Author: Jan Bowman

According to the Bureau of Meteorology, Australia had its hottest year ever in 2013 and we have now experienced heatwaves and destructive fires in the first month of 2014.

Twitter went viral this week with reports that Prince Charles has said that climate chaos sceptics re like “headless chickens” (of course, we would say chooks in Australia).

Well I’m right with Prince Charles when he says, “It is baffling, I must say, that in our modern world we have such blind trust in science and technology that we all accept what science tells us about everything – until, that is, it comes to climate science”.

“All of a sudden, and with a barrage of sheer intimidation, we are told by powerful groups of deniers that the scientists are wrong and we must abandon all our faith in so much overwhelming scientific evidence.”

And I am baffled as to why we have not seen and heard more on climate change during this campaign. After the overwhelming public response in September to the government de-funding the Climate Commission, and it rebuilding as the crowd funded Climate Council, I had naïvely assumed that this by-election would draw significant support and focus to action on climate change.

I had expected to see key environmental groups out on the streets of my suburb backing the Greens and the ALP in their bid to stop the government abolishing legislation that will see not only the abandonment of a price on carbon, but also the end of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and of other related legislation (11 bills in all are targeted to go).

Attention and action has instead been on Medicare, which has significantly less certain outcomes than the Abbott government’s plans for legislation designed to tackle climate change.

In fact, if not for the Greens and some of the minor parties climate change may soon become the forgotten issue in Australian mainstream politics.

The carbon price, or ‘tax’ as the Coalition prefers to call it, has started to become for most people an abstraction or context free concept whose very purpose is forgotten. Dr Glasson has hammered it long and hard during this campaign, always referring to the $500/pa the carbon price is apparently costing voters, without any reference to the costs to the environment if action is not taken. Indeed, I was somewhat bemused to hear him on radio recently, linking the latest heatwave to rising electricity bills and thus to the “need to repeal carbon tax”.

Following his campaign launch on Saturday, Dr Glasson appealed to Greens voters to preference him second. It is surprising after such a statement that there was not one follow-up question put to Dr Glasson on his ‘Green’ credentials, either on climate change or on the recent and topical Great Barrier Reef dumping issues.

“I have a fair environmental rub on my shoulder,” is the phrase he used when talking to me recently. What does it mean? What are Dr Glasson’s environmental credentials and would they influence a Greens voter to preference him?

Dr Glasson’s office declined to provide a response to No Fibs and I had given up the idea of talking with him some time ago. Last Saturday, however, when talking with other candidates at Davies Park markets in the Griffith suburb of West End, a friend spied Dr Glasson in the crowd and pushed me to introduce myself.

I did so, explained my purpose, and said I had been trying to organise some responses through his office. He was immediately apologetic, explaining that a lot of media are seeking interviews. He did not want to be filmed or recorded, but asked me what I would like to talk with him about. “Well,” I said, “I am familiar with the Coalition’s policies on the carbon price, but can you tell me about your personal views on climate change?”

I can’t give you his exact words, but this is the gist of Dr Glasson’s response.

He said he is deeply concerned about the environment. He said that he understands from visits to places like India, the impacts of human-caused pollution on rivers and air quality, and said that in years past, the Brisbane River had also been extremely polluted until action was taken to clean it up. He said that while he thinks there needs to be action, the carbon price has created an impost on the people and businesses of Australia because other countries are not participating in similar schemes. He added that the Coalition’s Green Army concept is about getting young people involved in learning about and taking action to protect the environment.

Later I repeated my conversation to my friend, saying that it seemed to me that Dr Glasson was speaking in code. He responded, “It just sounds to me like he lacks the courage of his convictions.”

And on the courage of convictions, I asked Terri Butler recently why action on climate change was not mentioned at all at the Labor Party launch on January 21. Ms Butler said: “Everyone in the room at our launch and in fact the whole of the nation knows where Labor stands on climate change. The question is whether we can trust the Abbott Government when it comes to the environment”.

