News - Government

All candidates for the seat of Fraser and lead Senate candidates for ACT have been offered the opportunity to submit their views for Gungahlin residents via a 500-word article. Following is the unedited statement received from Kerrie Tucker, Senate Candidate - Greens. The following comments do not necessarily represent the views of the GCC.

In 1995 I was elected to the ACT Legislative Assembly as ACT Greens MLA for the electorate of Molonglo and was re-elected in 1998 and 2001.

I chaired the Standing Committees on Health, Education and Community Services, Social Policy, and the Select Committee on the role of Public Housing and was a member of Standing Committees on Legal Affairs, Public Accounts, and Administration and Procedures.

Rescue the Senate
My bid for the Senate was motivated by the Coalition Government's control of the Senate that has seen the house of review become a rubber stamp for poorly considered legislation that is having negative impacts on so many Australians.

In the aftermath of the 2004 election the Greens, Labor and other cross bench senators combined to force an inquiry into suspected "rorting" of the Regional Partnership Program. Fortunately the Coalition did not control the Senate at that time, so the Government was unable to prevent the establishment of the inquiry.

Liberal Senator Gary Humphries voted to oppose this parliamentary scrutiny of the regional grants.  ACT voters should know that if I am elected to the Senate I would take up my position immediately and then, along with the other Greens Senators bring truth back into government.

No matter which party wins government, the Greens will work to ensure that the Senate operates as a strong House of Review. We commit to ensuring the government of the day is held to account.

Climate Change
The Greens have been working for serious action on climate change for two decades and are the only party offering a comprehensive plan to tackle climate change. It is imperative that we act now. One proposal is the Energy Access and Savings Initiative or EASI that would organise a free energy audit of homes, advise on efficiency changes with a payback period of 10 years or less, organise and pay for the changes and collect repayments as a proposition of the savings on the home's energy bills over a 10 year period.

Employment
I strongly support locating a Federal Department in Gungahlin.  Local employment also means less travelling and this helps with addressing climate change. I have also released a small business statement calling for far greater assistance in the areas of superannuation, regulation and taxation compliance and the appointment of a Small Business Commissioner.

Transport
We can map the suburbs and regions around Australia that will be worst affected by the impact of housing debt, oil vulnerability, and energy costs. We need to use that information to start planning effective rapid transit systems now, not waste another 11 years.

The Commonwealth could work in partnership to build a light rail system linking Fyshwick, the airport, the parliamentary triangle, Civic and Epic. This makes good sense because there is significant development by the airport, by the Commonwealth Government on Constitution Ave, and by the ACT Government at East Lakes.