Confession #4 I’ve been SCAMming

Tonight was Southlakes Communities Against Mine’s Annual General Meeting and public forum. My first speaking adventure into the great unknown with the other candidates Greg Piper (Independent Mayor), Jeff Hunter (Labor) and Ken Paxinos (Liberal). I was nervous so I prepared a few points. A valuable lesson I learnt was if you do make notes it’s sometimes helpful to remember to take them with you.

Congratulations to all the SCAMmers who were re-elected to their positions with the hope that in the very near future there would no longer be a need for the organisation and the high conservation land of western Lake Macquarie would become part of the Green Corridor as a park for perpetuity.

There was a lot of discussion about Frank Sartor’s Part 3A powers that allow him to rezone and approve anything he deems of State significance. There was a general feeling from the other candidates that in exceptional circumstance the State probably does need to have that power and as long as it’s used wisely. There was a general feeling from the meeting that Frank was taking it a bit too far and who could you trust to do the right thing in the future?

The Greens were the only ones with a firm policy to restrict the Planning Minister’s ability to call in and approve developments and we were the only ones who mentioned the importance of banning developer donations because they compromise democracy.

Some of the points that I covered in my talk were

The greens are a party where decisions are made locally. Grassroots democracy is a foundation along with social equity and economic justice, peace and non-violence and ecological sustainability. These principles underpin everything we do, so we do things a little bit differently

When we look at the coal industry we don’t just consider export dollars, we consider the social impacts on the communities around the mines, and the environmental damage, and the long term impacts on the region and the country.

The Greens are not compromised by donations from big business, developers or banks, our backers are the people, so people come first.

The Greens have people in the NSW Upper House who have a proven track record of influencing and improving government policy. Lower house candidates can make a difference too by introducing private members bills to open up discussion.

Voting Green is sending a clear message to the major parties that you want a different agenda on the political platform. Climate change is upon us and we’re all a little bit responsible because we’ve kept people in power that refuse to even look to making a plan for a transition from coal to renewables for a better future regionally and globally.