2016-05-24
With the Labor Senator Nova Peris not contesting her seat, NT voters might be fearful that they won't have any strong progressive candidate to vote for. In response, the NT Greens have launched their own candidate, Dr Michael Connard, to succeed Peris in her Senate position.
The NT Greens are thrilled to announce Dr Michael Connard as our Lead Senate Candidate for the Northern Territory.
Michael has spent the last eight years working as a doctor throughout the Territory, including Darwin, Alice Springs, Tennant Creek and a variety of remote clinics. Michael lives in Alice Springs with his wife and enjoys riding his bicycle and gardening.
Michael understands the dangers that poorly regulated fracking poses to the Territory’s precious water resources.
“We cannot survive here without water. The challenges that climate change poses to our economy and our way of life simply mean we must stop fracking,” he said.
Voting Greens means more voices in Canberra pushing for real action to tackle global warming, to drive transitioning of the Australian economy to renewables and create thousands of jobs.
Michael says the Greens support Medicare as a universal, publicly funded health insurance system for all Australians, that includes access to publicly funded primary dental care.
”The continuation of the Medicare freeze will reduce bulkbilling rates, which will affect all Territorians and hurt the budgets of the Aboriginal Medical Centres”, Dr Michael said.
“This makes preventative healthcare less affordable and hinders our ability to close the gap. Only the Greens have the courage and vision to create a world class health system which puts people and their communities first.”
Michael is passionate about the people and environment of the Northern Territory and will fight for access to health, clean water and sustainable economic development for all.
“I will stand to end political corruption and grubby deals and remind politicians that they are employed to serve the people,” he said.
Michael would like to remind us all of the power we each wield during this election campaign.