Author: Jan Bowman

Anne Reid of the Secular Party is an accountant who works in the Griffith suburb of West End and lives in nearby Yeronga. She was the Secular Party candidate in Griffith in 2013, polling 0.51 per cent of the vote.

She told No Fibs that her engagement with the people of Griffith “is at the grassroots level through social media, community groups and with those I meet working in West End”.

“Griffith,” she said, “has a diverse population with many different concerns. Jobs and job security are certainly on the agenda, as is climate change. However, the cause of most consternation is the rise and rise of religious influence under the current government, particularly as it plays out in education and equal rights issues.”

She said the most important issues to her personally is equity.

“Unfortunately this doesn’t mean that everyone is going to be better off from every decision that government makes when it comes to the allocation of resources, however it does mean that everyone should get a fair go.

“It really concerns me that religious interference is undermining both our education and legal systems,” Ms Reid said. “The most far reaching inequity our society has seen in recent times is the demise of our once great free, compulsory and secular public education system as it has increasingly had to compete with religious and independent schools for funding. This has now manifest itself in poor literacy and numeracy rates and slipping rankings compared with other OECD countries. Ultimately it affects us all as more people don’t have the skills to access the workforce and participate effectively in it.”

Ms Reid said she joined the Secular Party in 2012, “in despair at the state of politics in Australia. It seemed to me,” she said, “that this was the only political party that was developing polices in the long term public interest, instead of for short term political gain”.

“The Secular Party’s polices are based on the ideals of a true liberal secular democracy that recognises the virtues of meaningful work in a market-based economy on the one hand, and the notion of individual freedom (including both freedom of and freedom from religion) and the protection of human rights on the other. It is this balance that our current governments seem incapable of negotiating.”

Ms Reid said she thinks the Secular Party will increase its vote in this by-election, “because we are raising important issues that both the major parties avoid.”

The Secular Party has a website, and Ms Reid has a Facebook site but does not tweet.

– See more at: http://nofibs.com.au/2014/01/28/candidates-fronting-griffithelects-meets-two-familiar-faces/#sthash.EpVgNp4h.dpuf

Inevitably in a two-party system, the media focus will be on the ALP and LNP candidates, and to a lesser extent The Greens. This is a pity, because voters can miss some very interesting issues that are often only prompted by the minor parties.

Of the nine ‘other’ candidates, just two will be familiar from 2013: Geoff Ebbs (The Greens) and Anne Reid (the Secular Party).

It is hard to know exactly where to position The Greens. It is certainly not a minor party, with nine senators (including Larissa Waters from Queensland) and one member of the House of Representatives, but in Griffith the interest in The Greens seems to focus on the distribution of preferences as much as on its policies.

Geoff Ebbs was The Greens’ candidate for Griffith in the September 2013 election, polling 10.18 per cent of the primary vote. He is a former editor of IT publications with Australian Consolidated Press, author, blogger, and community radio presenter. He is currently a partner in the local Westender (which occasionally republishes No Fibs stories about the Griffith electorate), and lives in West End.

After a bit of a false start for this by-election, when Andrew Bartlett was initially preselected and later withdrew, Ebbs was finally endorsed by his party in December. This appeared to put the campaign onto the back foot and it will be interesting to see if The Greens are able to regain some of the ground it lost in 2013.

Of the mood in Griffith, Ebbs said voters are “angry at the loss of an egalitarian Australia and the creation of a two-speed economy in which they are the losers. They are scared that the old parties are not dealing with the major economic challenges posed by climate change, energy shortages and over-use of the world’s finite resources.”

The issue at the heart of Mr Ebbs’ concerns, and the one which motivated his entry into politics, is climate change.

“I have been writing and lobbying for change in energy policy to address climate change for over a decade”, he said.

Mr Ebbs said The Greens worked with scientists and economists to develop policies to deal with difficult challenges. “Other parties have ignored these issues and called us extremist and alarmist for making serious plans for the future. Despite this we have stuck to our long term plans and gradually the media has come to acknowledge that our solutions are not only practical and realistic, but necessary.”

