PHILIP Cox never contemplated running for the federal election – until his two teenage daughters, concerned about the proposed coal mines on the Liverpool Plains, asked him to put his hand up.
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“They approached me and said, ‘Dad, someone’s got to do something’,” Mr Cox said.
It would be a “tragedy” for the Liverpool Plains to be “trashed” for an open-cut coal mine, he said.
“What other first-world country would allow a foreign national to build an open-cut coal mine on its prime agricultural land and put its water resources at risk?” he said.
The Armidale-based solicitor has a proven track record of taking on the resource industry.
“My primary concern is that we’ve got a planet we can look after,” he said.
While stopping an “absolute disaster” from unfolding on the Liverpool Plains is central to Mr Cox’s platform, he’s also standing to give the region an alternative choice to Nationals New England MP Barnaby Joyce and independent candidate Tony Windsor.
“This election will be on a knife-edge,” he said.
“I thought, who can I vote for, and I looked at the candidates. Tony Windsor was compromised for his dealings with the [Maules Creek] coal mine – whichever way you slice it, he sold out to the coal mine company – while Barnaby Joyce was bound by cabinet solidarity.
“There is no middle ground between those two. I want to help other people like myself have a voice.
“From 2010 to 2013, the informal vote doubled, when Mr Joyce had no one to run against him. That tells me there is a high level of dissatisfaction in the community.
“There are three horses in this race – I’m the only one without a bridle.”
Coal mines and renewable energy
“COAL mining and coal seam gas might last for 30 years, but the legacy of the destruction will last hundreds of years.”
Philip Cox is deeply concerned about the resource industry’s impact on the region’s environment and water resources – and he’s had first-hand experience fighting the industry.
“In 2009 and 2010, I was engaged as a consultant with Forest NSW and I took on the coal companies and the coal lobby group,” Mr Cox said.
“I took on Eastern Star Gas and everybody operating on Forest NSW lands without a formal land access agreement, without proper remediation and environmental safeguards, and so progressively put those in place to protect the environment.”
Mr Cox said he had difficulty comprehending why the Shenhua Watermark mine on the Liverpool Plains was granted exploration approval in the first place.
“All the major parties, both at a state and federal level, have a conflict with coal,” he said.
“They are so keen on royalties that they are prepared to sacrifice anything. I want to hold all sides to account.”
Mr Cox said the nation should move away from coal towards renewable energy.
“Instead of being a country that follows, we should be a world leader – we’ve got the resources,” he said.
“Not just solar, things like thermal. European countries have tapped into thermal, why can’t we?
“Building an electricity grid to run thermal from South Australia could be part of the national building program.”
Jobs and infrastructure
THERE is about $3 trillion locked up in superannuation which could be used to fund an infrastructure boom, Philip Cox says.
“When you look at the war efforts, particularly in World War I and World War II, the government created bonds to attract money,” Mr Cox said.
“If we have a similar system, where super funds can invest in government bonds for a return, we would get to build massive infrastructure projects in Australia.
“There would be real growth coming out of the great efficiency that infrastructure creates, and, while we’re building the infrastructure, we are also creating jobs.”
Mr Cox said the big projects the nation needed wouldn’t get any cheaper, and the country’s leaders “need to bite the bullet”.
“We need to look at where we want to be in the next 100 years and start putting things into action,” he said.
Mr Cox said there was a high dependency on passive welfare in Australia.
“There has got to be an incentive to engage in the workforce, rather than sit around and do nothing because the government will pay me,” he said.
“I want to be a focal point for people that have positive solutions, so we can bring those to the table and give them a proper hearing.”
Education
SMALL class sizes, better funding and quality teachers are the keys to improving the nation’s education system.
“From my own experience, throwing money at the issue is not necessarily the sole determination of outcomes,” Philip Cox said.
The right teachers and principals can make a world of difference to schools.
“Good-quality principals with life skills, if they show direction at the top of the tree, the school follows,” he said.
“We’ve got to encourage good people to come out and experience remote areas.
“It could be government driven, through a tax concession or a pay bonus. I’d like to see a scheme put forward whereby regional teaching staff have an incentive of up to $5000 to travel home on a regular basis to see their family. Having worked in Moree when there was no airline, people couldn’t do a 17-hour drive back home to Sydney.”
Mr Cox has completed two courses through TAFE, so he knows first-hand how beneficial the educator is.
“It enabled me to become empowered and to obtain employment, and from that employment I gained further employment,” he said.
“Education pathways, such as TAFE, are extremely important for the younger generation.”
