GREEN JOBS FOR A GREENER HUNTER - WHAT ARE THE PROSPECTS ?

It was a great forum! There is a future for the City beyond the coalface.

Two of the speakers were Bill Mitchell Professor of Economics, and the Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE) at the University of Newcastle and Geoff Evans of the School of Environmental and Life Sciences in the Faculty of Science and Information Technology at the University of Newcastle

They talked about the recently published report, commissioned by Greenpeace, “A Just Transition to a Renewable Energy Economy in the Hunter Region”

A just transition from a coal economy could create thousands of new secure, well paid jobs in research, design, manufacturing, installation and maintenance.

The report was researched and modelled under stringent economic arguments and dispels the scare mongering that there are no employment options if there is no coal. Well I for one will be strongly advocating that the sooner we get on with accepting the inevitable demise of the coal industry the better position we will be in to capitalilise on a budding boom renewable industry.

Another inspiring speaker was Mark Fogarty a former director of the NSW Sustainable Energy Authority (SEDA) and currently a director of CBD Energy, a company that looks to implementing solar/thermal power in the Hunter. He talked of the need for certainty in policies and how they can drive change such as the feed in tariff in Germany He spoke of how progressive policy platforms can ensure security and investment. He effused of the great economic opportunity that is available as long as there is stability and longevity of policy. It was comforting to know that Greens policies can fit the bill.

Media Release: Have they missed the ‘tipping’ point?

Suzanne Pritchard, Greens candidate for Lake Macquarie wants climate change to be the number one issue when votes are cast on Saturday.

”Whilst the election has been a chance to highlight all the issues that a State government deals with the most pressing issue of our time, the Climate Change point has been underplayed, overlooked and avoided by the major parties who are committed to business as usual with their coal companions” Suzanne said

“Our future can only be assured if we start looking beyond coal, not just our immediate future in terms of jobs and regional security but we are in a critical time for implementing decisions for the future of the planet, and it starts where the coal is dug out of the ground, and the energy is produced”

The Greens support a just transitions package, funded through carbon taxes, that would mean coal industry communities will have access to renewable energy jobs of the future.

The Greens want to make NSW a leader in the manufacturing and export of renewable energy technologies.

“We can be at the forefront of this new age of renewable energy, it could be a very exciting future with real promise and action to address the most pressing issue humanity is facing.”

The Greens support a moratorium on any new coal infrastructure. A one kilometre exclusion zone around water sources must be applied to all long-wall coal mines. Protecting our catchments is crucial.

"In Lake Macquarie campaigning for fairer and more sustainable communities will be vital otherwise we may push our environmental gains to the point of no return. You can’t have development without infrastructure or services, a point that has been missed in the regional strategy.

“The Lower Hunter Regional (development) Strategy proposes massive increases in the population over the next few years. This will be nothing more than a developer’s land grab if there are not suitable processes in place to allow the community to respond. If the Minister has undisputed powers of approval the community will be exhausted and silenced by having to continually fight the same battles.”

The Greens have a credible record of keeping the government accountable to the community not the corporations with the fastest EFTPOS machines or fattest chequebooks.”

Donations to political parties from developers must end and the powers of the Planning Minister to approve development without due process repealed.

Voting in the State election is optional preferential. Every number that is placed on the ballot paper makes a statement about what the community wants. A Green primary vote can send a very strong message to the major parties that they need to raise their environmental credentials. The vote then gets counted again and again depending on how many numbers are marked. A Green vote is not a wasted vote it is reused, adding value to the election process

Confessions #5 The things you never get to say

Today was my final 'forum' live to air on the ABC. The topic, general issues affecting Lake Macquarie, this was good I thought, pure Green policies. So after a good night sleep, which I found to be the best thing for being able to think clearly I put together some notes, the big points I wanted to mention, the 'here's your last chance to bring it home baby' speil.

Alas not being public speaking savvy enough to twist questions to include my answers no matter what the question, and missing the opportunity when it arose to get in a few key points as well as the whole forum running out of time when it got to the really big issue of Life after Coal, I didn't get to mention a few things I really wanted mention so I'm putting what I wanted to say here.

