Queensland Greens

Thank you and Good evening –

It is great to see so many people here tonight.

My priority as your representative will be to work with you to create a new job-rich green economy and protect our way of life.

First I would like to note that we are meeting on the traditional lands of the Ugurapul people and I acknowledge their living culture.

Next I would like you to imagine me as your Member for the seat of Beaudesert. Imagine that you have voted for me. It is not that hard – it’s easy. Andy Grodecki, Member of the Legislative Assembly for the seat of Beaudesert.

Volunteers are a lynchpin of our community, along with our producers, our businesses and our public services, they make our communities thrive.

I have been a self employed businessman for 11 years and I am now a public servant. I am the President or Vice President of three community groups, on the board or active member of a number of other community organisations from community care, conservation and the arts.

I have been serving the Beaudesert electorate for over twenty years. I have the longest and strongest record of all the candidates. I have lived all this time at Gleneagle where my wife and I raised two wonderful grown up sons.

The Beaudesert electorate is the best place in the world to live – I love it. Our great state is home to great wilderness areas, the Great Barrier Reef and the wonderful rainforests, woodlands and wildlife of the Scenic Rim.

But climate change and its agent’s coal mining and coal seam gas threaten all of this. They threaten our lifestyle, our state’s natural environment, our economy and jobs.

Climate change together with a global economic downturn and declining oil production presents us with some of the greatest policy challenges ever faced.

The old parties see these challenges as a reason do more of the same, to invest in the same industries and behaviours that got us to this point. They are committed to an economy based on digging things up, and shipping them out and stuffing up our land and water. They are selling Queensland short.

The Greens see this as an opportunity to re-make our economy on the basis of sustainable industries and sustainable jobs. We will build a strong resilient economy so we can prosper even when the rest of the world stumbles.

We will deliver jobs for our state and we will protect our environment. We will live with the planet not off the planet.

Our plan will deliver thousands of green jobs by making Queensland a world leader in renewable energy. Global investment in renewables was over 200 billion dollars last yeari exceeding investment in fossil fuelsii. We want Queensland to be part of this investment.

We will build two   250MW base-load solar thermal power stations, at Townsville and the Darling Downs.

This is not some experimental technology, like ‘clean coal’, it is off the shelf renewable power, like those in Spain and California - We will do it sunny Queensland.

We will waive all State Government levies, fees and charges for companies generating green jobs that want to relocate to Queensland, perhaps Bromelton.

We will invest in a large-scale switch to energy-efficient homes under the self funding EASI-Q program. Employing over three thousand two hundred people by the fifth year, this program will be a boon for most of the tradies and their suppliers in the Boonah area.

It is critical, as the Queensland Government invests your money into the economy, that this investment creates the infrastructure we need for a new job-rich green economy.

As part of our green jobs strategy we will develop a world class public transport system for all of Queensland with more buses and trains. We work to deliver an hourly rail passenger service from Bromelton to the city.

The free weekend buses just launched by Scenic Rim Regional Council are a great start. We will provide funding to local councils including Scenic Rim to provide the bus services we desperately need.

After twenty years of neglect by Labor and Liberal Nationals,         The Greens will establish a range of regular affordable public transport services for the Beaudesert area.

Ecotourism is another important growth area for local green jobs. As I have clearly done I will continue to support the development of cultural and ecotourism activities around our stunning Scenic Rim. We will fund the creation of the Beaudesert to Bethania Rail Trail for use by cyclists, walkers and horse riders.

The Bromelton State development Area presents a major opportunity for developing sustainable industries and growing local green jobs. To do this the State Development Area needs to be economically, environmentally and socially sustainable.

Key stakeholders from each of these interest areas must NOW be involved in setting standards for how the area is to be designed and operated based upon the best independent scientific advice. We need to stick to these standards and provide adequate funding and open processes for ensuring compliance with them.

These are just some of the ground rules for being able to claim world’s best practice. There is more information on The Greens Table. The Greens will ensure that Bromelton will proceed as a world class Eco- Industrial City

The Greens are committed to delivering better health and community services.

Youth workers make a difference to young people lives, they help reduce anti-social behaviour and increase the likelihood that young people will stay in the area and access local jobs. We will fund Youth Workers for Jimboomba, Beaudesert and here in Boonah

We will invest in a Wellness Program to reduce the burden of preventable diseases that soak up 50% of the Queensland Health budget.

Working with existing care providers, we will establish Community Mental Health Centres with 24 hour psychiatric nursing support at Boonah, Beaudesert, Jimboomba and Tamborine Mountain.

The Greens believe our farmers should be celebrated, supported and rewarded for the role they play in producing our food and managing our natural resources. We want to see farmers thriving in a climate- changed world by being paid for storing carbon, for retaining significant vegetation and for practising clean, green farming methods.

We will protect farmland from coal and coal seam gas, provide funding to assist in the adoption of more sustainable practices and provide ongoing funds for key supporting organisations.

It is good to see the other parties picking up Greens policies. We have seen LNP sort of commit to protecting good quality agricultural land and Labor have half implemented our Green Army proposal. However this light green wash does not stack up.

Although we account for small proportion of the total global emissions, Queenslanders, you and I are the largest per capita emitters of greenhouse gases in the world

You and I have a moral responsibility to our grandchildren and to those already affected by climate change to urgently and significantly reduce our emissions.

Only the Greens have a plan to do this. Campbell Newman and Anna Bligh and their representative here tonight are spokespeople for the coal and CSG industries. Both of the old parties refuse to take any serious action on climate change and to rein in the coal and CSG industries.

This lack of action directly threatens the future of the Reef, our local national parks, our producers, our cities and towns and puts Queensland jobs in danger.

There are 50% more jobs in Barrier Reef tourism than in coal mining. There is nearly double the amount of jobs in the building and maintenance of renewable energy than in fossil fuels.

At a number of forums during the last state election I alerted our community to the proposals for CSG and coal exploration and that 28.8 million tons of coal had been found around the Nindoinbah to Veresdale Scrub area.

As you all know this exploration is underway now, here and across 80% of Queensland.

We need to call a halt to CSG and new coal mines in Queensland and divert state government resources into building a new green job-rich economy

While The Greens are focused on creating green jobs for Queenslanders, the old parties are not even talking the same language. They are hell bent on rushing the other way.

Most Australians, most Queenslanders recognise that we need to change our economy and the way we live. Smart business and community leaders around the world are working to increase the resilience of their communities by localising their economy as far as possible, by reducing their reliance on fossil fuels and          building the capacity of their community to enable them to thrive in these difficult times.

It is time that we had someone who is experienced, who is committed to our community, who knows and understands the local issues, and is not locked into last century thinking. That is what you will get if you elect me as your first Greens MP.

Thank you