Climate change is still the biggest issue facing the community, says Greens candidate for Eden-Monaro Catherine Moore, who has just concluded a week of attending events in the electorate.

“It’s been very inspiring to meet people concerned about some key issues important to The Greens and community groups, including the asylum seeker issue, putting a stop to hunting in National Parks, and the dominant theme of the past seven days, climate change.

“The week began with the Clean Energy for Eternity-hosted Climate Commission forum in Bega, where Professor Lesley Hughes gave a sobering presentation on global warming. She highlighted the high number of records that have been broken over summer, a dire warning of conditions that are approaching much faster than was predicted. (more…)

Following Julia Gillard’s election date announcement, the Bega District News asked the three known candidates for Eden-Monaro a series of questions. Here are The Greens’ responses.

What are the big issues as you see them in Eden-Monaro for this election year? Which will you be championing in your election campaign?
Climate change remains the biggest issue of our time, and it is already starting to affect everyone, so it will be of great concern if there is any party or candidate who does not take climate change seriously. Recognising how it permeates all our lives through health impacts, electricity and insurance costs for example, and taking positive action by way of investment in renewable energy programs, will filter through to a range of policy areas and benefit everyone in the electorate. While coal and coal seam gas mining does not affect Eden-Monaro directly, its impacts will be felt by all. Continuing to mine and export coal in increasing volumes together with the use of processes that pollute or destroy water supplies is something we need to stop. As with every previous election in which I have been involved, the closure of the chipmill is a major issue. The Greens presented a plan for softwood processing to state government and opposition candidates in the 1999 state election, and some of that has now been taken up, but we need to go further. See later responses for more detail. (more…)

Events in Parliament this week demonstrate a new low and point to the urgent need to change the way we do politics. There are serious issues which need to be addressed by politicians in parliaments and councils around Australia, but we have no hope of finding real solutions when debate is tainted by the sorts of exchanges we have seen this week and are seeing more and more on a regular basis. It is no wonder that Australians have lost faith in the people they have elected to represent them.

When the hung Parliament first started operating back in 2010 after the last Federal Election, many people had high hopes that we might be entering a new era of co-operation. Instead, politicians’ behaviour has continued to deteriorate, with the new low epitomised this week by the leader of the Opposition’s gratuitous and repugnant “dying of shame” comments in Parliament, clearly echoing those of talkback radio’s Alan Jones.

But sexism and misogyny are only part of the story, with Coalition and ALP and politicians alike continuing to focus on personality attacks and point-scoring instead of trying, in an adult fashion, to address the many difficult issues we face. (more…)

Members of the four Greens groups in Eden-Monaro – Bega Valley, Braidwood, Eurobodalla and Queanbeyan-Monaro – have again endorsed Catherine Moore as their candidate in Eden-Monaro for the next Federal Election, the date of which is as yet unknown.

Catherine, who is an artist and has been a Palerang councillor since 2004, was The Greens candidate at the 2010 Federal Election and for the State seat of Monaro in 1995, 1999, 2003 and 2007. She will not be recontesting her council position at the September 2012 elections.

“I am really pleased to again be able to represent The Greens in Eden-Monaro over the period between now and the next Federal Election, raising the issues that are important if we want a safe, just and sustainable future. The last campaign was a very short one, so it is great to have an opportunity to continue the work from 2010 over a longer time-frame.

“Contrary to what some people believe, the outcome of the last election and the hung parliament which resulted have been very healthy for democracy in this country. Democracy should not be about a system dominated by two parties only, legitimised by absolute majority of either of those parties, and operating in an atmosphere of adversarial confrontation. It is time we recognised the value of constructive debate and negotiation which is required when such a majority does not exist, and the important role played by parties like The Greens, together with independents, in that process. (more…)

The Australian Government will undermine the democracy movement in Burma by encouraging bilateral trade too soon, the Greens warned today.

Greens spokesperson on Burma Senator Scott Ludlam said today’s announcement that the Government is “normalising trade” with Burma is dangerously premature.

“Foreign Minister Bob Carr announced today that the number of Burmese individuals subject to travel bans has been cut from 392 to 130 and trade with Burma would be normalised. Those bans can be restored if reforms do not continue in Burma, but normalised trade links are far more difficult to reverse if the junta refuses to loosen its grip on power. Relaxing sanctions while the military continues to control Burma could sign a death warrant for the democracy movement.

“The recent by-elections saw Aun San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy win 43 of a possible 45 seats. There are 664 seats in Burma’s bicameral parliament and 25 per cent of them are guaranteed to the military. The rest were filled mostly by pro-junta candidates in the rigged general election carried out according to a corrupt constitution. There is still a long way to go before Canberra should be rewarding the military junta with normalised trade ties. If it proves that the by-elections and prisoner releases are a short-term stunt, normalised trade will weaken the position of democracy activists while helping the junta get rich. (more…)

Twenty years ago today the first Greens were elected in NSW, at the local council elections in Marrickville and Newcastle. The Greens have had unbroken representation on these councils since that time and currently have five Mayors across the state.

Greens NSW MP and Local Government spokesperson David Shoebridge said:

“From two councillors in 1991 to 74 today, including 5 mayors, Greens representatives in local government have built a solid foundation for progressive politics in NSW. (more…)

(300 words for the Queanbeyan Age, August 20 edition)

We need to start doing politics differently, by focusing on issues, not personalities, taking the adversarial approach out of campaigning and decision-making, and talking about the vision we have for local communities and for Australia.

Many important issues have been forgotten or not adequately dealt with by the other major parties. Climate change needs our immediate attention. We don’t need a scheme that will only deliver a 5% cut to emissions and result in huge subsidies to big polluters. We do need a carbon tax on those big polluters, with the funds redirected to help low-income earners with increased power bills and installation of renewable energy systems. We could create thousands of jobs in renewable energy (wind, wave, solar and geothermal) and move to 100% renewables by 2050. (more…)