Monday, November 12, 2007
Country Roads
Voters of Parkes Electorate: The Government has provided you with the roads you complain about. Narrow, dangerous roads that kill people. Roads that are pummelled everyday by massive trucks, B-Doubles and bigger, that cause millions of dollars damage. Roads that could be made safer and better if we made greater use of rail systems. What could the major parties do with the $34 billion they are using to bribe you to vote for them? You’ll have your pockets stuffed with money and your house stuffed with plasma screen tv sets, but risk death every time you drive on the roads. More kids will die. Who is responsible for this situation? You are. You voted for the Government that has been in control of your roads for 11 years. Stop complaining. You deserve what you get. You must take responsibility for the situation. Use your vote!
Water needs of Parkes electorate
The Cudgegong River flows through our property at Goolma. It is sad to watch it declining and realise that we had been warned about Climate Change in the early 1990s. But I can say there is hope. You can’t predict new ideas and innovations. For instance, “Carbon Farming” methods can capture more rainfall in rootmass of pastures and crops, protecting the soil against increased temperatures and allowing the plants to make better use of the reduced rainfall. Farmers, graziers and others interested can attend the world’s first Carbon Farming Expo & Conference on 16th-17th November, 2007 at AREC in Mudgee. Carbon Farming also captures and stores CO2. With 450 million hectares of agricultural land in Australia and 5 billion in the world, we only need farmers to capture and store half a tonne of CO2/hectare to completely wipe out the CO2 problem. But as farmers capture and hold more water in their soils, there will be less runoff. So we need recycling and reuse facilities in all ‘town water supply’ areas.
Infrastructure is the source of inequality
The provision of infrastructure is the greatest source of inequality in Australia today. Access to basic services should be a citizen’s right. If city people are as concerned about people in the country as they say, they shouldn’t mind funding the following projects:
1. Road transport: A tunnel or freeway through the Blue Mountains to give greater access give a major boost to tourism to the greater west.
2. Rail transport: High speed rail systems will reduce road maintenance costs and increase road safety.
3. Mobile phone coverage: this can be a life or death issue. Access to telephone services should be a fundamental right.
4. Internet access: broadband access should be a birthright. The world does business online, is educated online, meets and connects with important people online, accesses government services online.
5. Health services: We need high quality centres of excellence “hubs” fed by super-high speed air transport to bring the best standards of health care to regional people.
6. Energy: Local generation of energy from renewable sources like windfarms and solar energy installations. Encourage innovations such as algae farms for carbon sequestration and biofuel and fertiliser production.
7. Water: “Carbon Farming” methods will capture more rainfall in rootmass of pastures and crops, so there will be less runoff. So we need recycling and reuse facilities in all ‘town water supply’ areas.
1. Road transport: A tunnel or freeway through the Blue Mountains to give greater access give a major boost to tourism to the greater west.
2. Rail transport: High speed rail systems will reduce road maintenance costs and increase road safety.
3. Mobile phone coverage: this can be a life or death issue. Access to telephone services should be a fundamental right.
4. Internet access: broadband access should be a birthright. The world does business online, is educated online, meets and connects with important people online, accesses government services online.
5. Health services: We need high quality centres of excellence “hubs” fed by super-high speed air transport to bring the best standards of health care to regional people.
6. Energy: Local generation of energy from renewable sources like windfarms and solar energy installations. Encourage innovations such as algae farms for carbon sequestration and biofuel and fertiliser production.
7. Water: “Carbon Farming” methods will capture more rainfall in rootmass of pastures and crops, so there will be less runoff. So we need recycling and reuse facilities in all ‘town water supply’ areas.
Work Choices is Boss vs Workers all over again
Work Choices proves that the Howard Government are still stuck emotionally and mentally in 1950’s, when there was the old war between the bosses and the workers. When one side won, the other lost. But the world of business in the 21st century is a different planet. But even old Henry Ford could teach John Howard a thing or two about industrial relations. Henry paid his factory workers 10% more than his competitor car makers in Detroit. He saw that his mass-manufactured cars would need a mass market of ordinary workers. And wages were too low to let workers buy his cars . So he forced his competitors to pay more by creating a competitive market for workers.
