In this episode we chat with community advocate and QLD Greens Candidate for Moreton, Claire Garton.
We discuss with Claire the impacts of the Inland Rail project on the people who live along the proposed route, which will transport coal all the way from Melbourne into Queensland in trains every half hour that are 1.8km long, and double stacked, when this project is completed.
The Inland Rail project will result in extra noise from trains and trucks, vibration on houses, noise from container drops and unloading, pollution from trucks, increased traffic and congestion on roads, division of farmland, home acquisitions, and health implications from coal dust particles.
The current Federally funded route begins in Melbourne and travels up through NSW, across the Queensland border and into Toowoomba. From here, the rail line route is undecided as to whether it will continue to either Port of Brisbane (a privately owned port) or Gladstone (a state owned port). Costs have blown out when trying to work out the route down the Toowoomba range and then terminating at Acacia Ridge. (It’s more expensive to go to Brisbane due to the Toowoomba Range).
Another option from Acacia Ridge to Port of Brisbane is to transport the coal via trucks and it’s believed deals are being made with trucking companies to establish this. However, it is estimated to take 5000 trucks per day to transport the coal out to the Privately owned Port of Brisbane.
The Mayor of Gladstone is onboard with the coal being transported through Queensland and up to the state owned Port of Gladstone. However, even if this was deemed to be the best route and supported by community consultation across Queensland, with a move to renewables, it is worth discussing if Inland Rail will actually be a worthwhile project in years to come? Or has it all been a waste of money?
Claire, Tim and Andrea also discuss the Olympics and Brisbane being a host city for 2032. Tim talks about the lack of community consultation regarding infrastructure for the Olympics. And the fact that Gina Rinehart is now involved.
Claire states she would love to see a Carbon Neutral or Net Zero Olympics and discusses this idea.
Other discussions on domestic roof-top solar system battery storage, the need for a Federal Independent Anti-Corruption Commission (ICAC), infrastructure for schools especially for inclusive education.
Claire and Andrea discuss what it’s like being in the community as a member of a minority group eg trans, disabled.
Claire’s 3 Big Ideas:
- Treaty for First Nations People
- Local ideas for Moreton to get done, plus ICAC, climate change, kick out the LNP, get Greens into Balance of Power
- Fix Economic Equality in Australia in order to fix social issues
Beyond the Rona Podcast is recorded in Logan, Queensland on Yuggera country. We acknowledge the traditional owners past, present and emerging.
If you’re interested in coming on the show, please contact us, we would love to hear from you!
Episode Transcript
Andrea Wildin 0:00
We are recording today on the lands of the Jagera people. And we acknowledge the traditional elders here, past, present and emerging.
Andrea Wildin 0:14
Hi, everyone, I’m Andrea. I’m a former registered nurse and midwife and community advocate.
Tim Hill 0:20
I’m Tim, I’m a digital marketer and a small business owner.
Andrea Wildin 0:24
Today we’re actually talking to Claire Garton, who is also a community advocate works very hard and goes to just about every event that I can possibly see. think she’d go to the opening of an envelope, as my mother would say? How are you Claire?
Claire Garton 0:41
Yeah, good. Hi, Andrea. Hi, Tim. Thanks for having me today. I’m coming to you on the lands of the Jagera Yugurrapul people, right. Oh, lovely.
Andrea Wildin 0:49
Okay. So today, I thought we’d have a discussion. Because I feel like you have a lot of knowledge on, you know, what kind of infrastructure we might need as we move through the Coronavirus period. Of course, we’ve kind of found out at this point that we’re going to have to live with it. And, you know, we may have, you know, some sort of mutated form of Coronavirus, living with us well into the future. And, you know, whether we’re immune to it, whether we, you know, our bodies are somehow built to, you know, survive this thing, or whether we have vaccinations that help us survive this thing. Who knows, but we’re going to have to move through and live with it. So I thought we’d have a talk to you about what you’ve noticed is the infrastructure needs that we might need in in our community. One of the problems that seems to be popping up at the moment, and I know it’s a huge thing to talk to you about. First up, is Inland Rail, actually. And I know that I’ve seen you at a couple of community forums, can you tell us what the community feels like? What’s the pros and cons about this Inland Rail problem?
