Local Candidates understand local issues

Just heard some news that Mr Combet, Labor's candidate may not be living in Charlton. Is this an issue?

Well I think it's one to consider because how can you understand the importance of a 40-60 minute commute to Newcastle if you never have to do it?

Is the health care crisis critical if you don't have to wait a week to see a GP?

Can you understand the need for public transport if your area is serviced by it?

Can you appreciate the importance of the local environment if you're not emmersed in it?

I guess there is an argument that you don't have to experience everything first hand to understand it but surely when it comes to representing people there is a strong case for living in the area to experience the issues and be motivated to attend to them.

State Election 2007- Concluding comments

A sincere and hearty thankyou to all the Greens members and supporters who gave their time, enthusiasm and feet across the electorate to make the campaign for marginalisation a success.

The Greens vote for the Legislative Assembly in Lake Macquarie was 6%, and whilst down on the previous State election this was expected with a strong independent candidate in the campaign.

In the Legislative Council the vote in Lake Macquarie was 8.15% and this contributed in getting the two Upper House candidates Lee Rhiannon and John Kaye elected.

The campaign was an amazing experience and there were a lot of positives. The community was actively engaged in the election and The Greens messages were heard. In Lake Macquarie there was regular coverage in the local papers, the ABC included the Greens as one of the major parties in their forums and The Greens were also invited to the major community and business forums.

Whilst this may seem to be stating the obvious what has become clear is that the Greens are now being considered with the major parties as key political decision makers and our votes count.

The size of the Lake Macquarie electorate makes it a logistically challenging seat. Over 18,000 leaflets were distributed and all but the remotest of booths were covered on Election Day. This is an amazing achievement made possible by amazing people.

Thank you again for your dedication, support and belief in The Greens and making that Saturday in March a memorable experience in securing a change in the political climate.

Most sincerely
Suzanne Pritchard
Greens candidate for Lake Macquarie

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 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.