Townsville Greens The Greens Listen

Summary
The Greens vision for Townsville is for a clean, clever and prosperous region based on sustainable industries rather than expanded noxious and hazardous base metals refining. The Greens will grow Townsville's biotechnology, eco-tourism and renewable energy industries, and make us the world's foremost centre for tropical research.
The World Heritage values of the Great Barrier Reef are at risk from inappropriate development on Magnetic Island and from the proposed heavy industry site at Stuart. Air pollution from Stuart would affect tens of thousands of households downwind, and the lack of appropriate buffer zones on land that is already flood-prone further increases the risk of contamination of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. The Greens oppose heavy industries at Stuart.
The Greens will ensure Townsville's strong economy protects our environment and social health. We have pledged to introduce laws that enshrine a triple bottom line (environmental, social and economic) approach to regional planning for growth and development. We will promote community input into planning processes for the region, to ensure the voices of residents, local organizations and small businesses are heard.
Climate change will impact greatly on North Queensland, with scientists predicting more wild weather, loss of biodiversity, reduced rainfall, and bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef within 20 years. The Greens demand the federal government ratify the Kyoto Protocol, increase mandatory renewable targets, fund more research at JCU into renewable and energy-efficient technologies, develop a national emissions trading scheme and exclude all oil and gas exploration that threatens the Great Barrier Reef. The Greens will extend funding for the Solar Cities Program and will support Townsville to become the hub of a growing renewable energy industry which will create long lasting jobs for our residents.
To keep Townsville livable, clean and unique, government should fund an urban sustainability package that addresses urban vegetation clearing, catchment management, biodiversity hotspots,

water quality initiatives, transport, energy efficiency and waste issues is required. Northern architects should be supported to design housing which is energy-efficient, affordable and suited for the tropics. As our urban centres grow, sufficient green space for parks and conservation must be provided and protected for our wildlife and family recreation.
Townsville's coastal features, including our pristine wetlands, mountains, beaches and national parks, should be in public ownership and well managed to preserve and promote them as eco-tourism attractions.
Research and development requires a funding boost to arrest its decline as a percentage of GDP. Substantial recurrent funding for James Cook University (JCU) and the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) is required to enable valuable ‘blue sky' research as well as commercial research to be performed by these leading scientists and communicated to industry. Government must also encourage Australian business to financially support research and development investments.
The Greens will ensure investment in our intellectual capital to help Townsville retain its talent pool of scientists, engineers, mathematicians and innovators.
The Greens oppose John Howard's attempts to make our society more divisive, materialistic and individualistic. Healthy communities and families are supported by a society based on collaboration, creativity, compassion and diversity.
Education is the key to opportunity, and the Greens believe in providing free good quality public education at all levels. In North Queensland we would place special focus on meeting the needs of rural and regional students.
The Greens believe a balanced and sustainable future for Aboriginal communities in our region is possible by incorporating both settler and indigenous knowledge. The Greens would introduce programs to preserve Indigenous knowledge of the North Queensland environment, and foster culturally appropriate initiatives in the area of mediation. With the interest of Indigenous communities such as Palm Island, the Greens support sensitive cultural tourism in our region. The Greens would require cultural values to be considered, protected and promoted in planning and development decisions.
The Greens would promote Townsville's role as the northern centre for creative industries, by providing greater funding for arts infrastructure and programs in the north, and designating a creative art precinct for community engagement and participation in the arts.  
 
Federal Election 2007
A Fresh Vision for Townsville
Greens Vision Statement - Full Statement

Townsville is a dynamic city with a diverse economy that is attracting increasing numbers of new residents and investors. The population of the twin cities now stands at over 150,000 and is rapidly growing. People are attracted to Townsville's climate and natural environment, and believe it is a great place to raise children. It offers a unique and affordable lifestyle, yet Townsville is at a crossroads in terms of growth and development. Many residents are concerned about a proposal to put noxious heavy industries, including base metals refining, on remnant wetlands near the city's southern suburbs, in an area feeding into the Great Barrier Reef lagoon. They are also concerned about unbalanced development of Magnetic Island, a natural haven that forms part of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage area.

