Luc Velez: The Activist Heart Behind the Greens’ Bid for Sydney
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Luc Velez didn’t stumble into politics — he marched his way into it. A familiar face on the frontlines of climate rallies and queer rights marches, Velez is a 25-year-old community organiser, law student, and proud Newtown local.
Now, he’s stepping into the national spotlight as the Greens candidate for the federal seat of Sydney, carrying with him a vision shaped by lived experience, protest, and a fierce sense of justice.
“I grew up in the Inner West and Inner City, and I have a deep sense of responsibility and connection to our local community – I felt the need to put my hand up because nothing changes if nothing changes,” Velez tells Star Observer.
And that connection runs deep. Velez has lived, worked, and organised on Gadigal land his entire life. His political roots lie in student activism and the climate movement, but his campaign platform stretches far wider: tackling housing stress, cost of living, queerphobia, and corporate greed with bold, redistributive policies.
“I’ve watched more and more of my friends forced out of Sydney after massive rent hikes,” he says. “And those still around are working twice as hard just to get by and keep up with price-gouging supermarkets.”
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Like many in his generation, Velez is frustrated by what he sees as government inertia on issues that quite simply can’t wait. He is particularly critical of Labor’s record on climate issues. “Labor has approved more than 30 new coal and gas projects – I don’t even have words strong enough to describe what a betrayal this is,” Velez explains. “The major parties are cooking our planet just so their mates in the fossil fuel lobby can keep making massive profits.”
Velez is also calling attention to the generational divide in Parliament. “This is going to be the first election where Millennials and Gen Z will outnumber boomers at the ballot box, and quite frankly, I don’t think the major parties are ready for it,” says Luc. “Young people aren’t afraid of radical agendas, because they understand the trajectory we’re already on is radically unjust.” But Velez isn’t running to become the Gen Z political poster-child — he’s running because he believes this gap in generational representation in the halls of Parliament is harming the country’s future.
A board member of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras and a long-time activist with Pride in Protest, Luc Velez brings an explicitly intersectional lens to politics — one that places queer liberation, anti-racism, First Nations sovereignty, and economic justice on the same continuum.
And in the face of rising transphobia, Velez says the silence from major parties is damning. “The right is absolutely leaning into queerphobia, and it’s been really disappointing to see Labor avoid directly confronting transphobia and homophobia,” he says. “Any mentions of anti-discrimination reform or gender affirming care have certainly been missing. To say the obvious – you can’t win something if you’re too afraid to even say it out loud.”
Velez’s policy agenda is radical in scope but grounded in practicalities: tax billionaires, build public housing, bring dental and mental health into Medicare, and regulate supermarket monopolies. “We know that lots of people in our community are really struggling, while one in three big corporations are not paying any tax and raking in massive profits. The Greens want to tax these corporations to pay for the things our community needs and to tackle inequality,” Velez explains.
Running against Labor stalwart Tanya Plibersek, who has held the seat since 1998 — before Velez was even born — he’s aware he is challenging a political heavyweight, as well as the status quo. Plibersek was elected to Parliament at roughly the same age Velez is now, and he’s keenly aware of the symbolism. If elected, he would follow in her footsteps — but take the seat in a radically different direction.
To Luc Velez, politics isn’t about deference to hierarchy — it’s about standing up, speaking to truth, and refusing to accept that this is as good as it gets.
