Townsville Greens The Greens Listen

Greens ask for funds to be directed to supporting Kokoda Pool instead of wasted on V8 supercars.

Greens candidate for Mundingburra, Jenny Brown adds her voice to calls to upgrade and preserve Kokoda Pool as a community aquatic facility and fitting memorial to the soldiers who fought and died on the Kokoda Track.  “Many community groups have been disadvantaged by the closure of the pool and it is outrageous that our State Government neglects to provide the $5.8 million funding for this facility, which allows year round physical  activity for the community, yet spends millions on promoting V8 supercar racing”

Local Greens candidates today challenged other candidates for the coming state elections to tell the voters how they plan to deal with the severe shortage of affordable rental properties in Townsville.

The Greens candidates have all witnessed in their work, Jenny Stirling and Frank Reilly as social workers and Jenny Brown as a psychologist, the distress that being homeless or at risk of homelessness can cause.

Jenny Brown, The Greens candidate for Mundingburra said that, “The Greens believe that everyone should have access to secure, affordable housing. In Townsville low-income households can't find affordable homes to rent, but our state government chooses to build a racetrack for V8’s rather than put money into public housing".

Notes for talk to Council merger rally 3 August 2007

Labor cannot win control of the Senate in the 2007 federal elections and that means the future of Workplace legislation will be decided by the minor parties holding the balance of power in the Senate.

Given the situation, Greens candidate Jenny Stirling believes that: “The people of Herbert have a historic opportunity to decide the fate of industrial relations reform for all Australians if they vote for the Greens in the Senate”.

Anja Light, Queensland Greens 2nd candidate, held a press briefing in Tokyo, Japan at the Minitry of Economy, Trade and Industry yesterday to call for a reduction of Japanese imports of greenhouse polluting coal to help save the Great Barrier Reef. Following the briefing a street performance with a banner reading "Coal Kills the Reef" and a lifesize Koala wearing diving goggles was carried outside the entrance. The group then visited the Japan Coal Energy Centre (JCOAL) where they met with officials from that organisation.

"The solutions to climate change can only be achieved through global cooperation. As Japan is Australia's largest importer of coal, there is an urgent need to support campaigns in Japan to reduce energy use – and reduce dependency on Queensland coal."

The QLD Greens are calling for urgent action in establishing a local food produce market in Townsville to help farmers reduce transport costs and to provide fresher, cheaper fruit and vegetables to consumers.

This follows the weekend release of the QLD Greens sustainable agriculture policy initiative aimed at helping farmers, consumers and the environment.

According to Anja Light, QLD Greens 2nd senate candidate, farmers as well as consumers would benefit from a local produce market in north Queensland. She believes that north Queensland, with its abundant water supplies, also has the potential to be the future food bowl of Australia.

Today Jenny Stirling, Greens candidate for Mundingburra, and Anja Light, Greens candidate for Burdekin revealed that the Greens will be not be recommending preferences in Saturday's election.

“Across Queensland 69 of the 89 seats contested by the Greens, including those in the Townsville region, will not be allocating preferences. Instead we are recommending that voters use their informed judgement to allocate preferences.”, said Ms Stirling.

Ms Stirling stated, "Preferencing an incumbent is our endorsement of their performance. This is why we are not giving our preferences to Labor. They have failed to protect the health and well-being of this community. They have failed to plan for our future in terms of transport, health service, and types of industry we place within our city, and we do not expect them to perform any better if re-elected."

In the final days before the State election, Greens candidate for Burdekin, Anja Light, is urging people to vote for the protection of what she believes is our most important asset – our water.

“Here we are in the week of the water festival celebrating our good fortune in having a seemingly limitless water supply – yet the threats to this precious resource are increasing and there is no sign of real protection being offered from the government on any level from any of the old parties.” She said.

“Today I saw for myself the impact of a badly planned and mismanaged aquaculture project that is pumping huge volumes of sea water into some 90 hectares of unlined, inland ponds. Dying and already dead trees, easily visible from Beach Road, are the immediate casualties of this salination – but it won’t take long for this salt will leach into the water table.

Jenny Stirling, Candidate for Mundingburra, and Anja Light, Candidate for Burdekin will present the Greens preference allocations in the seats of Thuringowa, Mundingburra, and Burdekin, with commentary on these allocations.

Time: 11am
Date: Wednesday, 6 September 2006
Venue: Castle Hill summit carpark

Contact: Jenny Stirling
Candidate for Mundingburra
Mobile: 0418 773 287

Anja Light
Candidate for Burdekin
Mobile: 0419 98 63 59

Nigel Sim
Secretary, Townsville Greens
Mobile: 0409 277 641

Frank Reilly and Jenny Stirling, Greens candidates for Thuringowa and Mundingburra today called on the Beattie government to rethink its priorities in relation to the port access road. "We are sure the people of South Townsville would rather spend $100 million on the hospital, rather than to create a corridor for conveyor belts and pipelines to carry noxious products from the port to Stuart", Mr Reilly said.

"If the government is having problems recruiting enough doctors for Queensland perhaps they should contract the job to mining companies who have discovered the secret of getting people to work in remote, places - they offer them more money.", Ms Stirling said.