The Greens will be recommending voter preferences be directed towards Greg Piper and then Jeff Hunter in the Lake Macquarie electorate on Saturday 24th March.
“The Greens have historically always preferenced progressive independents and although we may not agree on everything, after discussions with Greg Piper we have concluded that he has progressive views on several key issues,” Lake Macquarie Greens candidate Suzanne Pritchard said.
The Greens support a ban on developer donations and Greg Piper stated he would support legislation to level the playing field on political donations by developers.
The Greens oppose the development of any new coal mines and Greg Piper also supported this stance and the need to ‘close the loophole’ in the LEP to ensure the prohibition of new open cut mines.
The Greens are committed to protecting workers from the socially destructive WorkChoices legislation; Greg Piper has stated he would not support the Federal Government’s Industrial relations package.
“At the end of the day every individual will have the choice to preference as they choose, we have identified an order on our ‘how to vote’ cards that rates the views of the candidate’s in relation to the Greens policy,” Suzanne said.
In many seats across the State Labor will be preferencing the Greens in the NSW Upper House on their how to vote cards, but not in Lake Macquarie.
“The agreement that was entered into by the Greens and the Labor Party identified key seats where Labor wanted the Greens primary preference. Lake Macquarie was one of those seats. After much discussion a decision was made by the local group that we preferred a progressive independent to a constrained Labor candidate.”
The recommended preferences put Labor ahead of the Coalition. The Greens acknowledge that Labor is better on issues like workers' rights, protecting national parks and a little better on climate change.
Greens MP and Lead Upper House candidate Lee Rhiannon said: "The Labor government has been very disappointing, but a Debnam Coalition government would be a living nightmare."This gives NSW a good chance of avoiding a Coalition government while maintaining a strong Upper House that will hold the government to account."We have also agreed with Labor to establish a preferencing framework for the Federal election in NSW to both defeat the Howard government and rescue the Senate from Coalition control."We will work towards Greens recommending preferences to Labor in key federal marginal seats and Labor directing preferences to the Greens in the Senate.”
Showing posts with label Lake Macquarie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lake Macquarie. Show all posts
Thursday, 15 March 2007
Sunday, 4 March 2007
Campaign Launch-Health in Lake Macquarie
Today was the official campaign launch for the Newcastle Green's six candidates across the region. The event was held at the GUOOF Hall in Hamilton. Each of the Candidates had a topic to cover and mine was health. This is what I had to say.
Health in Lake Macquarie is a dichotomy. One the one hand, people choose to live in the area because of the rolling hills, the glistening lake and the fresh air, now Pasminco has closed. The mental health and active lifestyle benefits are considerable. Bit on the other hand the aging population, the physical isolation of many communities and the semi rural infrastructure that exists throughout western Lake Macquarie and Wyong make servicing the needs of the ‘not getting any younger’ community a challenge that requires a unique approach.
The Greens, as a party, are full of creative thinkers that work on a different political paradigm than the major parties. The Greens take a long term approach on all issues and health is no exception. Unless there are long term strategies put into place the projected population expansion of 60,000 people and minimal infrastructure will put this electorate in a desperate situation.
GP access in western Lake Macquarie is the 6th worse for GP shortages in urban NSW, 37th in urban Australia, and there has been a constant decline in bulk billing in Lake Macquarie over the past 5 years. The Greens support training more medical people and providing support for health professionals in rural and remote areas, like Lake Macquarire. The Greens also support the expansion of the community health Centres. This strategy seems one of the most realistic options to enable health services to be provided throughout the electorate close to the people to reduce the travelling time by patients.
Mental Health services are pitiful in Lake Macquarie. The closure of the Morisset hospital, with limited thought to accommodation and support services required to address outpatient care, has resulted in mental health issues becoming social issues within the western Lake Macquarie community. The Greens support accommodation, community care initiatives to support the needs of the people who need support.
Disability associated with an aging population is a social equity issue and as such a foundation principle of the Greens ethics. Safe pedestrian to be able to walk to the local shops and services are essential. Ramps, rails, toilets in public places and appropriate public transport options are all policy initiatives the Greens feel will make our communities remain accessible to all.
And let’s not forget about our youth. The health of our youth needs to be addressed. High unemployment and the remoteness of many Lake Macquarie suburbs, means that local ‘partying’ with excessive alcohol consumption is one of the main entertainment outlets. The Greens are committed to harm minimisation, exploring approaches which treat drug use as a health and social issue.
These are just some of the strategies and issues the Greens have on health within this electorate. Lake Macquarie has its own unique set of challenges, resourcing a geographically large electorate requires an innovative approaching I believe that the Greens have strong social and community ethics that will ensure the needs of people come first. If you have your health, whether its physical or mental you can deal with most other things.
