THE Greens have promised Northern Tablelands voters a new approach to match the new boundaries of a seat that has expanded significantly since the last NSW election.
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At his recent campaign launch in Armidale, Greens candidate Mercurius Goldstein said, with the addition of Moree Plains Shire in an electoral boundary shake-up last year, it was more important than ever for the Greens to represent the needs of people on the land.
“At AgQuip this year I heard from many landowners worried about multi-billion dollar mining and energy companies lining up to mine our foodland,” Mr Goldstein said.
“That’s why I was delighted to witness the launch of the Greens’ Sustainable Agriculture policy, which puts farmers first. Greens are the only party with the policies and the track record to secure the farmland which sustains our entire way of life.”
Mr Goldstein, a teacher, said his party and farmers had many interests in common including landcare, water preservation, the importance of sustainability, drought-proofing, and protection against CSG and coal mining.
“Greens understand that farmers want to leave productive, profitable and viable enterprises to the next generation, and our Sustainable Agriculture policy is designed to make that happen.”
But Nationals MP Kevin Anderson, who will stand again for the seat of Tamworth at the next state election, dismissed the notion that the Greens had farmers’ interests at heart.
“It’s a classic example of the Greens, who are almost fading into oblivion, clinging to anything to try to gain some sort of relevancy,” he said.
“We are certainly still very heavily connected with the agriculture industry and some of the toughest regulations are now in place in regards to mining and coal seam gas.
“We are now able to put in a regime that is holding extractive resource companies to account and, in fact, cancelling some coal seam gas licences because they have not met the criteria.”
Mr Goldstein didn’t let the evening pass without some criticism of current and former NSW governments.
“At the last state election, we saw the most corrupt Labor government in NSW history chucked out and replaced by what is shaping up to be the most corrupt Coalition government in NSW history, if ICAC is anything to go by,” he said.
“That’s why the Greens are campaigning for clean air, clean water and clean politics.”