Claire Garton 2:06
Yeah, look, it’s a tough one. Essentially, the Inland Rail is, is the big project from to make a freight line effect, essentially from Melbourne to Brisbane, through an inland route. And the the the problem locally here in Morton, where I’m sort of standing for is that the the termination of the rail line in Brisbane, and it’s not at the Brisbane port, but at 35 kilometres inland from there, and it’s a at a place called Acacia Ridge, which is sort of a suburban sort of suburban area with lots of houses and things like that around it. Now, the problem with that is that, essentially, the freight that’s being transported will have to then be transferred from that rail terminus at Acacia Ridge onto trucks to go to either the Port of Brisbane or to final destinations. Now, so the biggest concern I’ve heard is that these, you know, additional trucks to move this freight, it’s got to be about 5000 trucks a day, through through sort of our area here. That’s huge. It is huge. And I don’t think everybody is fully aware of this problem yet, but some people are starting to become aware of it.
Andrea Wildin 3:27
So with those trucks on the road, we have things like, you know, the, the extra, like vibration of the traffic actually happening on the ground as well. But, you know, you also have the vibration of the trains.
Claire Garton 3:42
Yeah, so there’s that they’re talking about, you know, quite long trains, it’s about 1.8 kilometre long, double stacked, container trains coming through through the southern areas of, of Brisbane, and they will terminate Acacia ridge, and then there’ll be a lot of noise as well associated with the unloading of those containers. There are already some container trains that come into Acacia Ridge, but nowhere near I think it’s like two a day or something at the moment. And, and even with that, you know, during the night you sometimes hear them when they accidentally drop a container on and it just ricochets the sound throughout the whole sort of area. So there’s going to be more of that sort of noise through the night as well. Plus the general associated noise with with unloading of those containers onto trucks and and all of the truck, the truck noise and just the additional pollution of the trucks driving through everywhere and additional congestion, traffic. I think that’s going to be the biggest issue associated with this project as far as my area is concerned,
Andrea Wildin 4:50
But then there’s the the pros on that is like maybe truck drivers are thinking yay, we’ve got jobs.
Claire Garton 4:57
Well, that is true. That’s potentially true. But yeah, look, I’ve heard rumours of deals being done with trucking companies and the port and all sorts things. But I don’t know if, if they’re, you know, much truth to that yet or not. But there’s a lot of behind the scenes, negotiating happening with trucking companies and about all of this. So yeah, so the whole trucking aspect and the roads, congestion is going to be huge. And most people aren’t aware of that yet. Another big problem is that I have with this project is its business case, doesn’t stack up without it transporting a large amount of coal from New South Wales up into to Brisbane as well.
Claire Garton 5:43
So there’ll be actual, a lot of additional coal trains coming through. And of course, that brings coal dust. And they I think they’ve said that they may spray, you know, the top of the coal waggons to try to prevent dust from emitting as the trains go through. But But and that’s well and good. But the biggest problem I’ve heard is that actually, the it’s the empty trains coming back, where there’s still residual coal, and inside of the waggons, and because the just the nature of trains, it’s vibrating all the time. And therefore that that coal dust,
Andrea Wildin 6:21
yeah, and those coal dust particles are so tiny, that, you know, yeah, you can’t see the coal dust actually just bursting through the air and getting into people’s lungs. So I mean, that’s a real health problem for everybody.
