After 14 months of deliberation on his citizenship status, Tim Hollo will run as the Greens Party candidate for the reshaped electorate of Canberra in the ACT.

The seat is a traditional Labor electorate but its boundaries have changed significantly as part of a redistribution that resulted in the ACT being allocated a third federal seat.

Mr Hollo decided to join the Greens nearly 20 years ago because, he says, the party’s policies reflect his own personal values.

Mr Hollo has built much of his career in the environmental sector working with a variety of organisations. He is the founder and Executive Director of Green Music Australia, an organisation which started in 2013 to provide musicians and others in the entertainment industry with tools and training to help reduce their environmental impact.

He has also worked as Communications Director for the former Greens leader, Christine Milne, and been a board member of Greenpeace Australia Pacific.

His ‘green’ credentials include involvement with groups fighting environmental challenges such as 350.org and ‘Lock the Gate’. He is also a regular contributor to the Guardian, the ABC and the Griffith Review.

A key part of Mr Hollo’s campaign for Canberra is a desire to bring community values to the forefront of federal politics. He says the Greens’ big policy issues are striving for this outcome.

“[These include] championing big, evidence-based solutions to solve the major problems facing our community today, like growing economic inequality, increasing cost of living, environmental destruction and climate change,” he says.

Another area of interest that aligns with the Greens’ platform is his desire to clean up politics by increasing public ownership and decreasing privatisation of industries including banking, energy and online services. He backs an initiative for Medicare funded dental care for Australians.

With Tim Hollo, climate change is never far from the conversation. He supports the continued strikes by school students to protest about the need for greater action.

Mr Hollo supports the #StopAdani movement which is campaigning against the Adani coal mine in Queensland. He has also been outspoken about other plans for new non-renewable energy sites such as the proposed coal mine in the Hunter Valley.

Mr Hollo says his message to the voters of Canberra is that a Greens MP will work hard to pull Labor – if, as the polls suggest, the ALP wins the election – to where it needs to be on climate action.

Seats in the ACT are generally regarded as Labor strongholds and Mr Hollo understands the task ahead of him. But he senses the electorate’s mood augurs well for his chances.

“When new seats have been declared in areas which really do share Greens values, the Greens have won those seats with swings of 12 to 14 per cent.”