Like Labor, The Greens have been campaigning strongly on Medicare and Geoff Ebbs was quoted recently on ABC television as saying that a co-payment for bulk billed GP visits “would be a disaster for the less affluent members of society.”

The Greens preferences are highly sought after by other parties. A number of commentators attributed Kevin Rudd’s win in 2013 to Greens’ preferences, however, as I was reminded recently, preferences belong to the voters, not to the parties.

This time around, The Greens announced preferences for five ‘progressive’ micro parties or independents before Labor. It will be interesting to see whether its supporters will follow suit, but you would expect a fair degree of independent thinking from Greens voters.

While Labor may be attempting to distance itself from The Greens in other parts of Australia, most notably in Tasmania, this is not the case in Griffith and Labor has listed The Greens at number two on its how-to-vote card.

Greens leader Senator Christine Milne will be adding her support to Mr Ebbs in the last week of the campaign.

Mr Ebbs has a Facebook site and website and tweets occasionally using the handle @Geoff4Griffith

– See more at: http://nofibs.com.au/2014/01/28/candidates-fronting-griffithelects-meets-two-familiar-faces/#sthash.EpVgNp4h.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.

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

When, just after Christmas, the Australian Centre for Health Research (ACHR) announced it had made a submission to the Government’s Commission of Audit proposing the introduction of a mandatory Medicare co-payment, there were calls on Twitter for the media to ask Dr Bill Glasson whether he would support such a proposal.

That seemed like a big ask: the first day back at work after the Christmas break, Dr Glasson’s answering service issued the message that his office would be closed until Monday, January 6.

Yet an enterprising ABC reporter managed to get hold of him, and the resulting report sparked a storm of interest, not just in the Griffith electorate, but nationally. Dr Glasson’s comments were a trending issue on Twitter this week, and have been reported in the mainstream media.

His response was always going to be of interest for two reasons: he is a doctor and past president of the Australian Medical Association (AMA); and he is Tony Abbott’s friend, a ‘hand-picked’ candidate for Griffith.

The ABC quoted Dr Glasson: “I do support an affordable price signal, but we have to make sure it wouldn’t impact on the most vulnerable in our society, especially children, the elderly, Indigenous and patients with chronic conditions”.

“If you can afford to pay, you should pay, to keep the system fair and affordable.”

Given the speed and ferocity of the negative responses to the proposal, not least from the current president of the AMA, Dr Steve Hambleton, Dr Glasson’s contributions to this debate sets him apart, because neither his leader, nor the Health Minister, have made their positions clear, preferring to leave any decisions to the Audit Commissioners.

The ALP’s Terri Butler, Dr Glasson’s challenger in the Griffith by-election, spoke to No Fibs today.

“As he (Dr Glasson) is standing for Federal parliament, I would like to think his comment was a considered one. I would hope that when radical ideas are proposed he gives them due consideration,” she said.

“If he is in favour of this initiative, is that then indicative of what Mr Abbott might be saying?”

Asked what reactions she is hearing in Griffith, Ms Butler said: “If people are floating an idea that undermines universal health care, people will react strongly”.

“People are really confused about what’s being suggested and why,” she said.

“If you look at what the proposed savings are, this proposal looks to be much more ideological than financial.”

Ms Butler said that people are rightly worried about how this might play out for them. For example, she said, the fee might start at $5 or $6, but some are worried it will be increased later.

“It has certainly been the case that co-payments for pharmaceuticals have increased substantially since they were introduced,” she said.

“It is confusing and worrying for people who have grown up with universal health care. There is confusion for people my parents’ age and older, who gave up pay rises in the 1980s. They are rightly saying: ‘well hang on, what’s happening to universal health care in Australia?

“Mr Abbott hasn’t ruled it out. Mr Dutton hasn’t ruled it out. The only member of the Liberal party who has been categorical in his support is my opponent, Bill Glasson,” she said.

The Greens’ candidate for Griffith, Geoff Ebbs, was quoted in a press release today: “Tony Abbott should be looking to his billionaire mining mates to help balance his books, not every day struggling residents”.