• There is a need for who ever is in government to start doing something about climate change, and our role in its perpetuation and expansion.
  We live on the coast and many of us live around a Lake rising sea levels will affect us all.
• In Lake Macquarie we are complicit in climate chaos, and as the residents of this electorate we have a chance to say we want to start to look at a different future.
• We can’t keep doing things the same way because that’s what’s got us into this predicament in the first place and unless we start planning and making a pathway towards a different energy future we are up the creek without a paddle and floating on a rising sea of uncertainty.
• The thought of trying to relocate people or even to move back the building line because the cost of holding back the oceans has the potential to bankrupt our community.
• We need to keep a watchdog in the Upper House that is beholden to the community not a company with a fat chequebook, or fast EFTPOS machine. Policies from a people’s perspective not for profit.
• The Upper House crew Lee Rhiannon, Ian Cohen, Sylvia Hale have done a great job in keeping community issues in the spotlight. Lee Rhianinon has been supporting the Coal Communities to fight against the effect of coal extraction, dust and social dislocation on the communities around the Hunter, and highlighting the problems with the public private partnerships which results funding infrastructure to run at a profit not for people.
• With John Kaye on the Upper House ticket we are giving people a chance to put someone in to the house of debate that actually has credentials and knowledge about renewable energy options and has spent his university career looking for solutions, he’s found them too, he has something to offer.
• The Greens stand out from the rest because we don’t accept developer donations, it compromises the political process when one entity has more clout than thousands of individual voices.
• The Greens are also a party that has policies, processes and the resources of a team of people who are all abiding by the same principles.
• A Green vote is about making a statement to whoever is in power that you want the major parties to do something about climate change, you want the infrastructure and services to make living in Lake Macquarie viable for the future, that want your society to be more socially just.
• It’s an opportunity to send a clear message that the electorate doesn’t want to be taken for granted anymore. Lake Macquarie provides a significant amount of state revenue through coal and energy production and what we have to show for it is one of the most impoverished health services in the region, ineffectual public transport and an environment that increasingly compromised by massive development proposals.

We have reached a critical point in time where every year of political indecision and inaction digs us deeper into a black coal hole that’s going to be harder to climb out of.

We need political leadership to set a new agenda and support innovation.

We need to do things differently.

The Greens are thinking and doing politics differently.

Vote for tomorrow, today

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?

Media Release: More Jobs Fewer Holes

“A booming industry producing renewable energy technologies could be the future for Lake Macquarie if the political will existed” Greens Candidate for Lake Macquarie Suzanne Pritchard said

On a visit to the Hunter on Tuesday Greens Upper House candidate John Kaye said the Iemma government’s failure to develop a plan for the Hunter to make the transition from coal to renewables would cost the region 25,000 jobs over the next decade.

Between the mid 1980s and 2004 the coal industry shed 18,000 jobs largely because of technological changes. Based on the experiences in other countries where governments have taken responsibility to ensure a planned transition from coal to renewables, a conservative estimate is that 25,000 additional jobs could be created over the next 10 years.

“We’ve got 12.8% of the population already in the manufacturing industry so we have a strong skill base, we’ve got land at the old Pasminco site able to provide the place for the industry so we have the location and we have the transport infrastructure with good access to rail on the doorstop so, all that is needed is the political will to make it happen” Suzanne said.

“The Greens are about providing a future, not only for people but for the planet. The impacts of burning coal are changing our world and this electorate is making quite a contribution to that change. We need to accept some responsibility and that means looking for alternatives. Fortunately we don’t have to look too far because the answer is obvious, renewable energy technologies that create lots of jobs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

“Coal is under our feet everywhere in this electorate, many of us live with the impacts of subsidence in our communities and dust in the air. Moving to a renewable energy industry that creates jobs instead of big holes and environmental devastation would be a much better long term future for this area” Suzanne said

“ Lake Macquarie is a major electricity producer for the region and the State, we could still contribute to electricity production not only locally but globally if subsidies were given to kick start a local industry that is in such demand world wide”

“ In an area where water restrictions are a way of life expanding the coal industry that consumes massive amounts of water seems ludicrous”