a week on the campaign trail

A busy week on the campaign trail, my week started in Gippsland with Senator Sarah Hanson Young, Greens candidate for the Senate Dr Richard di Natale, Michael Bond candidate for Gippsland and Dr Malcolm McKelvie candidate for McMillan. Richard was there to announce the Clean Energy Plan, whilst Sarah was there to announce the Greens policy on Student Income Support.

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Senator Hanson-Young, Greens spokesperson on Education, says the current compromise scheme which passed through Federal Parliament earlier this year was far from perfect and has created an unfair system that doles out or denies assistance with no real reference to students' needs.

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"We know many students in regional areas have missed out on access to the full rate of Youth Allowance under the new scheme,'' Senator Hanson-Young said. "For example in Yarram in Victoria, students who go to the same school and live across the road from each other get help or miss out depending on which side of the road they are on."

The week also saw a fundraiser for the Greens Casey and Latrobe campaigns at Earthly Pleasures Organic Cafe in Belgrave.

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Jim and Brendan compare campaign notes.

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Supporters came out to hear from our candidates, Jim Reiher (Latrobe) and Brendan Powell (Casey) who talked about the importance of campaigning to assist Dr Richard di Natale for a seat in the senate.

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No fundraiser is complete without a raffle, here I'm supported by Jim and Brendan for the barrel draw. If you'd like to buy your own Greens t-shirt or other Greens merchandise to support the campaign visit http://vic.greens.org.au/shop.

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On Thursday Jon Faine visited McEwen, the country's most marginal seat held by the Liberals by 31 votes, to talk to candidates from the Greens, Labor and Liberal.

Many people expressed concerns about logging in the local Healesville region. .

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I spoke about the lack of emphasis on climate change from Liberal and Labor and that many in my community were telling me this was a key issue for them. Thanks to Brent Lukey for the photo.

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Thursday was also a celebration of the momentous Brown Mountain decision. The Supreme Court upheld the injunction of logging of Brown Mountain where Justice Robert Osborn held that the detection of long-footed potoroos and other endangered species meant that steps must be taken to protect their habitat.

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It was a landmark decision for the environment, I gathered with Environment East Gippsland campaigners on the steps of Parliament to ask Minister for the Environment, Gavin Jennings, to respond to the Supreme Court decision.

Here I am pictured with Colleen Hartland (Greens MLC for Western Metropolitan), Michael Bond (Greens candidate for Gippsland) and Greg Barber (Greens MLC for Northern Metropolitan). The Brown Mountain decision is a great victory for those endangered species threatened by logging activities in Victoria.

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Thursday also saw a Meet the Candidates Q&A for Latrobe. Curiously the candidate for the Australian Sex Party wasn't allowed to join the panel even though he was there, the Liberal incumbent Jason Wood didn't attend, which left Greens candidate Jim Reiher and the Labor candidate to talk policies whilst attendees were treated to thought provoking commentary by panel members Karen Alexander (Landcare) and Kenneth Davidson (Dissent).

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Jim Reiher discusses Greens policies to locals gathered at the Upwey Hall. If you'd like to know more about the full range Greens federal policies click here.

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Locals came out in force on a chilly Thursday night to hear the policy views of candidates.

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Sunday saw senate candidate, Dr Richard di Natale, visit Warburton in the seat of McEwen to talk to locals about the potential for their town to have a major tourist attraction like the Otway Fly in the region.

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Locals were keen to quiz Richard about a full range of Greens policies.

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Greens candidate for McEwen, Steve Meacher joined Dr Richard di Natale and me to talk to locals. It was a cold misty day in Warburton, but people were keen to talk to the Greens about the upcoming election.

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If you'd like to follow the campaign in its final stages visit the Victorian Greens website here.

in the press – clean energy & youth allowance

Greens launch policy in Valley

Latrobe Valley Express

by Ebonnie Lord

12 Aug 2010

greens scholarships scheme to get our best and brightest into teaching

Senator Sarah Hanson-Young

The Australian Greens will tackle the ongoing teaching shortage by using a Commonwealth Scholarships Scheme to attract our best and brightest students to work in the education system, according to Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young.

Senator Hanson-Young, Greens spokesperson on Education, says the party's education plan is designed to make practical improvements to the system, such as investing to secure the future supply of good quality teachers to educate our children.