“The people of Griffith will be queuing up at our local hospitals’ emergency departments to avoid paying this extra cost,” Ebbs said.

“Alternatively, they just won’t go to the doctor themselves or take their sick kids because they can’t afford it.”

In a statement to No Fibs, Geoff Ebbs said: “These backwards ‘robbing hoods’ invent a new way every day to rob the poor. Ordinary working families are now struggling as the underclass in a two-speed economy. The Greens will stand up to these bullies and fight for ordinary Australians.”

Given the current political climate, the residents of Griffith might rightly be wondering, ‘what next?’.

STOP PRESS: Health Minister Peter Dutton says Medicare unsustainable without ‘overhaul’ (undisclosed before election).

– See more at: http://nofibs.com.au/2014/01/04/dr-glassons-new-years-medicare-resolutions-griffithelects-reports/#sthash.Za47kRcc.dpuf

Following candidates around my electorate has proven a hit and miss affair at the same time as everyone’s getting ready for Christmas.

Aware that she would be rallying the troops last weekend, I kept missing Terri Butler, but it was not hard to spot her supporters in their red t-shirts, emblazoned with ‘Labor and Local’.

The slogan might be an indicator of how Butler is pitching her campaign, although I suspect it was more an opportunity to familiarise the electorate with her image rather than with her policy positions.

Some supporters were happy to pose, others were not so keen, but, as you would expect, all were optimistic about their new candidate and her chances of winning.

Bill Glasson and his LNP supporters, who have been very active over the past couple of weekends, must have decided to take a break so close to Christmas, since there was no sign of them on the streets at all.

Geoff Ebbs put out a late call to his Greens supporters to join him on Sunday morning at the Boggo Road Ecosciences Centre in Dutton Park. Ebbs had chosen the Ecosciences Centre, he said, to protest the Abbott Government’s cuts to science and education funding.

Being an eager citizen journalist, I turned up early, but there was not a Green t-shirt to be seen!

He was planning similar stops later on the day at Griffith University and the ABC, both based in the electorate on Brisbane’s South Bank, so hopefully he got a better turnout for those events.

Engagement with the electorate via social media can be fraught with danger for candidates, as I think Glasson may have learned recently.

Glasson is not a user of Twitter, but he does have a very active Facebook page. In a curious move last week, he invited his Facebook followers to comment on Treasurer Hockey’s controversial and polarising Mid Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook statement, and was later compelled to post: “Good to see some hearty debate – please remember to always be respectful and never resort to personal attacks. Offending users will be banned.”

It’s hard to know whether the comments still listed on his site are a mere selection of what had been provided. While freedom of speech is championed by the Coalition, apparently there is a need to impose limits, even for them.

It seems that Butler, Ebbs and Glasson are still in the process of working out how they will tackle this campaign.

Labor and the Greens are already focussing on what many consider has been a poor start for Tony Abbott and his new government. They are taking aim at the impacts of the Government’s funding decisions on education and other services.

In the coming weeks, Bill Glasson will have to assess how much traction these issues have gained with local voters, and decide whether to align himself with, or distance himself from, his Federal leader. It will be revealing to see whether Tony Abbott will be invited up north to support his candidate in the coming month.

At this stage there is no talk of a candidates’ forum, as occurred on a limited basis in September.

As for the other parties, the Katter Australia Party remains silent on whether it will field a candidate.

Stable Population, which has lodged an application with the Australian Electoral Commission to change its name to the “Sustainable Population Party”, put out a call to its Queensland supporters to suggest potential high profile candidates for the Griffith by-election. They admit, however, that time not on their side.

There’s not much use in shaking our pressies in Griffith – it’s too early to tell exactly what’s inside.

– See more at: http://nofibs.com.au/2013/12/23/shaking-pressies-griffith-election-christmas-wrap-griffithelects/#sthash.U96UPKLu.dpuf

When he announced his retirement at the end of the first sitting week of Parliament, Kevin Rudd surprised not only his own colleagues, he also shocked his old foe Dr Bill Glasson.

Glasson had only recently returned to work, and after some hesitation (he admits to exhaustion following the September election), he’s decided to step forward again for the LNP.

