2017-09-02
Hon Alison Xamon MLC
It has been quite the hiatus since my last contribution to Green Issue (2013!). I am very pleased to be back. A big thank you to all of those who came down to Parliament to watch me to deliver my address in reply to the Governors speech opening up the 40th Parliament. I had so much that I wanted to talk about, but was limited to only 60 minutes. I picked up on many of my favourite topics (unsurprisingly mental health and suicide prevention got a considerable mention).
It has been my absolute pleasure to welcome back my Electorate Officer Kirsten Richards and Research Officer Jocasta Sibbel, both of whom worked with me during my previous term. We are also delighted to have been joined by Research Officer Leigh Sinclair and Arran Morton, who has taken the role of Media and Communications Co-ordinator. You may remember Leigh and Arran from their work at the office of my friend Lynn MacLaren. My team and I have now settled into a new (temporary) electorate office located opposite Parliament House. I am still waiting for news of where my permanent office will be located but we are hopeful we will know soon ‒ particularly as the temporary office has no disabled access, which is a disgrace.
It has been a big start to the term of the 40th Parliament. As my first Motion on Notice to the Parliament, I called on the Government to ensure that as NDIS is rolled out within WA that there is genuine consultation and co-production with people with disability, their families and service providers. The Motion is likely to be debated within the next few months. I have been also asking a series of questions as to the detail and will continue to drill down as to what is happening and work with the disability community to ensure that this hard fought-for reform is not derailed.
I have again sought to reintroduce the offence of Industrial Manslaughter into our Criminal Code. The Criminal Code Amendment (Industrial Manslaughter) Bill 2017, seeks to deliver important reforms in worker safety by expanding responsibility for workplace deaths from the relatively abstract company level to the personal level. Every worker has the right to a safe and healthy workplace and all workers are entitled to expect to be able to return home from work safe and well. Unfortunately, that is not always the case and one person is fatally injured every 19 days in Western Australia.
I have spoken on a wide range of issues, including on the research which shows the correlation between the impacts of climate change and rising incidences of adverse mental health impacts. With increasing and justified concerns about mental health, it is important that people understand that this is one of the many, many reasons we must act on climate change urgently. I marked World Refugee Day on 20 June with an adjournment speech outlining my appreciation for the contribution refugees have made to Australian society and the Greens absolute opposition to offshore detention and the proposed changes to federal citizenship legislation.
Also in Parliament, I gave notice of a motion to establish a Select Committee into alternative approaches to reducing illicit drug use and its effects on the community. I also put forward a motion asking the state Government to lobby the Federal Government to grant access to Medicare for people in our prison system. I was nominated for and have accepted a position on the Parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on the Corruption and Crime Commission. The Committee is charged with making recommendations to Parliament and government around changes to the Act, reporting on the integrity framework and overseeing the operations of the Corruption and Crime Commission.
In the community, I have been working with residents and business owners in East Perth to challenge operating license renewal applications from two concrete batching plants based at the Claisebrook Road North area. This vision for East Perth as a residential and commercial transit-orientated hub has been outlined for decades. Over that time, we have seen the rest of Claisebrook and large parts of East Perth develop into the type of inner-city homes and businesses we would expect in any world-class city. The plants are not only delaying, but warping the considered and orderly development of the area. It is time for them to go, to allow the Claisebrook Road North area to fulfil its potential.
Youth Parliament: I met with the group of fantastic young people chosen to take part in this years western Australian YMCA Youth Parliament.
In response to strong community opposition to the Governments plan to relocate Perth Modern School and re-brand it general intake, I renewed my call for an Independent Schools Commission and debated in Parliament a motion from the opposition calling on the Government to reverse its Education Central policy, scrap plans to move Perth Modern and open a school for the Western suburbs. One of my key concerns has been the lack of consultation with families who stood to be affected by the proposed relocation of Perth Modern. I said very clearly during the election campaign that for too long, decisions about the location of new schools and school upgrades had been subject to politically-driven promises rather than independent assessment. That is not the way planning for public education should be undertaken.
I was pleased to attend the first Save Safe Schools WA rally of the year, on 17 June. I'm pictured with my Parliamentary colleague Tim Clifford MLC and members Elliot Sawers and Chilla Bulbeck. Alison Xamon
Moving forward, I have twenty portfolios to shadow, notably none of them are environment portfolios, and a large electorate with a great many constituents and local issues to represent. My website is currently under construction and I hope to be able to share it with you very soon.
Header photo: Refugee day: I marked World Refugee Day on 20 June with an adjournment speech outlining my appreciation for the contribution refugees have made to Australian society. Paddy Cullen, Oxfam