Greens more than just an environment party

Greens candidate, Tony Hickey, says his upcoming campaign for the seat of Sydney will feature a number of issues he feels have been neglected by the Labor government, ranging from refugees and schooling to housing and transport.

While the seat has been held by the ALP since its creation in 1969, the Chippendale teacher was positive about his chances to upset the incumbent, Tanya Plibersek, who has held the seat for more than ten years.

“There is a lot of awareness of the Greens in Sydney,” he said.

“There is no index of political awareness of course, but I feel they are one of the most politically aware electorates in Sydney.

“And I think a lot of these people are waking up to how Labor is speaking progressively and acting regressively on a number of issues, most recently asylum seekers.”

He disagrees with recent Labor policy decisions in this area, such as the suspension of Afghan and Sri Lankan asylum claims, and the proposal to create a detention centre in East Timor.

“I think it’s pretty simple, when you look at refugees, they are people who in the vast majority are in desperate need of help,” Hickey said.

“We want a humane, compassionate Australia and we have an ethical obligation to at least take their claims seriously.

“I don’t see any reason why we should lock them up while we are processing their claims.”

The refugee debate is not the only area where strong differences are emerging between the Greens and Labor. The ALP has pushed back its plans for an ETS after it was blocked in the Senate by both the Greens and the Liberals.

“People elected Labor in 2007 with a strong expectation they would do something to address climate change,” Hickey said.

“But their five per cent target was ridiculous; the overwhelming scientific evidence is we need a lot more than that.

“The reality is neither party has a credible policy on climate change. A price on carbon would be a start but we also need to work on investing in renewable energy and creating better public transport to reduce our dependence.”

Hickey says the state members will need to organise with those at a federal level to address recent shortcomings in transport and housing that have seen the Salvation Army report a 29 per cent rise in the homeless rate in Sydney, and the average first home buyer having to save for almost five years for the deposit on a house.

An openly gay man, Hickey says Sydney has come a long way in terms of acceptance, but laments Labor’s prohibitive stance on same-sex marriage.

“I think people misinterpret this as a religious issue when it isn’t,” he said.

“Most Australians these days are married by a civil celebrant, not in a church. If same-sex couples want to be married, why shouldn’t they? They are consenting, they aren’t hurting anyone.”

Argentina legalised same-sex marriage last week, joining a group of approximately ten countries worldwide, including Mexico and Iceland, whose Prime Minister married her same-sex partner on the day the changes to the law took effect.

A teacher by trade, Hickey also holds strong views about the NAPLAN testing regime and MySchool website introduced by current Prime Minister Julia Gillard during her time as Minister for Education.

“These are diagnostic tests,” he said.

“They aren’t designed to rank students or schools, and why are we ranking schools anyway?”

“It only serves to vilify schools and create an unproductive learning environment. It doesn’t make sense and ultimately it’s not in the interests of the student.”

“I think we are a nation that values creativity and doesn’t want to force our children to conform but this test is going to do that.”

By Simon Black