“Labor has always believed we must act to reduce pollution. But Mr Abbott does not believe climate change is real”, she added.

The Greens have been out and proud on the issue throughout the campaign.

Their candidate Geoff Ebbs told No Fibs that the best way to address climate change is to have strong leadership from government. “The only way to get that is to get more Greens into power. Social movements like Get Up and 350.org have shown great leadership on this but can only influence government. Governments determine the laws and we must have change in those laws,” he said.

Speaking to No Fibs, Mr Ebbs said: “We live on a river, we are less than 7 meters above the river, which is the point at which Brisbane floods, and so a 7-metre flood is the 100-year event that has made the flood plain of Brisbane fertile, but as sea water rises, we are going to get those flooding events every decade or more often”.

Mr Ebbs said the reason “climate chaos” is not on the agenda for the major parties, “is that it is such a huge challenge”.

“We rely on cheap energy to fuel the economy as we know it, and that cheap energy has been oil. So if we keep burning fossil fuels, we’re going to cook, and we can see that in recent heat waves.”

“To address climate change means a serious change to the way we live, and you have to be pretty gutsy and hardy to address that, and that’s why the Greens have been pilloried in the media … because we are prepared to stand by a carbon scheme that people see as costing them money. But it’s money we are investing in the long term. We are already seeing the price of renewables come down, so what a carbon tax or any other trading mechanism does, is move us away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy. That’s the way of the future and it’s what we have to do to address climate chaos”, he said.

Greens Senator for Queensland Larissa Waters, who has been campaigning with Mr Ebbs, reminded No Fibs that in the 2007 election, climate change was one of the key issues.

“With the action that was taken on the carbon price [in 2010], people breathed a sigh of relief. Now that is under threat, I think it will come to the fore again. Just look at the sweltering heat wave we have had … and the terrible bushfires around the country, and in previous years the terrible extreme weather events, such as the floods … Griffith itself was underwater in the January 2011 flood”.

“I think people understand that we can’t keep burning and exporting fossil fuels the way that we are … and not have effects on the way that we live and on the way our grandchildren will live. It’s really the extreme weather events that are reminding people that climate change still needs to be tackled, and if we are undoing the very laws that were starting to tackle it, we will only make things worse,” she said.

Labor is not wedded to the carbon price in the way the Coalition represents it, and according to the ALP’s Ms Butler, it wants to see the introduction of a full emissions trading scheme (ETS) to replace the current carbon price. “I support using a market-based mechanism as one of the means by which we work to reduce pollution. That’s why I support terminating the carbon tax if it is replaced with an emissions trading scheme,” Ms Butler said.

Ms Butler also commented: “The Abbott Government quietly released the Emissions Reduction Fund Green Paper just days before Christmas in a desperate attempt to avoid scrutiny. The lack of transparency is, unfortunately, unsurprising. It’s the same lack of transparency we’ve seen from the LNP on financial advice laws, border protection, and of course the so-called Commission of Audit, which has conveniently pushed back its reporting date until after the Griffith by-election,” she said.

As to the government’s Direct Action policy, Ms Butler said it “will do nothing to change behaviour and reduce pollution. There is not one credible economist or expert who thinks his plan is a good idea. Before the election, Tony Abbott claimed his Direct Action policy would reduce Australia’s emissions. The green paper shows that it will allow the exact opposite to happen”.

“It is clear from the Green Paper,” she said, “that there is no requirement whatsoever for businesses to increase energy efficiency and reduce their emissions.”

Ms Butler also said that she is strongly against weakening our renewable energy target. “After promising voters before the election that he would keep Australia’s renewable energy target in place, Mr Abbott now looks set to break yet another election promise”.

“This is a fight between the small minority inside the Coalition who accept climate change is real and those who, like their Prime Minister, think climate change is ‘absolute crap’,” she said.

“Australia’s renewable energy target has been a clear policy success driving a big expansion of wind and solar power as well as thousands of new clean energy jobs.

