It's taking months. This should not be the case. So that's one thing I'd like to see council and state (governments) work on together. 

Journalist: And in regards to council and state government. Are there any changes that you'd like to see, Kim?

Kim: Yes. Again with the environment. There are definitely contentious issues all around, in particular when it comes to development of housing or any kind of big projects that state government agencies oversee.

Biodiversity laws are pretty much useless at this point, it's just carte blanche. People can chop down trees and as for council’s 45 degree rule...you can cut down trees with no repercussions, without thinking about the animals that are living in there, the shade that it provides and the soil retention that it keeps. It's going to be a bit more of a long slog but we need to fight to strengthen the biodiversity laws so we don't have carte blanche on our environment. I mean you look around here, this is what the South Coast is about. We need to keep it and we need to use it respectively. 

Journalist: In terms of your experience, incredible life experience from both of you. In terms of state political experience, you're a bit more green. Who have you been speaking with and how have you been building your knowledge?

Nina: So like all politicians I start knowing nothing. I go to school, learn what they learn at school, and then realise we just haven't been told the truth in some aspects here. You read the paper and there's also things that aren't quite true in the paper and then you start speaking to people from university, people who have life skills in politics.

I've been with the Greens and also, I speak to people from the Labor Party and I’m friends with Gareth (Ward) and I do have conversations with him. I think it's really important that we do diversify our information. And stay on top of it through media. 

I'm on council so I'm reading my business papers and have a lot of experience of the political platform at a local level.

Kim: Nina’s probably said it quite well. We're lucky enough to have four Greens on council, Nina being one of them. I'm the convener of the Shoalhaven Greens as well. So I get to spend a lot of time with these people.

I do attend all of the green state delegates councils where we get together and talk policy and you know what works, what doesn't work, what's real, what isn't real and what people want.