Claire Garton 6:34
Yeah, so that, yeah, that’s another another aspect of this project that I think needs to be looked at a little bit more. And then there’s the, you know, the route itself, coming down from, you know, through sort of the western area of just Queensland into here, there’s going to be a lot of farmland instead of going to be dissected by by the proposed current route. And, and, you know, I think that’s going to be problematic for for some farmers and just, you know, just right, train lines tend to divide, you know, quite provide a bit like rivers in a way they make a real line of demarcation through through communities and through farms and things. So, yeah, that’s something else that we probably need to consider. But
Andrea Wildin 7:22
it’s a big federal election thing, isn’t it for the people of Logan, and also for the people of like, the southern parts of Brisbane. So, I mean, if we just kind of make it clear to where this train line, it’s going, it’s going from, like, the Port of Melbourne or something, is it somewhere down somewhere down there, and then going all the way up to Toowoomba. And then they’re coming like they’re making another part of the train line, which they haven’t costed for, but it’s costing billions to come down the Toowoomba range to Acacia ridge, and terminating at Acacia ridge. And then they’re thinking of doing another part of the train line from Acacia Ridge out to the Port of Brisbane or doing truck carriage of the coal from Acacia Ridge to the Port of Brisbane. Well,
Claire Garton 8:13
so the proposal is for coal to go through Acacia Ridge to the Port of Brisbane because those waggons and those trains can actually fit through the infrastructure that’s there at the moment. Yeah, the problem is the container trains won’t be able to because they’re too thin, literally too big. And between Acacia ridge and the Port of Brisbane. There’s quite a number of road, you know, roads, bridges, tunnels, all sorts of infrastructure where it just you know, the city is built up around the train line. And it’s just, it’s just nowhere near cost effective to actually to allow to be able to build the train infrastructure over to the Port of Brisbane. So
Andrea Wildin 8:53
the other option is to instead go from Toowoomba and build the train line going up to Gladstone.
Claire Garton 9:02
Yeah, so that’s an option that a lot of people have put forward. And there’s a lot of advantages for that as well because the firstly the port of Gladstone is a publicly owned, you know, it’s a state owned port. Which means that, you know, there’s a lot a lot more control over it by thus the people and, and government over how it all operates, whereas the Port of Brisbane is a private, private operation. So there is a lot of merit in that, obviously, the appropriate environmental impact studies and consultation would have to occur with people between Brisbane and, and Gladstone. However, the Gladstone mayor, I understand is fully on board with this project as as is a lot of other people in Gladstone and look, to be honest, it’s a good opportunity to create regional jobs as well in in a city that sort of, you know, might actually have to diversify a little bit in coming years, as we, you know, inevitably transition to renewables away from coal.
Tim Hill 10:05
Yeah. Because that’s a good point. Because I was wondering about, you know, this is obviously like a bit of a long term project that needs investment in the project now, and then thinking about the viability of this into the future, like, where countries import potentially importing less coal, because of commitments that are made, what is there also that thought in the community of were building something that might not actually be a viable long term market?
Claire Garton 10:34
Yeah, I look at the moment, the business case is only viable with transporting, quite a lot of coal and, like I’m all for public infrastructure, and especially rail. But I think more thought needs to go into other uses for that rail line, I can only see the demand for freight for containerized freight increasing over time, I mean, just the nature of how we are, there’s always more demand to transport logistics around. And so I’m not sure the exact numbers of how that’s expected to increase over time. But it’s definitely it’s definitely something that’s going to have to be considered on this on this route. Because, you know, coal, as much as they are factoring in coal all the way up to 2050. I think it is in the in the business case. You know, that’s a long way away. And I think, you know, that the push is on globally to to reduce coal extraction.
Andrea Wildin 11:37
Right. Now, um, Tim, you and I were just having a chat before. And about, you know, people in our local areas who, quite a few years ago, around sort of 2010 to 2012, time would have put solar on their roofs. And, you know, it seems that now we’re hearing from community members who are getting, you know, sort of eight cents per kilowatt for their feed in tariff. And, you know, they’re kind of a little bit like, I thought this solar system was gonna pay for itself eventually. And they’re feeling a little bit lost. You know, and you’ve had heard this as well, from people around the place, like, I mean, there are batteries there for storage. I’m wondering, you know, is this, like something that you’ve heard of, as well, like, Claire, like, what are we going to do about this? Problem,
Claire Garton 12:38
to be honest, even getting eight cents now is actually becoming quite a challenge. I’ve know people that are struggling to get more than six or seven, which, which of course is quite, you know, upsetting to a lot of people, when you when you’re buying it back, you’re buying back power, it’s a 24 cents, I mean, that they sort of, you know, you can they can see, and everyone can see, you know, there’s obviously something wrong with this. So, yeah, look, it’s absolutely a problem. And I, obviously, the the power grids, and the power companies that kind of fight the, you know, the localization of power storage, because it goes against their business model, but, right, but, but I think, I think, you know, it’s, you know, decentralisation of power is something that’s probably going to happen, even on, you know, even if it’s on a micro scale to start with, if it’s, it’s gonna, you know, there’s going to be little even like buildings, apartment buildings, and things like that are going to have their own sort of micro storage and micro supply. I mean, that’s how I see it. Look, I’m okay, I’m a bit of a tech nerd, so I’m all keen to get storage as soon as I can. So yeah, it’s, we’ll see how it goes.