“Jobs in the sector have tripled, wind power has tripled, households with rooftop solar increased from under 8000 to more than 1 million, and renewable energy increased its share of the National Electricity Market by 25 per cent in 2012-13.

“Any moves to dump or wind back the renewable energy target would be a broken promise that destroys jobs and hurts our environment,” Ms Butler said.

The Reef

If the environment groups haven’t yet coalesced around action on climate change during this by-election, then maybe they will add their support to the Great Barrier Reef in this last week.

The save the reef campaign has heated up in the past few days, particularly on social media, following the announcement on Friday by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority that it had granted a permit to dump dredge waste in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.

Pirate Party candidate Mel Thomas tweeted on the weekend:

“If the Great Barrier Reef doesn’t become the major issue of #griffithvotes, there’s something wrong.”

However, while the protest showing outside Dr Glasson’s launch on Saturday was vocal, it lacked numbers and seemed to lack focus.

The Greens Geoff Ebbs was the only candidate actively campaigning on the issue on Saturday. Mr Ebbs said: “Only the Greens are standing up to the big mining companies to protect the Great Barrier Reef and the sustainable jobs that it supports.”

Senator Waters issued a statement: “The Australian and Queensland governments continue to treat the reef like a coal and gas highway and a rubbish tip for dredge spoil, and risk a fail mark from the World Heritage Committee on their reef homework, jeopardising the $6 billion tourism economy around our reef, and the 54,000 jobs it supports in our coastal communities.”

Senator Waters told No Fibs that people realise the reef is under threat from climate change, from dredging and shipping, and the tripling of coal and gas exports. “I think in recent years, folk who perhaps were not as aware of the climate science have realised through the reef that climate change is actually going to hurt our economy as well as our way of life. There has been a growing community campaign and growing concern about the health and future of the reef. Queenslanders are very much aware of that and the threat to the reef.”

“I do think climate change is a key issue for the people of Griffith. They have seen the extreme weather events, they are worried about the future of the reef, and they’re worried about the future for their grandkids,” She said.

Labor’s Terri Butler told No Fibs that, “like many Australians, I’m deeply concerned by last week’s decision by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to grant a permit to dump dredge spoil in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park”.

“The Great Barrier Reef is an Australian wonder, and sadly it is in poor health. It is critical that we do all we can to protect it, and a project like this could put the reef’s health at further risk, as well as potentially impacting on local tourism.

“The Barrier Reef Authority has always enjoyed bipartisan support to make decisions in the best interest of the Great Barrier Reef. Many people are concerned about last week’s decision, and I hope the Authority has approved this application based on the best scientific advice,” she said.

Where do the other parties stand on Climate Change?

Anne Reid of the Secular Party told No Fibs, that her party is concerned about the move away from scientific thinking on issues such as climate change. “Climate change is being dismissed as something to do with the Gods,” she said, “rather than being taken seriously as a science.”

“For most thinking people,” she added, “it is one of the most serious issues that we have to contend with.”

Where she said the Secular Party departs from other parties was around solutions. “We are very much evidence based, and we feel that nuclear should be put on the table, because it is something that science is telling us could make a difference in substituting some of our carbon based energy with nuclear energy.”

Ms Reid explained that she is not talking about uranium and big reactors, but “small reactors, and different fuels such as thorium.”

Pirate Party candidate Mel Thomas told No Fibs, “We want to see an end to reliance on fossil fuels and we believe that can happen by encouraging innovation in renewable energy. We would like to see a renewable energy grid created.”

“We had the flood in Brisbane, so people who live in the Griffith electorate have seen the results of climate change. We know beyond doubt that we are seeing extreme weather events. That’s one thing that local people can understand,” she said.

Timothy Lawrence of the Sustainable Population Party told No Fibs that population is the key. He said that individual impacts on the environment are multiplied as the population increases.

“The Population Party recognises that, as a global community, we need a whole raft of responses to the climate issue.

“Importantly, global population growth from 2 billion to 7 billion in just one lifetime was a huge driver of increasing greenhouse gas emissions, due to exploding energy requirements.

