2021-02-25
What motivates me to put myself up as The Greens candidate for Dawesville?
By Stewart Godden
I was born in Perth and raised in what was then the outer suburb of Morley, in a typical working-class family: Dad worked, and Mum minded the house. I was the youngest child, and my older brother was a real pain, although we get along a lot better these days. My lovely wife Susanne and I have been together for 22 years.
Over many years I have spent a lot of great holidays in Mandurah. This influenced our decision to move down to Falconin 2016, and we have not regretted it for a second. This suburb is just south of Mandurah and in the state electorate of Dawesville, currently held by the Liberal Opposition Leader Zac Kirkup.
So, why am I Running for the Greens?
Climate Change
Five years ago, I realised that I had free time available in which I could volunteer for the community. The question was what to volunteer for, among a sea of worthy causes. I first asked myself ‘what can humanity simply not do without?’ I realised that there was nothing more important than breathing clean air, having enough to eat and drink, and being in a liveable temperature range. Each of these necessities is connected by their reliance on a stable climate and a sustainable environment, so I decided to volunteer for local environment groups.
Some may call me a tree hugger, but that is OK. A third of the oxygen in the air is generated by trees and plants on land, and the remainder by plants in the oceans, including algae in our own occasionally smelly Estuary. Without oxygen there would be no ozone produced to protect us from deadly UV radiation. Trees also help provide much of our water by pumping up ground water and releasing it into the atmosphere, where it helps create rainfall. Did you know that more rain falls on the forested areas of the Darling Scarp than falls on the adjacent coastal plain? Half of Perth’s drinking water is generated this way. We either eat plants, or meat mostly created by feeding plants to farm animals. Trees deserve much more than just a hug ̶ they deserve our respect, appreciation, and protection.
Global heating is so threatening to us precisely because it harms the plants and natural environment that we rely on for so much. Global temperature has long been demonstrated to rise in lock step with CO2 levels. Scientific records going back over 800,000 years reveal that global CO2 levels have normally ranged between 180 to 280 parts per million. By 1958 humanity had raised the CO2 level to 315ppm. Now it is over 415ppm and still rising rapidly ‒ the highest CO2 level for 60 million years.
The former United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon said: “Climate change is, simply, the greatest collective challenge we face as a human family.” The world’s best experts agree we must aim for net zero emissions by mid-century, or risk going well beyond 2 degrees of warming and into a vastly different world. The United Kingdom, Japan, and the Republic of Korea and more than 110 other countries have pledged carbon neutrality by 2050, and China has pledged to get there before 2060.
Australia's current commitment is to reduce emissions by 26 to 28% by 2030, based on 2005 emissions levels. In contrast, the United Kingdom recently announced it will cut emissions by 68% by 2030, based on 1990 emissions levels. To date Australia has only reduced its emissions by 6% on 1990 levels. Our current target has us reaching net zero emissions 200 years after everyone else. This is hardly acting with commitment or urgency. Australia just received the international ‘Fossil Award’ from the Climate Action Network International for failing to honour its commitments under the Paris agreement.
In 2020 Australia had its hottest spring on record with temperatures more than 2 degrees above average and the UN warns we are heading for 3.2 degrees warming by the end of the century. In a sense I have been to our climate future and it is not pretty. I lived in Port Hedland for five and a half years and worked FIFO there for three more. There is no Pilbara season that a Perth native would recognize as winter. Temperatures are regularly over 35°C and often over 40°C ‒ the hottest day I worked got to 49.7°C. You stay inside in the aircon, going outside only early in the morning or evening. Most sports are played at night under lights when it is cooler. You adapt as best you can, but most people choose to live there only for a short time while they work in the town.
The climate policy recently released by Mark McGowan's Labor government contains no emissions reduction target, and no renewable energy target. What good is a climate policy without these measures in it? Labor still has an aspiration of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. No new legislation is mooted by Labor and no requirement is placed on WA’s gas producers ‒ who create 45% of WAs emissions and who want to expand much further ‒ to demonstrate what offsets they will use to meet this aspiration. Even our prime minister Scott Morrison agrees ‒ he recently said “What matters is … not how many speeches you give, not how much ambition you declare. I may have an ambition to play front row forward for the Wallabies, but that ambition won't be realised."
This is the critical decade in which to tackle climate change. Greens MLC Tim Clifford introduced a Climate Change Act to WA parliament on 5 November 2020. It set a target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040, sought to establish a Climate Change ministry and an independent advisory council to act as a new watchdog over future oil and gas projects. Setting such hard, legislated targets would signal that Parliament takes its climate responsibility seriously. It would create certainty for affected industries and for companies looking to invest in renewable energy and clean technologies. Yet The Greens proposed bill was not supported by the Liberal or Labor parties, and so did not proceed.
Actions cannot wait, but only The Greens want a WA Climate Change Act. The Greens have released our plan to transition to 100% renewable energy by 2030. This would turn WA into a world-leading renewable energy exporter, creating 10,000 jobs per year. The plan would revive WA manufacturing, phase out gas and coal, ban fracking and accelerate our transition to a zero-emissions economy, with no fossil fuel worker left behind. We must elect more Greens to state parliament to champion urgent action on climate change. We must force the Labor and Liberal parties to take the transformative action needed to solve the climate crisis and to propel WA’s economy into a clean, green renewable future.
