VOTE 1 ANIMAL JUSTICE PARTY

Vote for koalas and kindness this election

To send a powerful message that animals and the environment are a priority. Preferential voting ensures your vote flows to your second preference if we don’t win the seat.

By Yvonne Gardiner

LISMORE

Alex Rubin (Nationals)

Our vision is to build a ‘Future Ready Region’. This requires planning to make us drought-proof and flood-safe.

This region is still in limbo, and our recovery has stalled. Having been intimately involved in the bushfire and flood responses, it became clear that nobody is fighting to protect us from the next disaster.

The challenge for this region is rekindling hope. We need to restore the confidence of our communities to rebuild and invest in the future. It is shameful that people remain without homes and we continue to deal with the problems of housing, crime and water security (flood protection), for our community’s future.

I want to raise the bar, because people have lost faith in our politicians; the social contract has been broken. I want to be a new generation of leader, not a retail politician who just follows ideological or party lines, who genuinely cares about making life better for our regional communities.

If nothing else, I aspire to earn back respect of the public. My personal creed is that ‘Leaders Eat Last’ and I promise to check my ego at the door and fight for what our whole community will benefit from. I care, I want real change, and my promise to you is Accountability, Honesty and Leadership.

I am in this for the long haul and people are sick of inaction. I want to defend this region from future disasters and rebuild our broken communi- ties, which is going to take a decade of hard work that I am committed to see through. I believe that the people of this electorate deserve better.

Adam Guise (Greens)

The Greens are people-powered and, unlike the Nationals, Liberals and Labor, we don’t take dirty donations from corporations or fossil fuel companies.

To take back our democracy, we must ban corporate donations and remove the stranglehold of vested interests in politics. We can’t allow companies making multi-billion-dollar profits to buy influence.

Your vote is powerful and by electing a Greens member, we would send shockwaves through the establishment and kick-start the transformational change we so need. Electing just another puppet to the major parties will perpetuate more of the same: further climate inaction, more coal and gas, and a widening divide between rich and poor.

The Greens have the vision and the solutions to address the current crisis. Rather than handouts, let’s tax corporations and billionaires their fair share so that families aren’t shouldering the cost of living.

We need to invest in public and affordable housing so that everyone has a home. We need real action on climate change by ending coal and gas and rapidly transitioning to a renewable energy economy. We must fund our public sector to make health, education, transport and social services affordable and effective.

Native forests need to be protected so that we can end species extinction and meet our climate targets. We need to ensure our flood recovery

VISION FOR THE FUTURE – WHY ARE YOU THE BEST CANDIDATE?

is equitable and fair in order to get people out of harm’s way and keep our community together.

A fair and caring society which protects the environment is possible, it just requires the political will. Voting for more of the same won’t get the change we need. Make this election count. Vote Greens 1 and get us on track to a safe and liveable climate and a fair future for all.

Janelle Saffin (Labor)

I am seeking your support to be re-elected as your local member in the NSW Parliament, having served the past four years as we responded to drought, bushfires, COVID and floods.

Throughout these challenging times, I have been there every day — fighting, cajoling, advocating for our communities’ needs, and on the ground with you.

I have been there as well during the regular times, with all sectors, working to ensure farmers can farm, small business can thrive, teachers can teach, TAFE can prepare our workforce, and to ensure that essential services and infrastructure are there to support our communities I am asking for your precious vote to continue to do the job of rebuilding, and reshaping the better future we need. My strong track record of advocacy and achievement speaks to how I shall work for all, if re-elected. Working together, we can make it happen.

I have fought tooth and nail to have governments deliver what our communities need, taking our communities’ voices up to the Premier and the Leader of the Opposition directly, working co-operatively with local

MPs and in Sydney across political parties to ensure that communities in the Lismore electorate and the Northern Rivers region are heard, justly treated and not forgotten.

I have delivered the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation (NRRC) and the NSW Reconstruction Authority, together with the $700 million Resilient Homes Program (federal/ state) and $100 million Resilient Land Program (state).

The NRRC is neither perfect nor faultless but it is ours in this region to deal with; better than decisions being made for us in Sydney.

I have also secured many iron-clad commitments for our electorate.

2023 is the year we rebuild better to be future-ready and ramp up with agreed regional economic and environment plans. Unity in these areas is strength and I will keep working to foster this.

With your support, I will let nothing stand in the way of securing our better future.

Matthew Bertalli (Shooters, Fishers and Farmers)

My vision for the future is for regional NSW to regain its former glory. I wish to increase the standard healthcare of regional areas to that of the cities. I would like to push for a standard that will be beyond a single term in office.

I wish to make it possible that a baby can be born safely in every hospital in NSW. This is a long-term goal of mine and would take years of work, but I believe that it is possible. I wish to re-establish a functioning railway network throughout region- al NSW, connecting towns to each other and to the city to help increase production and investment in these regional areas. With a functioning and extensive railway system, there can be a move away from transport of goods via road to rail.

This will help to limit the amount of heavy traffic on our roads. This also would help to connect the more vulnerable members of regional NSW, such as the elderly, with the ability to travel in a safe and inexpensive manner.

I wish to create greater urgency around the risk to the Australian environment by climate change and invasive species. A healthy environment means a healthy agricultural sector, which is the backbone of regional NSW. We see, when the land is healthy, that the people who live on it are also healthy.

I want to help this great state make the transition away from the usage of fossil fuel for energy production towards renewable sources of power. Why vote for me? Vote for me if you are sick of regional areas not being paid attention to by the major parties. I will fight every step of the way to ensure the future of regional NSW and I will always do what I believe is best for the people of regional communities.