A ‘top-down' imposed approach to development of natural resources has resulted in Cairns receiving the lion's share of the tourism and conference  industry, while Townsville has been relegated to a site suitable for "noxious, hazardous and offensive industries" (Stuart Report, 2000). The Townsville Greens have a bottom-up vision that challenges this scenario. We believe that there are sufficient natural, technological and human resources to put this city on the map and develop appropriate industries. This approach will make the most of our position as potentially the world's foremost centre for tropical research which feeds into the growth industry of the future - bio-technology. This region also possesses a wealth of opportunities for ‘growing' eco-tourism and renewable energies as sustainable industries, which incorporate and therefore add value to these features of our local environment.  This vision of a clean, green and clever region avoids the pitfalls and fallout of 19th and 20th century technologies that would compromise the health and well-being of the community and the environment - the source of our unique lifestyle.
Sustainable development
To make Townsville's lifestyle sustainable in the long term, the Greens believe in a vision that gives due regard to desirable social and environmental outcomes as well as economic ones. Triple Bottom Line (TBL) accounting needs to be fully integrated into all regional planning to capture the whole set of values, issues and processes that must be addressed in order to minimize any harm resulting from growth and development. We need more than lip service given to TBL. The Greens believe it will take progressive political leadership, working with industry and the community, to protect those attributes which make Townsville special and to ensure a strong economy that doesn't go backwards on every measure of social and environmental health.

To this end, the Greens have pledged to introduce laws that require the economic, social and environmental implications of development proposals to be identified and genuine progress indicators be published. Greens Councillors in Melbourne have introduced a TBL approach which has become the benchmark for best practice in this field of governance.

As outlined in this vision statement, the Greens would like to see stronger "bottom-up" input into the planning process, which accords with the grassroots principles of sustainable community development. Currently State and Federal Governments tend to be prescriptive in giving out loans, incentives and infrastructure grants, using a predetermined view of the industries that should be encouraged in each region. Decisions are made in light of existing investments. For example, tourism and conference business is fed to Cairns and subsidised heavily by government, whereas Townsville does not attract this level of government support for tourism. Instead the Queensland Government has earmarked Townsville and the surrounding district for more base metals processing, regardless of what residents think and how they feel about the impact this will have on their lifestyle.

While there is obvious merit in the conventional approach to regional development, in that established industries are protected, it also forces communities like Townsville to fall in line with a predetermined pattern of nation-building that leaves little room for local organisations and businesses to organically develop their potential and explore alternative opportunities.

The Greens understand that, in the long term, environmental policy can't come second to economic or political considerations. It if does, we ‘destroy the goose that laid the golden egg' and ruin any future chance of making the most of opportunities only sustainability can provide.

Eco-tourism
Townsville has some of the most pristine wetlands in the world, yet eco-tourism in this region is still in its infancy. The State and Federal Governments have been asked many times to help protect and support eco-tourism drawcards such as the Cromarty Wetlands and Town Common (both famous internationally for birdlife). In their political rhetoric, Labor and the Coalition acknowledge the importance of these wetlands, particularly their birdlife and unique flora and fauna. Yet both areas are neglected and under threat due to unsustainable development. The Town Common is overgrown with pest species and the Cromarty Wetlands are still largely in private hands. .  Despite many approaches by reputable people, including a high-profile effort to attract State support to grow an ecotourism industry in a sustainable way, very little has come of it. We always think in terms of the Reef, but the Townsville region has great coastal assets which could be the basis of a strong new industry that preserves the region's natural heritage for generations to come.
 Our region has many other attractions such as Ross Dam, Mount Elliott, Mount Spec, Paluma and the beautiful national parks of Magnetic Island. Our beaches and coastal walks are natural wonders and  have much to offer. Where is the government support to back Townsville efforts to make more of these natural attractions? Must the Townsville region accept that its development future lies in base metals refining?

The Greens vision would see solid support from State and Federal Governments to grow eco-tourism business in this region.