Teacher shortages are a real and serious concern in Australia, whether it is in particular subject areas or particular geographical areas, Senator Hanson-Young said.

As an example, reports suggest that half of NSW teachers will reach retirement age by 2016.

There's no time to waste, we need to start training up our next generations of teachers now.

That's why the Greens will set up a Commonwealth Scholarship scheme that will provide incentives to top students to become teachers, offering guaranteed work at the end of studies in return for staying in areas of need for at least three years.

The scheme would:
Provide up to 3000 scholarships a year, divided between states on a per capita basis
Make scholarships available for up to five years - at $5000 a year to allow students to finish degrees
Provide tax-free scholarships which would not effect eligibility for Youth Allowance Guarantee recipients a teaching job in a public school in an area of need,
Require recipients to remain in full-time employment in areas of need, such as public schools, for at least three years.

The Greens will also work to improve the levels of Asian language literacy in Australian schools. In 2008, less than 6 per cent of students in Australian learned an Asian language, and the figure is falling.

We will restore levels of Asian language literacy in Australian schools, by increasing funding to pre-Howard levels, establishing national leadership groups for the four Asian languages taught in schools and establishing partnerships with international institutions, Senator Hanson-Young said.

As part of the Asia-Pacific, Australia should be promoting the learning of Asian languages in schools, advocating to parents and their children the benefits of learning these languages and working to increasing the language skills and proficiency of students.

These two initiatives are examples of the Greens making sensible investments to generate better outcomes for Australians, Senator Hanson-Young said.

greens to kickstart clean energy sector

It was terrific to join with Victorian Senate candidate Dr Richard Di Natale, out in Gippsland, as he called for the implementation of a Gross National Feed-In Tariff to kick-start the renewable energy sector in regional Victoria.

Research by Access Economics and the Electrical Trades Union has shown that a gross national feed-in tariff would lead to the creation of an additional 5,400 jobs in Victoria, particularly regional Victoria, over the next ten years.

It makes good sense, it's good for the economy, good for the environment, good for regional Victoria.

Pictured left to right: Malcolm McKelvie – candidate for McMillan, Dr Richard di Natale – senate candidate for Victoria, Michael Bond – candidate for Gippsland, Sarah Hanson-Young – Greens Senator and Samantha Dunn – candidate for Eastern Victoria (state), in front of Hazelwood Power Station, the developed world's most polluting power station. Victoria's greenhouse gas emissions from power generation are continuing to grow due to our ongoing reliance on brown coal.

Over 22 thousand jobs could be created in Australia over the next 10 years in the renewables sector if we implemented a gross national feed-in tariff.

For Victoria and in particular regional Victoria, this would translate to around 5,400 extra jobs over the next 10 years.

Renewable energy employs on average 4-6 times as many people than fossil fuel energy and most of these jobs would be in regional areas.

"So far, Federal Government initiatives have failed to stimulate the market and keep solar manufacturers within Australia. Australia's last solar manufacturer left Australian shores in April 2009. There was a time when the majority of our panels were Australian-made but now all our solar panels are imported," said Greens senate candidate, Richard di Natale.

• According to a report produced by Sustainability Victoria for the Victorian Government, a gross feed-in tariff set at 40 cents per kWh with a cap of 200,000 units would lead to $2.1 billion in investment and would generate 3,000 new jobs in Victoria by 2015. This would increase retail electricity prices by just 1%, equating to an increase of 17 cents per week for Victorian electricity consumers.

• At 60 cents per kWh, a gross feed-in tariff would generate 5,400 new jobs within Victoria in the next ten years.

• According to Access Economics, "the cumulative employment in the solar industry in Australia delivered from a gross national feed-in tariff from 2010 to 2020 is just under 40,300, compared with a cumulative 17,750 under the existing set of feed-in tariff policies. This amounts to an increase of 22,550 jobs for the forecast period."

• For Victoria, employment peaks at just below 500 per annum under existing policies, whereas under a gross state feed-in tariff, employment would peak at just under 1,200 per annum. When aggregated across the period 2010 to 2020, the existing feed-in tariff and solar credits will create around 4,200 jobs in Victoria, compared with 9,600 created by the joint operation of a gross state feed-in tariff and the solar credits scheme.