“Furthermore, acting to stabilise global population at the United Nations’ low peak variant of around 8 billion by 2050 (potentially then dropping back to 7 billion by 2100) will greatly help to minimise future greenhouse gas emissions.

“To not act to stabilise population, on both local and global levels, may allow population to reach the UN’s high peak variant of over 17 billion by the end of this century.”

He added that the party’s responses to climate change should also include, but not be limited to:

• Australia managing its finite and non-renewable resources more cautiously and sustainably.
• Australia progressing rapidly towards using a predominantly renewable energy supply, and a low carbon economy.

He said they are currently working through the specifics of these policies with their membership.

Independent Karel Boele said that as someone with a science background, “Clearly there is an issue. Very few refereed scientific journals do not support the need to tackle climate change.”

He admitted, however, that climate change is a complex issue to address using his participative democracy platform. It requires leadership and careful consultation with voters to find acceptable solutions. He said he thinks to begin with, it is a matter of “marketing and selling” the issue to the constituency, and then engaging with them on solutions.

Independent Travis Windsor was less clear on the issue. “You can’t have factories dumping stuff,” he said, “but again the problem is, one person thinks this, the other person thinks that … let’s get a solution”.

“You don’t win arguments by arguing: we want a solution, we don’t want an argument.”

Both Ray Sawyer of Katter’s Australian Party and Christopher Williams of Family First told No Fibs that they support the abolition of the carbon price, but when asked if they accept the science on climate change, neither seemed willing to commit.

This article reprinted with permission from No Fibs

– See more at: http://nofibs.com.au/2014/02/03/climate-change-reef-griffithvotes-griffithelects-reports/#sthash.BbnIXWt8.dpuf

Having a Prime Minister as the sitting member drew significant attention to Griffith during the 2013 federal election, but there is a sense that this time around the eyes of the nation will be on Griffith with renewed interest, many seeing this by-election as the first test for Tony Abbott’s government.

On one side of the ring we have LNP candidate Dr Glasson, who is well liked in the electorate, and his personal appeal may be his greatest asset. He projected as much himself, when he was reported in the Fairfax press as saying that: “If we try to sell it (the election) on a political basis, or a leadership basis, we won’t get up.”

As the son of William (Bill) Glasson, Queensland Minister for Lands and Forestry and Police under Joh Bjelke-Petersen, Dr Glasson has an LNP legacy. “You may say politics is in my blood” he told Carindale Connect in March 2013.

Since the 2013 election Dr Glasson has been touted in the media as something of a giant slayer, having made significant inroads into the ALP’s primary vote in Griffith by gaining 42.2 per cent to Kevin Rudd’s 40.36 per cent.

In his campaign material, Dr Glasson lists his priorities as:

• Improving frontline health services and delivering on our commitment to establish Hummingbird House, a children’s respite and hospice facility at Kangaroo Point;
• Creating more local jobs by reducing taxes and regulations on small business and increasing their ability to compete – which will be helped by the Government’s new competition review;
• Reducing the cost of living by scrapping the Carbon Tax – making households $550 a year better off; and,
• A stronger, safer community through more CCTVs, and support for sporting and community groups.

While he may have wanted to ‘keep it local’ and focus the campaign around Kevin Rudd’s resignation, the Abbott government’s shaky start has largely enabled Labor and the Greens to set the agenda.

There has been particular focus in the past few weeks on school funding, Medicare, and action on climate change. Whether he had planned to or not, these are the issues to which Dr Glasson is now having to respond.

Much is made in Dr Glasson’s campaign material of his credentials as a local doctor and a past president of the AMA. It says of him that: “Bill’s character is reflected in his belief that all Australians should be able to access quality health care, regardless of their circumstances or where they live. As president of the Australian Medical Association he fought hard for that outcome working with governments of all persuasions.”

However, after going public with qualified support for a proposed new Medicare fee for bulk billed patients, these credentials have been under attack and a ‘Save Our Medicare’ campaign has sprung up in Griffith and found resonance nationally.

