2022-09-01
Advocating public service pay rises, involving in environment and climate issues and thinking how best to tackle youth justice and housing and homelessness problems
By Hon Brad Pettitt, MLC, Member for South Metropolitan
Parliamentary happenings
It’s been a very busy last two months for my team and I. Since I last posted an update we have returned to Parliament after a long but not-so-quiet winter recess. In recent weeks in Parliament I’ve been focusing on the Greens motion that I moved to deliver a real pay rise for public sector workers, as well as the newly introduced Mining Amendment Bill which should come to the Upper House any day now. I have also been facilitating several community petitions to end greyhound racing in WA, improve abortion rights and access, implement a reparations scheme for Stolen Generation survivors, and create mining-free zones around communities like Denmark.
Climate and environment
My team and I have spent a lot of time speaking to and advocating for the Gelorup community, who have been staunchly defending the Gelorup Corridor near Bunbury for weeks now. There is a road currently being built through invaluable native forest and bush that is having devastating impacts on endangered species such as Black Cockatoos, the Western Ring-tail Possum, and other iconic species in WA’s South West. If you’re interested in keeping up to date with the Gelorup community, you can follow the Build a Better BORR, F.A.W.N.A Inc., or South West Forest Defenders Facebook pages. I have also been questioning the State Government on Black Cockatoo road deaths that have been reported in the South West.
On the climate change front, I recently hosted a group of Councillors and Mayors from Local Governments across the state to collaborate on advocating for a stop to new gas in developments. It was actually quite a refreshing change from State Parliament to be surrounded by people in politics who are thinking about climate change and reducing emissions in our households. I also joined Frack Free WA and Environs Kimberley a couple weeks ago for a rally outside Dumas House calling on the State Government to ban fracking in WA. This is a core issue for our Greens North West Central by-election candidate, Niels Glahn-Bertelsen. Our team has also been working closely with stakeholders down south to overturn ridiculous electricity grid regulations that are preventing and discouraging households in the South West from electrifying.
Youth justice
The conditions at Banksia Hill Detention Centre and the newly-gazetted child detention facility, Unit 18, at the adult maximum-security Causarina Prison have continued to stay a priority for our office. My staff and I were recently invited on a tour of both of these facilities that was harrowing, eye-opening, and affirming all at the same time. I could not possibly collect my thoughts on this into a succinct paragraph so you can read my lengthy reflection here. I will continue to work with our stakeholders, question the State Government in Parliament, and lobby the Minister directly on youth justice issues in WA.
Housing and homelessness
I have continued to work with my colleagues on the Estimates Committee on our Parliamentary Inquiry into the Financial Administration of Homelessness Services. Most recently, we hosted hearings to hear testimony from Shelter WA, Youth Pride Network, RUAH Community Services, and Youth Affairs Council of WA. We also hosted a second round of hearings for the Department of Communities. Earlier this week my committee colleagues and I attended site visits to help inform our inquiry, some of which ended up being quite insightful into what well-done short-term housing could look like. In addition to inquiry things, I have also continued to ask for regular updates in Parliament on WA’s public housing waitlist as well as questioned the State Government on their delayed and massively underspent Local Government Partnership Fund for Homelessness.
Overall, it’s been an immensely busy last 2 months for our team. We are ticking along on our exciting new Net Zero Perth project that will hopefully have a draft report published sometime in early November, so stay tuned for more on that.
Header photo: Brad at the Public Sector Rally outside Parliament House just before he moved his motion on public sector pay rises in the chamber. Piper Rollins