Vote for you health tomorrow, today.
Health in Lake Macquarie is a dichotomy. One the one hand, people choose to live in the area because of the rolling hills, the glistening lake and the fresh air, now Pasminco has closed. The mental health and active lifestyle benefits are considerable. Bit on the other hand the aging population, the physical isolation of many communities and the semi rural infrastructure that exists throughout western Lake Macquarie and Wyong make servicing the needs of the ‘not getting any younger’ community a challenge that requires a unique approach.
The Greens, as a party, are full of creative thinkers that work on a different political paradigm than the major parties. The Greens take a long term approach on all issues and health is no exception. Unless there are long term strategies put into place the projected population expansion of 60,000 people and minimal infrastructure will put this electorate in a desperate situation.
GP access in western Lake Macquarie is the 6th worse for GP shortages in urban NSW, 37th in urban Australia, and there has been a constant decline in bulk billing in Lake Macquarie over the past 5 years. The Greens support training more medical people and providing support for health professionals in rural and remote areas, like Lake Macquarire. The Greens also support the expansion of the community health Centres. This strategy seems one of the most realistic options to enable health services to be provided throughout the electorate close to the people to reduce the travelling time by patients.
Mental Health services are pitiful in Lake Macquarie. The closure of the Morisset hospital, with limited thought to accommodation and support services required to address outpatient care, has resulted in mental health issues becoming social issues within the western Lake Macquarie community. The Greens support accommodation, community care initiatives to support the needs of the people who need support.
Disability associated with an aging population is a social equity issue and as such a foundation principle of the Greens ethics. Safe pedestrian to be able to walk to the local shops and services are essential. Ramps, rails, toilets in public places and appropriate public transport options are all policy initiatives the Greens feel will make our communities remain accessible to all.
And let’s not forget about our youth. The health of our youth needs to be addressed. High unemployment and the remoteness of many Lake Macquarie suburbs, means that local ‘partying’ with excessive alcohol consumption is one of the main entertainment outlets. The Greens are committed to harm minimisation, exploring approaches which treat drug use as a health and social issue.
These are just some of the strategies and issues the Greens have on health within this electorate. Lake Macquarie has its own unique set of challenges, resourcing a geographically large electorate requires an innovative approaching I believe that the Greens have strong social and community ethics that will ensure the needs of people come first. If you have your health, whether its physical or mental you can deal with most other things.
Vote for you health tomorrow, today.
Saturday, 10 February 2007
Confessions # 3 floating for a future
It’s been a fun weekend. On Saturday the people’s blockade of the world’s largest coal exporting harbour was a festive affair. A flotilla of like minded individuals drifted about on a beautiful sunny day enjoying the relatively warm water of a working harbour.
There were several hundred people at the event organised by Rising Tide, double the numbers from last year. Holding it in summer not winter was definitely a good idea. We are so lucky to have a glorious coastline. The opportunity to bob about with a banner for a few hours and get up close and personal with a tanker full if woodchips was a memorable peaceful protest action.
The Greens were well represented with Federal Senator Kerry Nettle on the shores with Charlestown Candidate Jane Smith whilst Upper House MP Lee Rhiannon, Newcastle hopeful Michael Osborne and Maitland’s Jan Davis were onboard a dingy that was kept afloat with ham sandwich plugs. In true Greens spirit they fought against the sea level change, using their No New Coal banners to paddle safely back to shore.
For many urban electorates climate change is a philosophical issue but in Lake Macquarie where there are so many mines and mining proposals keen to extract as much as they can, to the detriment of the local communities and the environment coal is an in your face topic.
Bob Brown’s call for the government to begin the process of developing a plan in the next three years to start the transition out of a coal based economy is a very reasonable request if you want a future for your community as well as the planet as a whole. Thank goodness someone realises that before you do anything you should have a plan. The fact that he was so grossly misrepresented in the media probably means it was a good idea, why else would you not want people to know what was actually said?
There were several hundred people at the event organised by Rising Tide, double the numbers from last year. Holding it in summer not winter was definitely a good idea. We are so lucky to have a glorious coastline. The opportunity to bob about with a banner for a few hours and get up close and personal with a tanker full if woodchips was a memorable peaceful protest action.
The Greens were well represented with Federal Senator Kerry Nettle on the shores with Charlestown Candidate Jane Smith whilst Upper House MP Lee Rhiannon, Newcastle hopeful Michael Osborne and Maitland’s Jan Davis were onboard a dingy that was kept afloat with ham sandwich plugs. In true Greens spirit they fought against the sea level change, using their No New Coal banners to paddle safely back to shore.
