Undecided voters flood pre-poll
15/08/2010 - 7:44am

An overwhelming number of voters have not made up their mind before they reach the polling booth door, workers at pre-poll booths in Tweed Heads, Murwillumbah and Byron Bay reported yesterday.

As predicted by the Australian Electoral Commission, record numbers of voters are choosing to vote early rather than queue up on election day. Voters need a legitimate reason to vote at a pre-poll booth and many of them are travellers who will be on the road on election day.

Undecideds will decide the outcome

Joe and Justine at pre-poll in Tweed Heads yesterdayYesterday at Tweed Heads, ALP candidate Justine Elliot and Greens candidate, Joe Ebono had the booth to themselves and were neatly dividing the undecideds between them. With this number of undecided voters, they will decide the outcome of the election.

Conservative voters where angry that there was no-one there to assist them, and some were taking advantage of The Greens open ticket to put The Greens number one and the National Party second.

Booth workers report that around two thirds of voters are voting for their traditional party and are not interested in collecting more than one How to Vote card. The Undecided voters, though, want guidance to help them make the decision.

Number from the bottom to the top

The Greens in Richmond are simply advising voters to put Joe Ebono number one and then order the other candidates as the voter sees fit. The independents and community action group Community Voice are recommending that the voter selects the candidate of their choice and then puts the major parties last.

In Richmond, the Liberal and Labor parties are at the top of the ticket so voters can achieve that simply by putting the number 1 beside the candidate of their choice and then numbering from the bottom to the top.

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Joe Ebono is available for comment on 0402 779 375

Grill a Green campaign heats up
15/08/2010 - 12:00am

Fishermen at Tweed Heads yesterday tackled The Greens candidate for Richmond, Joe Ebono, over the use of marine parks to manage fish. The candidate confronted 300 angry fishermen at Jack Evans boat harbour in an attempt to put the Greens case. Greens councillor for Tweed Heads, Katie Milne, was the only other Green at the event.

Rowdy scene at Tweed Fishermans rally photo courtesy tweed echo The Greens were jostled and their literature was torn up, trampled on and hurled at them.

Speaking to the media afterward he said, “People are angry because their livelihoods are at stake. All over the world, food supplies are in crisis. Fish stocks are declining everywhere, the world supply of grain is only just keeping up with demand and fresh water supplies are failing.

“As food runs short, we will see many more angry scenes like this.

“The Greens are the only party confronting these difficult problems with real policies that manage our resources for the long term. As each individual crisis emerges, the major parties are grabbing the Greens policies and applying them, too late.

Rowdy scene at Tweed Fishermans rally photo courtesy tweed echo

“What people are looking for is leadership. Unfortunately, the major parties are focused on management, but voters want leaders, not managers.

“The Greens have shown real leadership in putting forward the hard policies, required to steer us through these difficult times.

“This could be the election where the people wake up and realise that we are running out of time and need real leadership, now.”

Mr Ebono had invited constituents to “Grill a Green” early in the campaign. His launch media release noted, “Many people are not aware of, or are misinformed and angry about Greens policies. I encourage them to invite me to their organisation where they can grill me over any of the Greens policies.”

The Greens have comprehensive policies on the economy, social welfare, health and education as well as rebuilding regional Australia and a robust and vibrant agricultural industry.

After the confrontation at Jack Evans boat harbour, Mr Ebono said the morning’s grilling was about as hot as he hoped it would get.

all photos courtesy the tweed echo -

Greens support Buttery bid to double services
11/08/2010 - 12:00am

Media release

Wednesday 11 August, 2010

For Immediate Release

 

Greens support Buttery bid to double services

Candidate for The Greens in Richmond, Joe Ebono, offered his support for The Buttery in its attempt to raise $15 million to double its capacity as a therapeutic community treating drug addiction.

“There is an urgent need to funding mental health and substance abuse in Northern NSW but the major parties candidates are refusing to commit to specific projects,” he said.

“If elected to represent Richmond, I commit to using the full leverage of The Greens in both houses of parliament to get the Federal component of the funding requested by the Buttery.”

The Buttery has a 70%  success rate treating addicts through its residential program and plans to increase the number of beds available from 30 to 60.

“This will enable The Buttery to increase the number of people it treats each year from 110 to 220,” said Barry Evans, executive director of The Buttery.

The Greens policies on mental health and substance abuse focus on harm prevention and wellness as more cost effective forms of treatment than acute care.

“The Buttery is a perfect example of how well practices that treat the whole person can be. This is exactly the sort of program that The Greens want to promote on a national level,” he said.

 “The major parties are trapped in support for corporate medicine. Pharmaceuticals, GP superclinics and major hospitals are expensive bandaids that treat people after they have become unwell. We need community solutions that provide alternative ways to support healthy people remain well,” he said.

The Greens support organisations like the Maternity Coalition who are struggling against government regulations designed to force people into acute care.

“The corporatisation of health and wellness has been a long term campaign across the world. Unfortunately, The Greens are the only party working with people, especially women, attempting to preserve the right for people to choose their pathways to wellness.”

Joe Ebono will speak at the Maternity Coalition meeting in Mullumbimby on Friday August 20.

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Joe Ebono is available for comment on 0402 779 375

Barry Evans, Executive Director and Chris Bernaud, Appeal Manager of the Buttery are available on 6687 1111

Press quality photographs are available at www.joe4richmond.org/media/photos

Greens want ban on ATM bank fees
06/08/2010 - 6:39pm

The Greens say they will try to stop the big four banks from charging unnecessary fees. The party wants to ban banks from charging customers a $2 fee when they use an ATM belonging to a different institution.

Greens leader Bob Brown says the charge is banned in Britain and it should be banned here. "If a pensioner takes out $20 she gets a 10 per cent tax slapped on by the big four banks if she's not at her own bank," he said. "If I take out $200 it becomes a 1 percent tax. It's unfair. It hits people who are poorer."

Mr Brown says the Greens will also target the exit fees charged when people move their mortgage to a different money lender. "We want to ensure that if people go to another bank they're not charged more than it cost the first bank, in terms of ending the loan," he said.

"We've got other proposals for ensuring that people get a better go than being quite routinely ripped off by unnecessary fees, giving a huge profit to the big four banks."

from ABC news

Senator backs Richmond Greens' call for end to preference deals
06/08/2010 - 1:14pm

The Greens will resubmit legislation outlawing preference deals, South Australian Senator, Sarah Hanson Young, told reporters Brisbane yesterday.

“Voters are angry that the compulsory preferential system means they have to support one of the parties that have made such a mess of things,” said Joe Ebono, The Greens candidate for Richmond.

"Let's give voters the opportunity to say where their vote goes." said Senator Hanson-Young.

She said the election was too close to call.

The Greens in Tweed Heads, Byron Bay, Northern Rivers and Ballina, voted not to direct voters to support the Labor Party.

“The implications of that are simple,” Mr Ebono said.

“People voting Greens for the first time can put me number one and their traditional party number two. If I don't win, their vote goes back to their old party.”

The Greens have come under increasing pressure regarding preferences in this election because it is likely they will determine the outcome of the election.

“The Greens are now a significant force in politics and it is time we stood up as a party in our own right,” Mr Ebono said. “The people of Richmond have a clear choice between old parties that want to dig up and sell the entire country for short term gain and The Greens who want to see steady, sustainable growth.”

Richmond has the highest Green vote outside the capital cities and is the sixth greenest seat in the nation.