Step One: To acknowledge the value of our diverse environment and put in place measures to protect it. At a federal level, we need to ensure the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act is strengthened and used, as it was intended, and that funding flows for biodiversity hotspots such as the Cromarty Wetlands.

Step Two: To develop, support and fund measures that will drive a sustainability agenda, such as a ‘Liveable Cities and Regions Program' and an urban sustainability package that addresses  urban vegetation clearing, catchment management, biodiversity hotspots, water quality initiatives, transport, energy efficiency and waste issues. We need all levels of government to get serious about Triple Bottom Line accounting, help preserve biodiversity hotspots, and adhere less to the old prescriptive model of state development where politicians and bureaucrats tell us what's good for us. Of course we need to listen to industries which have an existing investment in this region, but we also need to grow new industries and ventures that keep Townsville liveable, clean and unique, to ensure prosperity and health for the larger population.

Bio-technology
Townsville has a competitive advantage in biotechnology because it is situated in one of the most biodiverse regions on earth. North Queensland's natural environment provides opportunities to combine marine, wetland, savanna and rainforest bio-discovery using technologies and research strengths developed by James Cook University (JCU) and the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS). The biotechnology wing at AIMS signals recognition by the Federal Government of the Institute's capacity to pursue bio-discovery business. This capability is proving useful to a diverse range of clients and AIMS is growing its biotechnology business rapidly. The Greens believe the Federal Government should use its investment in AIMS and JCU to underwrite a visionary plan for regional development that turns Townsville into a Green Valley, delivering biotech key-solutions in the same way that Silicon Valley in California provided key-solutions driving the IT boom in the 1980s and 90s.

In addition, the Greens believe that the Government needs to confirm AIMS recurrent funding beyond the present triennium, and give greater support to ‘blue-sky' research done at AIMS as well as the commercialisation of research. The Greens believe in a policy environment which sees commercialisation of research as an addition to, not a replacement for, a strong foundation in basic research across all disciplines. When scientists have the freedom to pursue fresh ideas through blue-sky research they sow the seeds of future success. The Coalition Government has put the cart before the horse in its R&D program, giving less weight to research that does not make a quick buck. By neglecting basic research done traditionally by organisations like AIMS and CSIRO, Australia runs the risk of bleeding dry its ‘ideas bank'. Commercialisation in research is important, but not at the expense of basic research. More generally, the Federal Government needs to arrest casualisation of the JCU and AIMS workforce, create real jobs for junior academics and scientists, and reduce teaching loads so academics can dedicate more time for research. 

In sum, Townsville has a high concentration of research scientists, engineers and technologists who have demonstrated a niche capability for tropical research, enhancing aquaculture productivity, and discovery of useful natural compounds. But it will take proper resourcing, planning and the right policy environment to ensure Townsville becomes a Green Valley at the centre of Australian efforts to transfer knowledge supporting industry development across the northern parts of Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone and beyond.

Knowledge Transfer
The Greens understand the critical need to grow Townsville's capacity to retain its best ‘knowledge workers'. The fiercely competitive global jobs market lures many Australians overseas, particularly scientists, engineers, mathematicians and innovators. A University demographics expert recently said Australian universities could lose up to one-third of their academics during the next decade, as they retire or move on. Meanwhile, Queensland Chief Scientist Peter Andrews says Australia will need an additional 75,000 scientists by 2010 to build biotechnology and other knowledge-based industries, and the European Union will be looking for an estimated 500,000 more researchers at the same time. The Australasian Research Managers Society estimates that many of the one million Australians who live and work overseas are among our best educated and most skilled, and its president blames poor government policy for their exodus. Professor Snow Barlow said Australia lacked a "coherent approach to managing science and engineering human resource requirements". The Greens will ensure investment in our intellectual capital to help Townsville retain its talent pool of ‘knowledge workers'. Both sides of politics also need a coherent vision for aligning Townsville's R & D activities and improving knowledge transfer between R&D providers and industry users of applicable knowledge. If long-term planning is in place, going beyond the election cycle, the new precinct can ultimately create economic benefit for Australia through the generation of applicable new knowledge in fields related to the sustainable development of tropical industry. Of particular interest is the proposed Eco-Grid Consortium, which will create major cyber infrastructure linking datasets and digital resources that are now disparate, disconnected and under-utilised.