It is hard to know whether the Medicare fee issue has gained any traction beyond the Labor and Green’s party faithful. While the government has not categorically ruled it out, the Acting Health Minister Kevin Andrews has made it clear that a new Medicare fee is not current Government policy, and Glasson says Labor is just ‘scaremongering’.

Locals I have spoken with appear to be somewhat underwhelmed by the issue, some saying they already pay a gap fee anyway, and others that $6 doesn’t seem like much to ask. Nevertheless, Labor and the Greens continue to pursue the issue with vigour.

In the ALP corner, Dr Glasson’s opponent, newcomer Terri Butler told No Fibs that if the government does introduce a fee it is unlikely to be a one-off.

“The Abbott Government has hit Australians hard with the biggest increase to private health insurance premiums in a decade,” and added, “once they introduce a tax on every GP visit, the Abbott government will open the floodgate to annual increases of GP fees, making it tough for families already struggling with the cost of living.” she said.

As others have observed, the disadvantage for Terri Butler in this by-election is that she doesn’t have a profile in the electorate that could in any way equal that of her predecessor Kevin Rudd, and on top of that, she is up against a well-known and well-liked opponent.

On the plus side, Ms Butler is new: this can bring its own energy and freshness, and the old Labor leadership battles are no longer the ‘front and centre’ distractions they were in 2013.

While Ms Butler sees herself as the underdog in terms of financial resources, she considers she has the backing that will really count come election time.

“Though the LNP candidate has a lot more money to spend on this campaign than I do, I have more grassroots support,” she told No Fibs.

Yet in her campaign speech this week, Ms Butler warned her supporters: “Do not be fooled. We are right up against the wall in Griffith.”

In my first interview with Ms Butler, she said of herself: “I am someone that people can relate to. I’m a young mum, I’ve got a successful career, and like a lot of people in this electorate, I juggle the responsibilities of looking after my family with full-time work.”

Ms Butler said Labor’s volunteers (which some have dubbed ‘Butler’s Battlers’ as a retort to the ‘Glasson’s Gladiators’ tag), “are working on this campaign because they strongly believe in what we stand for: a fair go for the people of Griffith, and they’re working alongside me to engage with people as much as possible.”

Ms Butler said that Labor is keeping the campaign local. “We’re doing street stalls, meeting and greeting people at train, bus and ferry stops, making phone calls, speaking directly with local businesses, sending letters, and attending community meetings, among other things”.

As to the local issues, Ms Butler said people are concerned about: “The inequity in access to high-speed broadband, and concerns about Mr Turnbull’s second-rate broadband plan,

LNP backflipping on education funding”, and cited access to quality childcare and aircraft noise as other topics of concern for the electorate.

“More generally”, she said, “people are concerned that the Abbott government is not what they expected when they voted. We were promised no surprises and no excuses, but we seem to be getting plenty of both”.

“This by-election is people’s first opportunity to express an opinion about the Abbott government. From the conversations I’ve had, I don’t think people want to give the Abbott government a tick of approval,” she said.

Asked why she considers Labor is best placed to represent the interests of the people of Griffith, Ms Butler said: “We have wall-to-wall LNP governments. We don’t need yet another person agreeing with Tony Abbott and Campbell Newman. It’s important to restore some of the balance. Our community deserves a strong voice.”

Ms Butler said that the by-election is about the future. “It’s an opportunity for people to send a message to Canberra about the Abbott government’s performance, and about the type of government we expect and deserve.”

Over the past week, Ms Butler has had Labor Leader Bill Shorten at her side as they have taken to the streets. She told No Fibs: “It has been great to have had opposition leader Bill Shorten in Griffith this week. Bill has provided tremendous support to me right throughout the campaign, including campaigning with me at bus and ferry terminals across the Southside, making phone calls, meeting with local community groups and formally launching my campaign.”

Mr Shorten launched the Labor campaign on Wednesday evening with a fiery speech to a (mostly standing) whistling and hooting crowd of supporters in cramped footy clubs in Hawthorne. This was the Bill Shorten Labor people have been waiting to see.