Integrity
The 2019 WA Labor party policy platform states it: ‘believes in a fair go… that a nation should be governed in the broader interests of all, not in the sectional interests of a few.’ They are not meeting this aspiration: the sectional interests of a few wealthy fossil fuel corporations are being given priority over what is in the best interests of the WA public and the world.
The CSIRO has modelled that WA can get to 100% green energy by 2030, creating many green jobs on the way. Currently though there is no large-scale government investment planned in new solar and wind farms. In a state supremely gifted with renewable resources, well-positioned to take advantage of the job opportunities of the renewable energy boom, why are we the only state without an emissions reduction target or a renewable energy target? When there is so much public support for action, and growing corporate support for action, why is the government unable to act on climate change?
A report entitled ‘Captured State’, produced by the organisation 350 Boorloo, provides an answer. It details the insidious relationship between the gas industry and Mark McGowan's government: the corporate influence bought by donations and the revolving door of personnel who swap between the gas industry and the government that is supposed to keep a check on it. Did you know that four of the last five WA state Premiers have gone on to work in high paid roles for oil and gas companies?
In the last few years Labor has received almost $3 million in donations from the oil and gas lobby and the Liberals have received over $5 million. Most of their state election campaign will be paid for with this money. In return the lobbyists are handsomely rewarded, with nearly $1 billion spent by the state government each year in tax exemptions, grants or subsidies. The last 20 years of pandering to these sectional oil and gas interests has cost WA ~$20 billion, or half our state debt of ~$40 billion. We simply must stop this ongoing wealth transfer from our children to already rich companies.
The Greens will provide open and honest government, demonstrating our integrity by not accepting corporate donations. Our campaigns are paid for purely by donations from the Australian people. As a result, our policies are what we genuinely believe are in the interest of everyone. The Greens will reform political donations by demanding real-time transparency, cap the level of donations, ban the revolving door between minister’s offices and lobbyists, and ban donations for access to government ministers.
Caring for Community
I support The Greens because they have a true social conscience. I believe that the economy is there to serve the people, not the other way around. I have spent a few years of my life on inadequate government benefits. There is an urgent need for the government to ensure no one goes without the high quality, fundamental services everyone needs. We must make sure that no one is left behind.
When Covid-19 hit, the fact that our governments were able to do so much so fast to protect the most vulnerable in the community shows that they always had the capacity to do so but simply chose not to. Now that the Covid-19 crisis appears to be over, governments are already removing much of the additional support: for example, the Jobseeker and Jobkeeper rates have been cut back three times now. The recent reintroduction of 'mutual obligations' to look for work is causing great hardship, with payments suspended to 234,000 people, including 9,100 homeless people and over 12,000 First Nations people. The future wellbeing of the 2 million adults and their million children who rely on these benefits is very uncertain.
The recent debate over tax cuts for millionaires showed the true colours of the Liberal and Labor parties. There have been three rounds of tax cuts since 2017: their total cost out to 2030 is a staggering $325 billion. To put this into perspective, $325 billion is enough to raise all government pensions and allowances to above the poverty line, greatly improving the lives of over 5 million Australians. Only 0.1% of the tax cuts will go to the 20% of the population with the least amount of money. The average Australian gets just 15% of the cuts; the wealthiest 20% of the population will receive 58% of them, or $189 billion. Right now, 1 in 3 large corporations pay no tax. The Greens are committed to making sure large corporations and wealthy people pay their fair share of tax to create a fairer society.
In one of the worst housing shortages WA has seen in decades, the McGowan Government has shut down more public housing units than they have built. They are failing the growing number of Western Australians facing homelessness. The recent WA budget update committed just $3.8 million more for homelessness, yet even after the economic impact of Covid-19, there is of a projected ‘surplus’ of well over $2 billion. This surplus grows daily on the back of record iron ore prices. The Greens are committed to ending homelessness in WA by building 14,000 new social housing units.
Everyone’s lives have been turned upside down by the pandemic, with many being hurt financially. There is a lot of uncertainty and anxiety about job prospects and many are worried about the future. The Greens will invest in community wellbeing, put the people and the planet before profit, while creating thousands of clean, green jobs by investing in 100% renewable energy. We will engage citizens in democratic decision making, community building and in creating a more inclusive society. Kindness, compassion and genuinely caring for each other have always been at the core of all Greens policy. This is why we need more Greens MPs in parliament.
So, what can you do to help make this happen? Please like my Dawesville candidate page on Facebook, volunteer to support the cause, sign up online to become a Greens member, and vote for the Greens on March 13th.
Finally, in stepping up to this role as a Greens candidate, I would like to thank Diane Evers MLC for the South West and her husband Tony, Jeff Mitting, Jodie Moffatt and our Mandurah candidate Xanthe Turner for their help, support, and friendship.