I believe in the free market for everything: products, services, and labour. I am a small businessperson and employer (a woolgrower) and I know how unfair the system used to feel as a employer. My previous business employed more than 50 people. We always paid top rates, and have done for 20 years. We looked after our employees. But a business cannot afford to pay too much for labour because you become uncompetitive and go broke.
But I am an Australian and I believe in a fair go for all. Employers deserve a fair go and employees deserve a fair go. I believe we need flexibility in employment conditions, but we don’t need to reduce the living standards of employees to sweatshop levels in order to compete. Henry Ford knew the wealth of everyone is important. After all, Australia is called a “Commonwealth”. All who put their shoulder to the wheel should share in the rewards.
I believe in the free market for everything: products, services, and labour. I am a small businessperson and employer (a woolgrower) and I know how unfair the system used to feel as a employer. My previous business employed more than 50 people. We always paid top rates, and have done for 20 years. We looked after our employees. But a business cannot afford to pay too much for labour because you become uncompetitive and go broke.
But I am an Australian and I believe in a fair go for all. Employers deserve a fair go and employees deserve a fair go. I believe we need flexibility in employment conditions, but we don’t need to reduce the living standards of employees to sweatshop levels in order to compete. Henry Ford knew the wealth of everyone is important. After all, Australia is called a “Commonwealth”. All who put their shoulder to the wheel should share in the rewards.
This will be the first Climate Change federal election.
Climate Change is not simply an issue. It is THE issue. It endangers our way of life, our very existence as a community.
The people of Parkes electorate have been living with the first Climate Change natural disaster to strike a developed country for close to a decade. Climate Change is strangling our rivers and crushing agriculture.
The Howard Government has blocked action on climate change, to protect their mates in mining and energy. I say this to those who deny Climate Change: If I am wrong, the worst that can happen is a world economic recession. We’ve survived several of those before. But if you are wrong, the worst that can happen is the destruction of civil society and the breakdown of law and order, like New Orleans after Cyclone Katrina. So, are you willing to risk the lives of your children and grandchildren?
I believe all politics is personal first, local second, and national last. At a personal level, we must ask ourselves the Climate Change Question: “How should I live my life?” We must choose.
As a farm family, we are adapting to new practices to make the most of whatever rain falls and protect the soils that sustain us. Every business must choose.
As a community we must choose. Will we take half measures and hope it will blow over? Or will we get serious and make the changes necessary?
The people of Parkes electorate have been living with the first Climate Change natural disaster to strike a developed country for close to a decade. Climate Change is strangling our rivers and crushing agriculture.
The Howard Government has blocked action on climate change, to protect their mates in mining and energy. I say this to those who deny Climate Change: If I am wrong, the worst that can happen is a world economic recession. We’ve survived several of those before. But if you are wrong, the worst that can happen is the destruction of civil society and the breakdown of law and order, like New Orleans after Cyclone Katrina. So, are you willing to risk the lives of your children and grandchildren?
I believe all politics is personal first, local second, and national last. At a personal level, we must ask ourselves the Climate Change Question: “How should I live my life?” We must choose.
As a farm family, we are adapting to new practices to make the most of whatever rain falls and protect the soils that sustain us. Every business must choose.
As a community we must choose. Will we take half measures and hope it will blow over? Or will we get serious and make the changes necessary?
Agriculture and Climate Change
I believe farmers have got guts. They stare despair down every day. They get knocked down and they get up again. They take more risks than city-based businesses. They take on the climate, everyday.
Farmers are treated unjustly. The community expects them to work as unpaid environmental officers, but it refuses to pay a decent price for their produce.
They must have the right to make choices about managing their land to be economically sustainable. The real farmer does not want to destroy the natural resource base that they rely on to make a living. If Governments want woody weeds to cover pasture or croplands, the landholder must be compensated. A city-based business that had its profitability severely impacted by government policies would have every television channel championing their cause. Farmers who are working as environmental managers should be rewarded with stewardship payments.