At the conclusion of her campaign speech on Wednesday, Ms Butler said: “Everyone in this room knows that universal healthcare, a great education system, high speed broadband, and accessible affordable childcare, are, and always have been, Labor priorities, and we all know that only a Labor member will stand and fight to protect them.”

– See more at: http://nofibs.com.au/2014/01/25/griffith-grudge-match-glassons-gladiators-vs-butlers-battlers-griffithelects-reports/#sthash.urJsXr0Q.dpuf

Travis Windsor is standing for the first time as an independent candidate in Griffith.

Mr Windsor has worked for some years in South Brisbane with the Australian Industry Group. “I help people,” he said, “my role in South Brisbane, mainly in the seat of Griffith, was to bring together schools, community, businesses, industry, government and training institutions to achieve particular outcomes. I have probably set up over 50 projects in South Brisbane, and behind the scenes I have probably influenced thousands of school leavers in their career choice, and helped many businesses in their workforce development.”

Mr Windsor is proposing a model for politics that moves away from the current two-party model, which he considers unproductive. “I don’t want to bag either party, but when I saw the candidates put forward, I thought, ‘nothing is going to happen’. The Libs and Labor don’t get on, they don’t come together, they are never going to come together, whereas I bring people together,” he said.

Mr Windsor is remarkably positive about his chances in this election for a first timer. “I’m in there to make a difference. It would be a tragedy if one of the others got up. It would have a numbing and negative effect. If I got in it would have a positive and uplifting and creative effect,” he told No Fibs.

Mr Windsor comes from Albury-Wodonga and says he moved to Brisbane in 2007 specifically to be involved in the seat of Griffith. He said he knew that this is the best area for his unique skills.

His focus seems to be on the very local, for someone standing for federal parliament. He talks about “community stuff” he wants to achieve, such as a music hub in West End, and a polo pool in Carina.

Issues such as Medicare, he said, “are just crazy, contrived political positions. It just demonstrates how ridiculous the current situation is.”

As a keen biker, Mr Windsor considers that the Newman Government’s (VLAD) laws enacted in 2013 are “draconian in the extreme”.

He recently offered to meet with the Premier, “to discuss ways we can continue to target and crack down on criminal behaviour while allowing law abiding motorcycle enthusiasts to ride their bikes without fear of being stopped or charged by the Police.”

On preferences, Mr Windsor said he is disappointed that the Greens didn’t give him their first preference. He has preferenced the SPP at number two and the Greens at three. His how-to-vote card suggests ALP and LNP options at positions 8 and 11.

Mr Windsor has a Facebook, a website, and tweets using the handle @TravisWindsor1.

– See more at: http://nofibs.com.au/2014/01/31/independents-pirates-bullet-train-new-faces-griffithvotes-griffithelects-reports/#sthash.gHYumTcz.dpuf

For what many would consider to be a fringe party or a single issue party, The Pirate Party (TPP) is incredibly well organised. Its website has links to its constitution and to a set of policies on issues from civil liberties to education.

The party has its roots in Europe (it was started in Sweden in 2006) and now has a presence in over 50 countries including the UK and the US. It says of itself: “We exist to campaign for a free society where civil liberties are respected. We believe in the right to privacy for individuals and the need for transparency for organisations. The government is meant to serve the people and by fighting for these principles we believe it can.”

The Pirate Party International (PPI) oversees all Pirate Parties, providing policy consistency on key issues such as copyright reform and intellectual property, civil liberties and digital rights.

In Australia, candidate Melanie Thomas said the party has expanded its policy set to cover issues such as asylum seekers and marriage equality.

Ms Thomas is the party’s deputy president. In late her thirties, she has been working in media for 14 years, and has studied communication, editing and publishing. The Party’s first foray into the Australian election process was in 2013 when Ms Thomas stood as a senate candidate for Queensland. This is the first election at which the party has fielded a candidate for the house of representatives.

