Many of you who have travelled to different parts of the world know how lucky we are to live here in Canberra.  After many years of living here myself, I have recently spent a couple of years working abroad.  It was a wonderful experience.  It also reinforced in my mind that Canberra is not only a great place to live, but that it can be even better.

Despite our great prosperity and quality of life, we also face great challenges.  We are living unsustainably.  The prosperity is not universal.  These are the questions that must be answered by those who seek election this year.

During this campaign, you will hear plenty of people making commentary about the Greens and where we fit on the political spectrum.  Let me save them some time and spell it out now.  The Greens are not a party of the left, nor are we a party of the right – we are the party that is out in front.

I was heavily involved in the election campaign in 1995 when we first had Greens elected to the ACT Legislative Assembly, and I can tell you that some of the ideas we were criticised for then are mainstream thinking now.  This is a consistent pattern for the Greens.  The ideas we put on the table today are the policies of the old political parties in a few years time.  While other parties are looking at the next opinion poll, we are looking at what is needed for this town, and this planet, for the next 15 to 20 years.  And that is the sort of thinking we need to address many of the serious challenges we face.

As we focus on a Legislative Assembly election, and what an ACT government can do, I want to share with you the Greens vision of how we can build a city that can cope with the pressures of the 21st century, a city that fulfils our hope that a better future is possible, a city that our children will thanks us for.

Our vision is a city where we do not build motorways through our nature parks; a city with a modern mass transit system, where you can get a ride more than once an hour, and where if a family needs a car, they only need one.

We want a city with declining greenhouse emissions.  For those of you who don’t know, the Stanhope Labor government has set a target that will see Canberra’s greenhouse emissions increase 14% above 1990 levels by 2025.  This is the height of mediocrity, an embarrassing and unforgivable position given the urgency of tackling climate change.

Our vision is a city where no-one gets left behind, where people are supported to achieve their potential, and a city where major political parties are not funded by the proceeds of poker machines.

We want to build a city that is a hub for the industries of the future – a place of excellence in innovation and sustainability, leading the way in tackling climate change and protecting the environment, and creating jobs that will see our young people want to stay in Canberra.

We also want to build a place where the community is empowered to genuinely participate in the governance of our beautiful city.  We recognise that it is not only people in government who have good ideas.  Many times, those in the community have knowledge and experience that can add so much to government decisions.

This is the city that we can build with more Greens elected to the ACT Legislative Assembly.  The Greens need to be at the heart of shaping Canberra’s future to ensure that this vision is built in to decision making every single day, and that we do build a city our children will thank us for.

Together, we can take the next step to make Canberra’s future Green.  That next step comes on October 18, a great day to get out there and vote Green.

Thank you very much.

I am proud to be a candidate for the ACT Greens.

We believe that to build a vibrant future for the ACT, the Legislative Assembly needs members who are committed to responsible government, a fair and just society, and economic and environmental sustainability. These are the principles upon which the Greens are founded.

In 2008 we face high housing costs, housing stress for many households, homelessness, increasing grocery, utility and fuel prices, and the impacts of climate change that will be felt by many in our community and especially the disadvantaged and vulnerable. The ACT Greens will work hard in the Assembly on measures to not only meet these challenges, but to produce a thriving community and a secure future in the process.

This years ACT election is critical if we are to restore a community voice and balance back in our local parliament.  The last 4 years of majority government has resulted in a lack of scrutiny and the people of Canberra deserve better, much better.  The ACT Greens are the credible alternative to the major parties and are the party that can and will provide third party insurance.

I have to say that this is shaping up to be a very interesting election.  Every time I turn around there is yet another candidate popping up. It is getting very crowded out there! Unfortunately many of these candidates are saying that the ACT Assembly should be simply about roads, rates and rubbish and forget the other issues, services and systems that impact on and relate to our everyday lives.  We’ve got news for them the assembly is not a local council simply looking after municipal services it is the parliament of the ACT that as well as looking after these important issues has responsibility for ensuring we have a comprehensive health system with services from the hospital to childhood immunisations, that provides aged care facilities for our frail, that runs an education system ensuring that our children, young people and mature age students have access to the vital education and training they need to reach their potential,  that runs a justice system including a police force, courts and prisons that supports safety and fairness in our community, that ensures public housing provision so that many do not remain homeless, and child protection services that intervene to support families in stress and make sure our young are protected.

These are major and complex areas and therefore the ACT cannot afford to have candidates who say hey I’m a nice person I have no policies just some ideas on some sort of direction I might take or hey my policies are focussed on roads rates and rubbish forget the other things they are not as important Vote for me - just trust me.  Hmmmmm.

I think the voters of Canberra want far more substance. There are too many serious issues that face us as a community and they need serious attention and solutions.  We have a comprehensive list of policies covering issues such as the environment, business, education, health and housing, older people, transport, carers and the list goes on.  We are ready to tackle the challenges ahead.

It’s a great time to be a Green. With 15 state parliamentarians and more than 100 local government representatives, more and more Australians are voting for the Greens. Just last weekend the Greens achieved a uniform vote of 11.6% vote in WA and almost won the seat of Fremantle from a minister in the state government. In South Australia we came close to winning the safe Liberal seat of Mayo picking up more than a 10% swing. In the Northern Territory elections we achieved our best result ever.

And at the 2007 federal election more than one in five Canberrans voted for Kerrie Tucker in the Senate making the ACT the Greenest place in Australia
In the same election across Australia more than a million people voted for the Greens and we now have 5 senators sharing the balance of power in the new Senate. So the Greens truly are the third force in Australian politics. And here in the ACT we have been the third force in the Assembly for the past 13 years.

On October 18 we have a great chance to elect more Greens to the ACT Assembly and secure a green and sustainable future for this wonderful territory we live in.

Thank you.