Furthermore, evidence suggests the Federal Government needs to take a much stronger lead in encouraging Australian business to outlay more on R&D investments. Business expenditure on research has not kept pace with growth in the Australian economy or R&D investment by business in Japan, South Korea and Europe. Economists say Australia's strong GDP growth is not sustainable while our investment in R&D continues to decline as a percentage of GDP. Townsville has a head start over other tropical regions, because of its natural environment, science strengths, infrastructure, security and political stability, yet it has a smaller business base from which to draw investment. Governments at all levels need to work to overcome this disadvantage and encourage large and small corporations extracting wealth from this region to put something back, in terms of backing science and innovation in our region.

Renewable energies
It is time for the Federal Government to take action on climate change and provide North Queensland with a detailed management strategy to deal with this emerging crisis.  Global warming places Townsville at a crossroad where we can contribute to the problem and with appropriate political will, profit from the solutions.

North Queensland will be one of the areas most affected by climate change, yet we continue to push for more coal-fired power stations and export more coal to the world The Greens acknowledge the need for use of existing coal-fired power stations, but call on the State and Federal Governments to source additional energy requirements from renewable sources. In doing so, we hand to the next generation an opportunity, rather than a legacy.

Overall, climate change highlights the importance education plays as an agent for surviving societal change while developing research knowledge and related technologies for a sustainable future. The Greens see James Cook University as a hub for research and development of renewable energies. Townsville's strategic location in the State's transport and energy infrastructure, its high-quality university, excellent port and abundance of sunshine all mean that solar and renewable technologies should become economically viable in this region first, ensuring "jobs of the future" for North Queenslanders.

The Greens demand the Federal Government ratify the Kyoto Protocol, increase mandatory renewable targets, fund more research at JCU into renewable and energy-efficient technologies, develop a national emissions trading scheme and exclude all oil/gas exploration that threatens the Great Barrier Reef. If climate change is not addressed and use of fossil fuels continues unabated, North Queensland stands to lose more than most - not only its natural environment, but its economic health as well. Scientists advise that, within 10 years, a 2-degree warming of the earth will be locked into the global climate system. Such a change will cause highland tropical forest to be lost, the destruction of vast tracts of the Barrier Reef through coral bleaching, less rainfall and more evaporation, leading to drier soils and an increase in disease.

The Greens will support and extend funding for the Solar Cities Program in Townsville.

Education and Social Justice
Greens policies acknowledge that we live in a time of global change. Global hegemonic forces pushing agendas such as the Free Trade Agreement threaten to overpower Australia's socio-cultural, environmental, economic and political integrity. The cost of change calls for responses drawing on the ‘social' capital of individuals, community and environment. The various protective factors which reduce the risk of failures to adjust include support from family, friends, and community institutions. However, the Howard Government has contributed to creating a divisive society where those with less get less. The Greens believe that the resilience and vision needed to counter the pervasive culture of greed, consumerism and individualism springs from a ‘green' spirit of collaboration, creativity and compassion.

Successful transition to a society able to deal with climate change is dependent on finding a balance between the Sciences and Humanities in the allocation of government funding. While support for scientific discovery is important, it should be acknowledged that ignoring the role that the Humanities play in a sustainable future dismisses the wealth of possibilities that arise in terms of community development, the health and well-being of residents, and the need to anchor our future on an understanding of the past.

A Greens vision of educational excellence rests on the social justice principles of opportunity, equity, access and participation for all who want to engage in life-long learning. All North Queenslanders, regardless of their financial background, should be able to have access to the resources necessary to complete university, vocational and school based studies with dignity and a sufficient standard of living to ensure their well-being. Education should always remain an agent for change and Townsville needs to have solid government support to meet the needs of rural and regional students, many of whom are the first in their families to go to university.