Ms Thomas has been active on Twitter in the lead up to the by-election, indicating that key issues for the The Pirate Party are the rights of asylum seekers, the Newman government’s Vicious Lawless Association Disestablishment Bill (VLAD) and the Trans Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement negotiations (TPP).

Of her entry into politics, Ms Thomas said: “In the background I have always had a social conscience. I have always considered myself an environmentalist. I always voted Green. I also have a keen interest in human rights, and social justice. I have always attended protests and been an organiser, but I guess I came to a critical point where I needed to take what I was feeling to the next level”.

“When the Pirate Party came along, it just jumped out at me. I never actually joined the Greens even though I had voted for them, but the policies of the Pirate Party just spoke to me.”

Ms Thomas says that while the party is not financially well resourced, it has a number of members who are lawyers or who have studied law and “that helps us in terms of correct procedures for research and legislation and the like.”

She said the party drew a very positive response during the 2013 election. “We ran a grassroots campaign and had a phenomenal response, especially on social media and Twitter”.

“The #votepirate hashtag went crazy around the time of the election. We were amazed. Our purpose in 2013 was to raise our profile and we achieved that.

“I think people are slowly beginning to see that we are not just a single issue party,” she added. “The name ‘pirate party’ confuses people. They think we are a joke party. Then when we explain, we are reclaiming a name that governments have given people who share files – they call that piracy and give it a negative connotation, when in fact sharing is human instinct. We are reclaiming that name and are proud of it.”

The Pirate Party considers that current copyright laws are no longer relevant to our digital media age. It considers that society has made a “generational shift in the way we relate to and participate in culture” and that a new paradigm is required.

The current national membership sits at about 2000, Ms Thomas said, and the party has been using this by-election to actively recruit new members.

Ms Thomas said she is campaigning out on the street as she did in 2013 and is picking up a lot discontent with the Coalition.

“A hell of a lot of people are now discontented with the two parties who have a monopoly over Australian politics. We are sending a message to both parties. We think the ALP has sold out its membership on several issues, but asylum seekers is the big one as well as marriage equality. They have completely lacked courage and bowed to the more right wing elements in this country. We are fighting bravely on our polices and will not bow to anybody.”

On preferences, Ms Thomas said in the last election the party was most strongly aligned with the Greens, and its preferences flowed to them followed by other left wing parties.
The Pirate Party has a Facebook site, and a website, and Ms Thomas tweets as @photogramel.

– See more at: http://nofibs.com.au/2014/01/31/independents-pirates-bullet-train-new-faces-griffithvotes-griffithelects-reports/#sthash.SbciJKU8.dpuf

Independent candidate in the Griffith by-election, Karel Boele, comes across as accomplished, considered and energetic. He has studied mechatronics, physics, and strategic affairs. He has managed large financial projects in South East Asia, and he currently runs a business which provides advice on participatory democracy and on complementary currencies such as Time banking.

Among his clients is the NSW Government Department of Education and Communities, to which his company provides software and support for a time banking project in the Central Coast and Hunter Valley regions.

He told No Fibs that he is in politics for the long haul. While he is standing as an independent in this election, he aims is to get enough people signed-up to enable him to register his PeopleDecide (PD) participatory democracy party. Once registered he plans to stand candidates for the senate in the next federal election and in some electorates, such as Griffith.

Mr Boele has been pounding the pavements and door-knocking around Carina over the past week and said he has had a very pleasing response from voters.

The idea of PeopleDecide, Mr Boele said, is to set up a voting platform that allows people to vote on laws in real-time through the phone or computer. Under this model, he said, “if 10 per cent of Griffith votes with a clear majority, then I am contracted to vote with the people.”

This form of representation works best, Mr Boele said, where there are already clearly established community positions. For example, he told No Fibs that under a participatory democracy model, same-sex marriage and euthanasia would be law already, because a clear majority of Australians support these changes.

He supports “needs-based education funding and an effective solution to climate instability, for example an ETS, and a no offshore processing by Australia policy for refugees.”

