My speech at the Tooradin meet the candidates event

Here is my short speech at the "meet the candidates" event in Tooradin, West Gippsland.

These events are held by the Greens so that party members can meet, hear and question the people such as myself who have nominated for preselection for the Lead Senate Candidate for the Greens in Victoria for the 2010 Federal election.

All Victorian members get to vote to select the Lead Senate Candidate by a postal ballot.  If you are a Victorian member and haven't yet voted, make sure you do by 22 May 09.

My speech at the North Melbourne Senate Candidate meeting

The meet the senate candidate event at North Melbourne today (Sunday 10/5) followed a different format to the previous two.

This time, we were given a hypothetical scenario where, as Senator for Victoria, there were three options to attend events, then a recall to the Senate.

The options we were presented with were:

1. Addressing the first action of the Swan Hill Climate Action Group
2. The Melbourne Writers Festival, discussing the Parallel Importing legislation removal
3. The inaugural conference of Democracy Watch in Sydney, discussing election campaign funding and transparency
4. Voting in the Senate on a the acquisition of 5 extra jets, following a special extra sitting day to discuss this issue.

I chose option 2 due to the large audience of around 500 people, and the opportunity to reach an audience that shares our values but due to their age and background are statistically less likely to vote for us.

The speech I wrote - as the "Greens Senator for Victoria" at this hypothetical future meeting, is below.

Melbourne writers festival speech.

Dear ladies, gentlemen, children and members of the panel,

It an honour and a privilege to attend this event in the company of Australia’s leading writers, editors and publishers and so many interested members of the public.

You are testament to Australia’s great strengths in the Arts, which is a vibrant and vital part of both our economy and our society.

In my capacity as Greens Spokesperson for the Arts I am here to tell you that we Greens oppose the dismantling of Parallel Importing legislation which has been proposed by the Productivity Commission.

Once again, the Productivity Commission, a Government Agency, and both the Labor Government and the Coalition opposition, are supporting changes which will be bad for employment, bad for the Arts and bad for our society.

Once again, we see both Labor and Liberal parties looking after the big end of town.

Once again, we see them worshipping at the altar of unfair “free trade” and pushing you, Australia’s writers, editors and publishers into an abyss of uncertainty.

There is however some hope that we can avoid this looming catastrophe. We Greens in both the House of Representatives (such as the Member for Higgins present here today) and the Senate will not support this legislation.

I will also put the case for supporting your cause to the Minister for the Arts, Peter Garrett, and the Government.

We recently succeeded in ensuring grants to the College of Performing Arts were retained after Peter Garrett announced they would be terminated. We, and loud and vocal calls from within the Australian Community, succeeded in getting Peter Garrett to change his mind.

It is vitally important that everybody here also takes action on this too. Contact your local member and tell them that you are opposed to the removal of Parallel Import Legislation. Tell them that you think a vibrant writing and publishing scene in Australia is more important to you than the profits of multinational companies.

Tell them that the removal of similar legislation that supported Australia’s music industry in the 90s has had serious and long lasting negative impacts on that sector.

And tell your friends to contact their local MP and Minister Garrett too.

In closing, we Greens put people ahead of profits and we put creativity ahead of multinational interests. We appreciate and admire your collective work which makes Australia a clever, informed and lucky country.

Meet the Senate Candidate meetings - Geelong and Tooradin

I have attended the first two "meet the senate candidate" meetings which give Greens party members in Victoria a chance to meet and hear the candidates for preselection as the lead senate candidate for the Greens in Victoria.

The first meeting was at Geelong on Saturday May 2nd. It was a great opportunity to meet the other candidates and local Greens. We each got to speak for 5 minutes on why we were seeking preselection, then we answered questions from the audience. There were several excellent questions to keep us on our toes.

The two I particularly liked, with my answers in italics, are below.

What will you be prepared to compromise on if you are a Senator?

I would not compromise on climate change and energy policy matters. We need to rapidly reduce our carbon emissions in line with what are scientists are telling us. We need to stop playing politics about climate change and take urgent action to ensure as safe climate future.

I would compromise on an issue such as the Alcopops tax. While all alcholic drinks should be taxed according to their alcohol content, there is general consensus that the Alcopops tax was a step in the right direction.

What visions to you have that may be outside of current Greens policy?

I think we need a Very Fast Train service linking Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney. It could eventually extend to Adelaide and Brisbane. This would reduce carbon emissions on the Melbourne to Sydney air route which is one of the busiest in the world.

The second meeting was held on Saturday 9/5 at Tooradin. The event followed a similar format to Geelong. Once again, there were several excellent questions.

It is good to get out and about and meet people during this process. It is also a great opportunity to share information on about the opportunities and challenges that face us all in our quest for a sustainable and low carbon society.