Andrea Wildin 13:52
Yeah. And, Tim, are you a sporting fan? Are you into the Olympics?
Tim Hill 13:58
Oh, me personally, this is a this is a an interesting and loaded question. Yes. So yes, I am into Olympic into the Olympics. But yeah, obviously, now that Brisbane is a host country. In the next decade or so make sure you then think about? Yeah, what this what this means when it’s actually in your backyard, where, you know, when you look around the world at host cities, you know, the Olympics aren’t necessarily kind of the economic boom, that they’re kind of sold to be, but do I like the Olympics? Yes, I think as a sporting event, I think it’s, it’s a it’s a great event to bring people together that you know, but we’re now faced with, with this being in our city, and affecting, you know, the greater area of Brisbane, Logan and you know, even down to the coast and up to the sunny coast. So it’s going to have an impact everywhere. I think it’s just now about us trying to trying to as a community as a broader community, like extract the value from that But what have you, what are your thoughts, Claire?
Claire Garton 15:04
Yeah, I think you I think it’s sort of hit the nail on the head there. And um, yeah, I absolutely agree that the the economic benefits that they’re always presented about having the Olympics. Yeah, I don’t think they stack up now, and I’m not sure if they ever did. But the opportunity that exists is for, you know, construction of infrastructure and services. That, you know, I that’s where I see that the actual opportunities and not necessarily with, with, you know, the money, the financial aspects of, for small businesses, and that, because that always seems they always seem to be let down, like, you know, the Commonwealth Games or the Gold Coast. It was all hyped up, it was it was going to be a boon for business, but a lot of local businesses said they’d had a downturn, people just didn’t turn up. So the opportunity exists around infrastructure around public services. And, yeah, a legacy of that. So I with the Olympics, yeah, look, I’m I mean, I have mixed feelings about it. I, yeah, I do think it’s a good opportunity to showcase the elite sport around the world. But I think, you know, the commercialization or, or the way that it’s presented as, as an economic benefit needs to sort of that model needs to sort of change a bit. But I also have concerns around displacement of disadvantaged and vulnerable people from, from areas around where the where the Olympics are going to occur. And that this is this has shown time and time again, on any host cities that that cleansing of the community effectively, you know, to push people out, and that these sort of aspects of things that I think we have to address with having the Olympics in Brisbane, and we, you know, we can stand if we can address these sort of things, we can stand tall and proud and say, you know, we’re doing things differently. And I’d like to also Yeah, net zero Olympics as well. I think if we if we could have a carbon neutral Olympics. Yeah, including all of the construction and everything to it. I think that that would be, you know, on the world stage, that would be a great thing to showcase as well. So,
Claire Garton 17:16
yeah, that displacement that you mentioned, as well, it’s I thought it was really quite fascinating. It was actually Amy McMahon that, that raise this point that when the city was going, you know, putting putting us together didn’t naturally talk with residents, like the residents that arrived there that are going to be, you know, potentially impacted. If, if, indeed, it is the case that the Gabba is going to be kind of like the heart of the event. And and, you know, when when residents are actually finding out about it, it’s like, oh, and we’re in our final stages, you know, and come on board, and it’s like, wow, this, the lack of community consultation here was just really remarkable.
Claire Garton 17:56
Yeah, that’s a thing that comes up with so many projects and different things where I feel governments and elected Representatives has just lost lost the focus on what’s important. And there’s just no consultation with with actual people on the ground with so many of these decisions. And they, they’re all done in in boardrooms and talking to corporations and business lobby groups. And, you know, and then the people on the ground, sort of left to, you know, hear their media announcements. And that’s the first day here are these things. So that I find that really disappointing. And, and, yeah, I think that’s why I like to where I’m part of the Greens, especially as I feel like with the Greens, we’re focused on people and the community first and not, not just about profits driven by corporations or business lobbyists. And we don’t have those political donations or anything from from corporate.