Dr Glasson is well known and well liked in the electorate and a speedily organised by-election would have suited him. However, by waiting until November 23 to formally submit his resignation, Mr Rudd bought some time for the Labor party and avoided a pre-Christmas poll.

The focus now is on who will replace Rudd as the Labor Party’s candidate for Griffith.

Two candidates, Terri Butler, an industrial lawyer on the Labor Left, and Jeremy de Lore, purportedly new to the Labor Party and supported by the right faction, will fight it out for that opportunity at a plebiscite (70 percent branch members; 30 percent party executive ‘Electoral College’), to be held on December 14.

For now, Jeremy de Lore is keeping a low profile. He has been reported as saying he won’t be spruiking his polices until after December 14.

Not so Terri Butler. She is active on Twitter, has her own ‘Terri Butler for Griffith’ blog, and has recently been interviewed on radio and in local media. She spoke with No Fibs this week.

She said she is talking to media now because she does not want Dr Glasson to get all the running on the issues.

Griffith, she said, is a diverse electorate and the issues vary across the suburbs, but key concerns include airport noise, childcare, and workforce participation, and not just for the young. “I am passionate about addressing age discrimination … it takes away people’s power,” she said.

The Newman Government’s block on Commonwealth funding for the cross river rail has angered parts of the electorate, Ms Butler said, which may be a factor in this by-election, particularly given what she terms the “disrespect” and “arrogance” Newman has shown voters by sacking the Crime and Misconduct Committee. This she said, “has given rise to great community outrage”.

Some have touted this by-election as an early litmus test for the Abbott Government and its ‘axe the carbon tax’ policies, so I asked Ms Butler what she made of Dr Glasson’s recent comment, reported in the Fairfax media, that: “If we try to sell it (the election) on a political basis, or a leadership basis, we won’t get up”.

Ms Butler responded that Dr Glasson “probably has some sense that Mr Abbott’s government is not travelling well. Voters must be horrified that the Government has so soon got into such a sensitive position with Indonesia”.

She added that the recent issues of the separation of an asylum seeker from her new baby has not played out well for the Government.

“After the results in this week’s Nielsen poll I can understand why Dr Glasson would want to distance himself from Mr Abbott,” she said, “the problem for him is that he is Mr Abbott’s candidate.”

It is still not known whether the Palmer United Party will run a candidate in the election. PUP was not a factor in Griffith in September and Ms Butler said that people are now waiting to see what that party will do, and commented: “We know about the public persona, but we don’t know enough about what they stand for”.

She acknowledged that Bill Glasson is a nice bloke, and is generally liked in the electorate, but said: “Being in parliament is not about being nice, it is not about who Tony Abbott would have a glass of wine with to sort things out privately, which is what Dr Glasson said on the ABC the other day, it is about representing the views of your constituency”.

“I think Dr Glasson will be hamstrung because he has to toe the party line. Voters can be confident that I won’t be a mouthpiece for Tony Abbott, but they can’t be confident about that when it comes to Dr Glasson.”

Ms Butler acknowledged that, “no-one really likes by-elections”, but noted that others have resigned in similar circumstances to Mr Rudd.

“Peter Costello and Alexander Downer did it, and Rob Borbidge after he lost the State election. I understand why a former leader might think it’s the honourable thing to do, to leave the party and make room for renewal, and I think people will understand that.”

Asked about the legacy of her possible predecessor, she said Mr Rudd will always be remembered for connecting with the community. “He donated over 900 bikes to the community”, and on a national level she said: “His apology to the stolen generation was a watershed moment in Australia’s history, and his government steered us through the Global Financial Crisis”.

Butler sees herself as a reformer within the Labor party, but it remains to be seen whether the party and its members are ready to embrace her as their candidate for Griffith.

And if so, whether she can replace Kevin Rudd in the affections of Griffith voters.

– See more at: http://nofibs.com.au/2013/11/27/whos-naughty-nice-silly-season-starts-griffith-jan-bowman-griffithelects-reports/#sthash.DkXOc6qs.dpuf