James McKenzie (Independent)

I am the best candidate as I am an honest man, running to expose that Wollumbin, Arakwal and Bundjalung national parks are fake and that Bundjalung is a white man’s fabrication. Continued on page 20...

We don’t have enough teachers in our schools or health workers in our hospitals because essential workers are leaving Tweed jobs for better pay and conditions in Queensland.

Nsw Votes 2023

By Yvonne Gardiner

Party politicians are forced to conspire to hide the prior crimes of their parties; they can not fix scandals like these at all. I have run for Tweed Shire Council three times to expose these scandals and two federal reviews sent my and my co-complainants’ submissions to all departments including the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. From the PM down, politicians cannot admit their parties were wrong. Premier Baird’s counsel sent my complaints to NSW ICAC in 2014; both the departments of PM and Cabinet and the NSW Premier’s Department have deceived all Prime Ministers and Premiers that have followed.

Vanessa Rosayro (Animal Justice Party)

All the candidates in this election are exceptional people. Our electorate is full of passionate and committed people who genuinely want to achieve meaningful change and end the adversarial nature of politics. I am humbled and proud to represent Lismore.

Animals, people and the planet — we are connected. The voice missing from our political space is that of animals, and I will represent them, as I do the people of the Lismore electorate.

Humane respect for animals, ensuring habitat protection for endangered native species and access to health care through Veticare will be my top priorities.

This is because habitat protection through stopping land clearing and native forest logging, no new gas and coal mines, and setting a 100 per cent renewable energy target by 2030 will not only support vulnerable animals species but also enable meaningful steps towards addressing the climate emergency.

Animals play a vital role in social and emotional wellbeing. Protecting renters’ rights to have pets, allowing pets on public transport and Veticarelike Medicare for animals will mean that animals have access to health care. As a Lismore resident, safe and affordable housing, homelessness and community restoration will always be a priority for me. I am a social worker employed in flood recovery and I have been with my community through this disaster. We deserve better, and we can do better.

With no ties to major parties or corporations, I can act independently to represent my community to achieve what we need to ensure that we thrive as a community. The people and animals in Lismore have been placed in crisis, and it is time we said enough, it is time for change.

Ross Honniball (Sustainable Australia Party)

I started life as a draftsman and moved on to work for the public service (DVA) and then 16 years in the retail industry. For the last eight years I’ve been enjoying work in the disability care industry because I enjoy the feeling of helping people.

I am running for Sustainable Australia Party to decorrupt politics in the NSW Parliament and implement sustainable solutions for our future. Sustainable Australia Party is an independent community movement with a science and evidence-based policy platform.

VISION FOR THE FUTURE – WHY ARE YOU THE BEST CANDIDATE?

We are fighting to protect our environment, stop overdevelopment and stop corruption. This includes protecting endangered species habitats, native forests and local tree canopies; reducing Australia’s waste production; acting on climate change; stopping inappropriate high-rise and sprawl; delivering new community infrastructure before more housing; stabilising Australia’s population size; transparent reporting of political donations and lobbying; and banning political donations from big business and unions.

In line with our science and evidence-based approach to policy, Sustainable Australia Party is #RedefiningGrowth to mean better, not bigger. Importantly, Sustainable Australia Party is the only political movement to challenge the reckless political agenda of rapid growth in both resource consumption (e.g. water, energy, forests, fish stocks, etc) and population size.

Instead, we prioritise growth in our health and wellbeing over business-as-usual growth in consumption and population.

Finally, as an independent community movement, after you Vote 1 for Sustainable Australia Party, we ask that you decide where to direct your own preferences.

Allen Crosthwaite (Independent)

I’m an engineer by trade and passionate about regional rail and the need for smart transport in the regions now and into our sustainable future.

I grew up in Townsville among regional communities’ sugar fields, and farming families and towns — I am from the region and regions are in my blood.

After attending Gatton Agricultural School, I graduated from James Cook University in 1976, attending when Eddie Mabo was part of our university community. I am honest, fair and listen.

I am a volunteer at Tenterfield Train Museum and have been for 12 years. I am semi-retired and active in my community, and a passionate dog lover. I am standing for election in the seat of Lismore because communities have been ignored too long and I am here for the local people so their voices are heard.

We need rail and securing rail corridors for public purpose, to keep jobs, create jobs, link business with current tourism, and for locals to access health and education services. We need smart solutions for transport for connector rail into the Tweed Valley, and to pause and assess the Casino, Lismore and Murwillumbah (CLM) line.

I support the Great Northern Rail and CLM railway line to be reassessed for public purpose and genuine public value.

Battle Of The Banners

THE BATTLE of the banners has commenced across the Tweed Shire with reports that Greens candidate for Lismore Adam Guise, who is the latest victim of alleged signage theft. Each election year political signage, which is a popular form of advertising, is a great way to remind residents of their local candidates. They are also the centre of a highly-charged political landscape, with some residents, including Joanna Gardner of Uki, pointing out the theft and “undemocratic removal” of signs on Kyogle Road recently.

Ms Gardner’s comments follow the removal of several signs featuring Mr Guise not once, but at least twice on Kyogle Road, north of Uki to Murwillumbah and other roads in the Uki area.

“It is a property owner’s democratic right to display and promote who they support in the upcoming state election,” Ms Gardner wrote to The Weekly.

Ms Gardner questioned the motivation of someone to remove this signage asking is it animosity or fear that drives this?

“I would suggest that the culprits actually educate themselves on the Greens policies: greens.org.au/nsw/ policyplatform2023,” she said.