This was published 7 years ago
Greens announce 'working class' candidate for Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk's seat of Inala
By Felicity Caldwell
Navdeep Singh describes himself as a working class, common man.
And now he's hoping to unseat Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk at the next state election.
Navdeep Singh is running for the Greens in the Premier's seat of Inala in the next Queensland election.
Mr Singh, known to his mates as "Nav", is the Greens candidate for the seat of Inala.
The seat has been held by Ms Palaszczuk since 2006, and by her father Henry Palaszczuk from 1992 to 2006.
Mr Singh graduated in Mechanical Engineering and has a post-graduate diploma in Environmental Engineering from Griffith University but identifies as a working class man.
The father-of-two migrated from India to Australia in 2007 and runs a car workshop in Moorooka.
Mr Singh said he believed working class and small business owners were often ignored by politicians.
"People live week-to-week or are at brink of bankruptcy and are not given the help they need," Mr Singh said.
"I'm a proud working class man. Politicians seem to have no idea of the problems being faced by common people in their day to day lives.
"I aim to voice the concerns of neglected and misrepresented commoners, my fellow citizens."
The Inala electorate - which covers south-west parts of Brisbane including Durack, Richlands, Camira and parts of Darra, Forest Lake and Springfield - is considered safe for Labor.
At the 2015 election, Greens candidate Silke Volkmann received 2272 votes to Ms Palaszczuk's 18,915.
The LNP's Adam Hannant received 6442 votes.
Queensland Greens spokesman Ben Pennings admitted Inala was a safe seat for Labor.
"But Nav has taken up the challenge to keep the premier connected to people in her electorate, particularly those struggling financially," Mr Pennings said.
"People in Inala deserve the premier's attention just as much as political donors and the manoeuvrings on George St."
Mr Singh said Ms Palaszczuk had been in politics for a long time.
"I want to share stories with other common people. They deserve to be heard by someone who understands," he said.
On the topic of One Nation, Mr Singh said the "politics of hatred" concerned him.
"It can't go out of society once it gets started," the Springfield resident said.
"It is my obligation to stop this thing happening, to stand up against it."
The next Queensland election could be held as late as 2018.