Sustainable communities
The Greens believe it is important that the Federal Government addresses the urgent need to fund research into alternative options to traditional water supply infrastructure (dams and weirs), such as water recycling and water efficiency technologies. We support and would extend funding for the State Government's   sustainable housing initiatives that encourage home-owners to use energy and water-saving features such as solar or gas water heaters, dual-flush toilets, low-intensity shower heads, rainwater tanks and technology to recycle household water for gardens.

Architectural design and the choice of building materials are also important. The Greens would like to see greater use made of innovative housing designs developed by northern architects to ensure houses that are energy-efficient, affordable, and suited for the tropics. Up until now the problem has been keeping building/establishment costs down. Obviously, sustainable houses are cheaper in the longer term because of reduced energy and maintenance bills for the homeowner, and reduced demands on public infrastructure.

 The Greens believe that Townsville can be a model for the rest of Australia, in terms of sustainable communities, but will need to be careful to protect the city's natural environment at a time of strong urban growth. Already, many of our nature corridors, such as surrounding bushland and the banks of Ross River, are being destroyed as suburbs grow and available land is taken up for new subdivisions. The Council needs to take a lead in preserving green space, both urban parks and native vegetation where fauna and flora are protected. The Greens are pleased to see the Townsville City Council take a lead in recent times to make Townsville a sustainability community. Initiatives include waste-water recycling at the city's sewage treatment plants, Greening Townsville projects, bio-fuel trials, eco-efficiency, sustainable housing and a wind turbine project on The Strand.

The Greens believe the Council with federal support needs to recommit to a Green Space Program, whereby it protects and enhances land for parks and conservation purposes, particularly in new suburbs.

Recent development on Magnetic Island is an example of unsustainable development that fails to acknowledge the requirements of the Triple Bottom Line approach. The risks posed by indiscriminate development in environmentally sensitive areas such as World Heritage listed areas reveals the dilemmas faced by communities seeking a balanced approach to resource management. Local community based groups have stimulated the debate which seeks to present a grassroots perspective on proposed development. The Townsville Greens support their efforts to engage the Townsville City Council in a process of active community consultation.

Finally, in terms of sustainable communities, the heavy industry site proposed at Stuart makes no sense at all. Although the City Plan aims for "best practice" environmental management, it is not best practice to locate heavy industry so close to the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and residential development. Clearly, a heavy industry area located some distance from the coast, with a distinct buffer zone around it, would ensure the protection of both the GBRWHA and the health of residents. But this is not the case at Stuart. Using the criteria devised earlier to select Woodstock for the Townsville Industrial Land Project, the Stuart site is unsuitable because it is flood-prone, close to national parks and environmentally significant flora and fauna, close to urban Townsville, and lacks buffering. It will impact directly on 10,000 households, and more suburbs upwind will be threatened by the air pollution it generates. The port access road currently planned to link the Stuart industrial area to the Townsville port is ill-conceived, in that it requires huge embankments over low-lying, unstable acid sulphate soils. Early government reports conceded that this will force water to bank up in suburbs such as Fairfield Waters and Oonoonba during heavy Wet seasons, causing flooding to residential areas. In addition, the port access road, as it is now conceived, will not see the end of heavy traffic using South Townsville streets, as all northbound traffic will still need to exit the suburb to make its way out of the city.

Indigenous knowledge and sustainability
The Greens would like to see more emphasis on preserving and documenting Indigenous knowledge in North Queensland. Indigenous Australians possess an immense knowledge of the environment, including an understanding of the properties of plants and animals, the functioning of complex ecosystems and the techniques for using and managing them that is particular and detailed. In North Queensland, Aboriginal people have relied on locally occurring species for medicines as well as food, fuel, building materials and other products. Equally, their knowledge and perceptions of the environment, and their relationships with it, are important elements of cultural identity. While some of this knowledge and unique worldview has been lost since white settlement, much Indigenous knowledge remains.