For many urban electorates climate change is a philosophical issue but in Lake Macquarie where there are so many mines and mining proposals keen to extract as much as they can, to the detriment of the local communities and the environment coal is an in your face topic.
Bob Brown’s call for the government to begin the process of developing a plan in the next three years to start the transition out of a coal based economy is a very reasonable request if you want a future for your community as well as the planet as a whole. Thank goodness someone realises that before you do anything you should have a plan. The fact that he was so grossly misrepresented in the media probably means it was a good idea, why else would you not want people to know what was actually said?
Tuesday, 23 January 2007
Confessions of a Candidate #1
Suzanne Kathleen Pritchard, 43, and I love Lake Macquarie. I swim and think in the Lake’s cooling waters and walk and wonder in the surrounding hills. The Lake Macquarie electorate is 1,062 km2 , and that’s a lot of lake and a fair few hills. There are also about 64,320 people, spread out in little patches of paradise dotted between the mountains and the sea. The officials call it provincial, it feels more like community.
I love my City of Lake Macquarie too, even though it has no city centre, and people drive past it on the way to the north coast and the wine country of the Hunter Valley. The City is unique, it is a bushland city with a mining-manufacturing history in a changing climate of technology and evidence that the world is changing too.
I’m just starting out on a rather interesting relationship with the State Electorate of Lake Macquarie, all new boundaries and needless to say, I’m excited. In every relationship it’s important to work through the issues and Lake Mac has its fair share. The Lake Mac electorate is big… and size makes a difference to how much bang you get for your buck when it comes to supplying infrastructure, whether it’s water or somewhere to walk, a local school or health services close to home.
It makes a difference when the electorate spans two Local Government Areas. In Wyong it takes in a large chunk of the catchment for the Central Coast’s water supply and in Lake Macquarie it includes the proposed sites for several new coal extraction initiatives and all of the Lake. The concerns about natural resources and their sustainable management is a major issue in the electorate.
I decided to be a candidate so I could offer the people of Lake Macquarie a choice. A choice to do things a little differently or to think of different ways to do the same things more sustainably. It’s the choice between letting Sydney politics drive the agenda for our region and ensuring that the local communities still have a say about the place they choose to call home.
Being a candidate is being able to present a different paradigm for people to ponder, a different way of thinking about the same old problems. While many solutions may have already been found, at present there is no political power to put them in place. The current political mindset is not making a difference in the timeframe that’s necessary to make a real difference to the final outcomes that our families and children will have to live with.
A Green voice in government is vital if different solutions are to be found. The core Greens ethics of grassroots democracy, economic justice & social equality, ecological sustainability and peace, non-violence & disarmament provide a different way of viewing our place in the world and what we do with it.
Over the next month or two I’ll be getting to know the electorate a little more personally and this blog is one way I hope to share this journey with you.
I love my City of Lake Macquarie too, even though it has no city centre, and people drive past it on the way to the north coast and the wine country of the Hunter Valley. The City is unique, it is a bushland city with a mining-manufacturing history in a changing climate of technology and evidence that the world is changing too.
I’m just starting out on a rather interesting relationship with the State Electorate of Lake Macquarie, all new boundaries and needless to say, I’m excited. In every relationship it’s important to work through the issues and Lake Mac has its fair share. The Lake Mac electorate is big… and size makes a difference to how much bang you get for your buck when it comes to supplying infrastructure, whether it’s water or somewhere to walk, a local school or health services close to home.
It makes a difference when the electorate spans two Local Government Areas. In Wyong it takes in a large chunk of the catchment for the Central Coast’s water supply and in Lake Macquarie it includes the proposed sites for several new coal extraction initiatives and all of the Lake. The concerns about natural resources and their sustainable management is a major issue in the electorate.
I decided to be a candidate so I could offer the people of Lake Macquarie a choice. A choice to do things a little differently or to think of different ways to do the same things more sustainably. It’s the choice between letting Sydney politics drive the agenda for our region and ensuring that the local communities still have a say about the place they choose to call home.
Being a candidate is being able to present a different paradigm for people to ponder, a different way of thinking about the same old problems. While many solutions may have already been found, at present there is no political power to put them in place. The current political mindset is not making a difference in the timeframe that’s necessary to make a real difference to the final outcomes that our families and children will have to live with.
A Green voice in government is vital if different solutions are to be found. The core Greens ethics of grassroots democracy, economic justice & social equality, ecological sustainability and peace, non-violence & disarmament provide a different way of viewing our place in the world and what we do with it.
Over the next month or two I’ll be getting to know the electorate a little more personally and this blog is one way I hope to share this journey with you.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
