About
Stephen Dalton is a 37 year Software Engineer, Business Owner & Entrepreneur. He is originally from the UK and has been living in Australia for 12 years, the last 6 on the Gold Coast in Parkwood. He has a degree in Electronic & Computer Engineering from University of Birmingham, UK, is a Chartered Engineer and co-founder of a small Software Development company based on the Coast. He is the father of 2 children and spends much of his spare time with his family, but is also interested in permaculture gardening & the outdoors.
Stephen is a passionate advocate of the Gold Coast and has been working hard for the last few years on promoting the local IT community through tech gatherings and community groups - the latest being the Gold Coast TechSpace, a collaborative space were technologists can meet and collectively learn and work on projects together. Creating local jobs for professionals is the key to easing the strain on our transport infrastructure and creating sustainable businesses with happy employees that are close to their families and all the lifestyle benefits the Gold Coast offers.
Stephen is deeply concerned for what we are leaving of this planet for future generations, and has yet to see a politician look seriously into the future beyond their own political career. Their long-term focus and forward thinking policies were the reason Stephen joined the Greens in 2004.
Policies
For the people of Southport Stephen has the following policies:
Save the Gold Coast Hospital
By the time that the new Parkwood Hospital is complete it is projected that the Gold Coast will already be 388 beds short - by 2031, when the population of the Gold Coast is projected to reach 850,000 people we will be 861 short. We need the Gold Coast Hospital to remain open to cater for our population growth - the current hospital has it's problems, but it is sheer madness closing the current site when the new hospital clearly will immediately be at capacity. On Health, Stephen also supports a greater emphasis on preventative healthcare to ease the burden on our hospitals. In particular the looming obesity/diabetes epidemic and poor dental health will both add more and more strain on the system over the next few years - preventative health-care could have prevented the bulk of these cases at a fraction of the cost to tax-payers.
Transport
Stephen supports the contruction of an expanded Rapid Transit network on the Gold Coast. However, rapid transit alone is not the silver bullet to our problems. We need to back this up with a better cycle path network (including incentives for employers to encourage their employees to cycle), feeder buses into the rapid transit and demand driven transport for ourlying areas. Stephen strongly supports the Greens recent policy of free public transport to young people under the age of 21 - this will help people become more accepting of public transport before getting addicted to their cars, and will help bring about a generational shift towards cleaner modes of transport.
Protecting remaining areas of native Habitat
Southport is an urban area, but there are still a few remaining areas of ecological significance. We desperately need to preserve these areas for future generations - we cannot live in a world where the only piece of green space we have is our back yard. In particular, we need to protect the area of Loders Creek and bushland between Smith St and Wardoo St which provides habitat for rare species of frogs such as the Green Thighed Frog & Wallum Froglet.
Regional Development and Planning
It is predicted that in 50 years time that entire Gold Coast will be a "city" with no open spaces. Sydney has 42% green open spaces but South East Queensland has only 17%, with 50% of this about to go as planning is about to double. In addition we are about to lose another 70,000 hectares open space to rezoning and other infrastructure. As residents of the Gold Coast we need to stand up and say enough is enough to this planning steamroller, our open space are important and our quality of life is extremely precious to us. The Greens believe that population growth is not-essential for economic growth, and a responsible approach to planning, retaining open spaces leads to better quality of life and a happier more productive population.