In the interests of sustainability, the Greens would also like to see greater emphasis on sensitive cultural tourism in our region, especially the role that can be played by Indigenous communities such as Palm Island. Tourism offers one  way forward on Palm Island, with Aboriginal people benefiting in terms of training, paid work, and projection of a different image of Palm Island to the world. Aboriginal people have a profound sense of life's priorities - relationships, family, health and well-being - and these can be the foundation of a strong cultural tourism business, as well as the beauty and majesty of the Palm Group of islands, where Aboriginal people are very familiar with the mountains, bays and oceans that sustain them, even in times of great difficulty. They have a strong sense of the interrelatedness between themselves and the islands and seas, and know that people can't live beyond these natural boundaries that sustain them. The Greens believe a balanced and sustainable future for Aboriginal communities in our region is possible by incorporating both settler and indigenous ‘knowledges', with solutions evolving out of the organic processes and identities of each community.

In particular, it has become evident that within Indigenous communities there are traditional ways which bring people together within a ceremonial context, to resolve disputes, promote group decision-making and heal damaged relationships between individuals, families and clan-nations. The Greens would like to see greater use of culturally appropriate initiatives in the area of mediation. For example, the Yolngu people of north-east Arnhem Land have opened up the sacred Mawul Rom ceremony and invited others to participate. The custodians of this sacred ceremony make it available to the wider non-Indigenous community and have allowed it to evolve as a 21st century rite-of-passage for people engaged in cross-cultural dispute resolution and peace-making. The Mawul Rom Project seeks to illuminate the overlap between the contemporary and the traditional. It is breaking new ground by:

• stimulating reflection and discussion about ways to achieve an Australian cultural future that values dialogue, diversity and cross-cultural encounters with indigenous people.
• raising issues related to the potential role of mediators and conflict resolution practitioners in such initiatives; and
• raising the hard questions about the need for cross-cultural bridges in fields such as dispute resolution, conflict management, decision-making and law-making.

It can be seen that there is room for alternatives to current intervention practices that reinforce ‘deviancy' through labeling and contributes to the destructive process of stereotyping.

Creative industries
With its concentration of artists and its many arts and community festivals, Townsville is a centre for the creative industries, but we need a more coherent public vision if we are to realise our potential as the recognised arts hub for Northern Australia. All levels of government need to include cultural values as core criteria, along with economic, environmental and social values, in their city planning and development deliberations. In particular, the Greens see the need for a creative art precinct in West Flinders Street, with an emphasis on community engagement and participation in the arts. This would help address:

• the lack of infrastructure for arts groups and opportunities for local artists;
• help express North Queensland's unique and diverse cultural values, and raise the profile and accessibility of arts in the region;
• contribute to Townsville's tourism sector; and
• provide employment for North Queenslanders.

We also support the formation of partnerships between artists and arts organisations with traditionally non-arts groups, such as Arts and Health North Queensland (AHNQ). This achieves the following:

• promotes opportunities for participation in art and opportunities for artists;
• increases the presence of art in everyday life; and
• promotes an environment that values and celebrates difference.

In addition, the Greens would like to see the decentralisation and devolving of arts funding through more support for such groups as ACROC (Arts and Culture Regional Organization of Councils (a North Queensland coalition) and the Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF). At present, regional areas get a disproportional and very small amount of federal arts funding, which mainly goes to large population centres like Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. The Arts Council has only one representative for all the regional areas of Australia and there is a clear need for greater regional representation. There is also a need for more arts infrastructure funding in North Queensland. Currently, arts groups in the south of the State, up to Rockhampton, have access to grants of up to $150,000 through casino funds, whereas in the North the largest grant available is $5,000.

This statement of the Townsville Green's vision for a sustainable future for this region is a ‘living' document and one that is in accordance with best practice in local, state and federal initiatives for community development. We believe this initiative offers a way forward in the current debate concerning the suitability of heavy industrial development as opposed to clean, green industries which promote a sustainable future for the Townsville region. We invite comment and further contributions may be emailed to office@townsville.greens.org.au.

 AUGUST 2007