Mr Boele has an open ticket when it comes to preferences, encouraging voters to select him as number one, and whomever they like after that.

Mr Boele has a Facebook site, a website and tweets using the handle @peopledecided.

– See more at: http://nofibs.com.au/2014/01/31/independents-pirates-bullet-train-new-faces-griffithvotes-griffithelects-reports/#sthash.SbciJKU8.dpuf

Newcomer to the Griffith by-election, Terri Butler doesn’t have a profile in the electorate that could in any way equal that of her predecessor Kevin Rudd, and on top of that, she is up against a well-known and well-liked opponent.

On the plus side, Ms Butler is new: this can bring its own energy and freshness, and the old Labor leadership battles are no longer the ‘front and centre’ distractions they were in 2013.

While Ms Butler sees herself as the underdog in terms of financial resources, she considers she has the backing that will really count come election time.

“Though the LNP candidate has a lot more money to spend on this campaign than I do, I have more grassroots support,” she told No Fibs.

Yet in her campaign speech this week, Ms Butler warned her supporters: “Do not be fooled. We are right up against the wall in Griffith.”

In my first interview with Ms Butler, she said of herself: “I am someone that people can relate to. I’m a young mum, I’ve got a successful career, and like a lot of people in this electorate, I juggle the responsibilities of looking after my family with full-time work.”

Ms Butler said Labor’s volunteers (which some have dubbed ‘Butler’s Battlers’ as a retort to the ‘Glasson’s Gladiators’ tag), “are working on this campaign because they strongly believe in what we stand for: a fair go for the people of Griffith, and they’re working alongside me to engage with people as much as possible.”

Ms Butler said that Labor is keeping the campaign local. “We’re doing street stalls, meeting and greeting people at train, bus and ferry stops, making phone calls, speaking directly with local businesses, sending letters, and attending community meetings, among other things”.

As to the local issues, Ms Butler said people are concerned about: “The inequity in access to high-speed broadband, and concerns about Mr Turnbull’s second-rate broadband plan,

LNP backflipping on education funding”, and cited access to quality childcare and aircraft noise as other topics of concern for the electorate.

“More generally”, she said, “people are concerned that the Abbott government is not what they expected when they voted. We were promised no surprises and no excuses, but we seem to be getting plenty of both”.

“This by-election is people’s first opportunity to express an opinion about the Abbott government. From the conversations I’ve had, I don’t think people want to give the Abbott government a tick of approval,” she said.

Asked why she considers Labor is best placed to represent the interests of the people of Griffith, Ms Butler said: “We have wall-to-wall LNP governments. We don’t need yet another person agreeing with Tony Abbott and Campbell Newman. It’s important to restore some of the balance. Our community deserves a strong voice.”

Ms Butler said that the by-election is about the future. “It’s an opportunity for people to send a message to Canberra about the Abbott government’s performance, and about the type of government we expect and deserve.”

Over the past week, Ms Butler has had Labor Leader Bill Shorten at her side as they have taken to the streets. She told No Fibs: “It has been great to have had opposition leader Bill Shorten in Griffith this week. Bill has provided tremendous support to me right throughout the campaign, including campaigning with me at bus and ferry terminals across the Southside, making phone calls, meeting with local community groups and formally launching my campaign.”

Mr Shorten launched the Labor campaign on Wednesday evening with a fiery speech to a (mostly standing) whistling and hooting crowd of supporters in cramped footy clubs in Hawthorne. This was the Bill Shorten Labor people have been waiting to see.

At the conclusion of her campaign speech on Wednesday, Ms Butler said: “Everyone in this room knows that universal healthcare, a great education system, high speed broadband, and accessible affordable childcare, are, and always have been, Labor priorities, and we all know that only a Labor member will stand and fight to protect them.”

Ms Butler has a Facebook site and website and tweets as @TerriMButler

– See more at: http://nofibs.com.au/2014/01/25/griffith-grudge-match-glassons-gladiators-vs-butlers-battlers-griffithelects-reports/#sthash.cMNbqhmg.dpuf