I believe government scientists and advisers should live and work on a working property (or have done so) to understand the reality of farming. Research based on unrealistic methodologies creates bad science and leads to bad conclusions and bad decisions. The science of climate change is about to change the way every primary producer can manage their property. If that science is based on unrealistic methodologies, rural communities will be dealt another blow. The science of methane emissions is a good example.
I believe that land managers deserve the right to trade carbon credits based on the soil carbon they can grow with changed land management. The science of soil carbon has been misinterpreted and misused, to the farmers’ disadvantage. We want a fair go.
Farmers are treated unjustly. The community expects them to work as unpaid environmental officers, but it refuses to pay a decent price for their produce.
They must have the right to make choices about managing their land to be economically sustainable. The real farmer does not want to destroy the natural resource base that they rely on to make a living. If Governments want woody weeds to cover pasture or croplands, the landholder must be compensated. A city-based business that had its profitability severely impacted by government policies would have every television channel championing their cause. Farmers who are working as environmental managers should be rewarded with stewardship payments.
I believe government scientists and advisers should live and work on a working property (or have done so) to understand the reality of farming. Research based on unrealistic methodologies creates bad science and leads to bad conclusions and bad decisions. The science of climate change is about to change the way every primary producer can manage their property. If that science is based on unrealistic methodologies, rural communities will be dealt another blow. The science of methane emissions is a good example.
I believe that land managers deserve the right to trade carbon credits based on the soil carbon they can grow with changed land management. The science of soil carbon has been misinterpreted and misused, to the farmers’ disadvantage. We want a fair go.
Climate Change and National Security
Anyone who understood the dangers ahead from Climate Change would despair that any of our political leaders can prepare the nation for the shocks we can expect. And what are they?
Recently Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty singled out climate change as the top security issue of the century. "We could see a catastrophic decline in the availability of fresh water. Crops could fail, disease could be rampant, and flooding might be so frequent that people en masse would be on the move. Even if only some and not all of this occurs, climate change is going to be the security issue of the 21st century. It's not difficult to see the policing implications that might arise in the not-too-distant future."
How does a nation of 18million withstand invasion by millions of people trying to survive? Climate Change is about National Security. We must prepare for it as we would prepare for war.
My urgent priorities as Member For Parkes would be:
1. Audit all services for disaster response capability in unprecedented extreme weather events. How do we respond to a disaster like the Newcastle floods if it was multiplied across the state or accompanied by several other disasters in other locations? Do we have the emergency services infrastructure we will need in the new era of Climate Change?
2. Prepare local communities for weather events that cause loss of access to essential services. Will people who think food comes out of a supermarket be able to provide for themselves if we have a breakdown of transportation and distribution systems after a natural disaster like Cyclone Katrina?
3. Encourage local production and distribution of energy and food products. Aim for self sufficiency in essential services.
Recently Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty singled out climate change as the top security issue of the century. "We could see a catastrophic decline in the availability of fresh water. Crops could fail, disease could be rampant, and flooding might be so frequent that people en masse would be on the move. Even if only some and not all of this occurs, climate change is going to be the security issue of the 21st century. It's not difficult to see the policing implications that might arise in the not-too-distant future."
How does a nation of 18million withstand invasion by millions of people trying to survive? Climate Change is about National Security. We must prepare for it as we would prepare for war.
My urgent priorities as Member For Parkes would be:
1. Audit all services for disaster response capability in unprecedented extreme weather events. How do we respond to a disaster like the Newcastle floods if it was multiplied across the state or accompanied by several other disasters in other locations? Do we have the emergency services infrastructure we will need in the new era of Climate Change?
2. Prepare local communities for weather events that cause loss of access to essential services. Will people who think food comes out of a supermarket be able to provide for themselves if we have a breakdown of transportation and distribution systems after a natural disaster like Cyclone Katrina?
3. Encourage local production and distribution of energy and food products. Aim for self sufficiency in essential services.
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