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.
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.
“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 -