Andrea Wildin 18:55
This is why I thought it was really interesting when they had all of the Olympic Committee go to a luncheon the other day at the RNA yet. Gina Rinehart was there, you know, and I thought, like, I wouldn’t have thought that she was like, into the Olympics.
Claire Garton 19:13
Like you wouldn’t think so. Would you? I mean, I’m not sure what what part she’s gonna have in it. But that’s yeah, I wasn’t aware of this
Andrea Wildin 19:20
I mean obviously, obviously, like, it’s money, you know, but like, that’s where, you know, when you talk about political donations, and, you know, corporate donations and stuff like that, like, it’s quite obvious. I mean, because she’s not there for the sporting prowess. You know, she’s not there to clap. The athletes. I mean, we’ve got
Claire Garton 19:42
influencers and influencers. They buy influence by providing political donations. So yeah, it’s the system’s very broken.
Andrea Wildin 19:51
And yeah, and so, you know, and from these crowds of people that seem to be quite angry at the moment, especially Around Logan we’ve, you know, right now we’ve got crowds and crowds and crowds of people who are standing up saying, we hate politicians. You know, you can see why because it’s blatantly obvious that there’s a lot of corruption, a lot of, you know, backhanded stuff going on. And they just don’t care.
Claire Garton 20:25
Not that don’t and, you know, and they’re fighting tooth and nail to stop having a federal integrity commission, you know, because they don’t want to be held accountable. So, so, you know, it’s like, no, no, we don’t need this and talking, you know, talking against the model that’s in New South Wales, which isn’t that isn’t, you know, which could be improved as well. But still, it’s it’s fairly strong and robust model. But yeah, just fighting it everywhere, every step of the way. And I’d look people no wonder why people hate politics. And it’s yes, it’s sad, because politics affects pretty much every aspect of our lives, ultimately. But it’s, they purposely make people not interested in politics so that they can get away with whatever they want. Really,
Andrea Wildin 21:06
yeah, it makes people feel so powerless, that, you know, in, in an abusive relationship, eventually you shut down, you know, you know, you try and talk and try and talk and try and talk. But eventually, when you realise you have no voice, you just shut down. And, you know, you I think you see both sides in, in Logan, you’ll either have the people rise up and say, We’re not going to take this anymore, and it’s in it’s against things that are quite logical as well. So there might be, you know, something that’s really good for their health, you know, that they’re saying, No, we’re not going to take that either. Because we don’t trust you about anything, you know. But and so they rise up about absolutely everything. But then you’ll get the other people who will just shut down completely. And you they don’t want to hear from you ever again. You know, and you can see that that’s classic trauma response, you know, and I don’t think these people who are in politics, like the, you know, the old white, pale, male stale, whatever they call it, I don’t think they’ve ever been in a traumatic experience in their entire lives, like the people of, you know, working class, lower socioeconomic, sort of, you know, struggling, struggling people, I don’t think they’ve ever had a traumatic experience in their entire life where they have experienced powerlessness like that, where they’ve had that choice of either rise up against every single thing that people are trying to suggest for them, whether or not it’s good for them, or shut down completely. You know, and I think that’s what we’re seeing in our community. But, you know, so they’re not even trusting the people that they should trust, which is quite dangerous, because then, you know, their health is at risk. You know? Yeah,
Claire Garton 23:05
absolutely. And, look, I doing a lot of door knocking at the moment, and it’s very, what you just said, is very consistent with, with the, the experiences I’m having on door knocks and stuff, so I mean, yeah, so even to the north of Logan here, it’s, you know, very consistent experience, where there’s just, yeah, as you say, lack of trust in government and, and all people just shut down totally, and just don’t want to have a bar of anything. That’s, yeah, look, it’s it’s sad, but I can see where they’re coming from. Unfortunately, it’s, we’ve just got to, you know, clean up our system, and, you know, make politics represent the people again, and not just the corporate corporations and billionaires.
Andrea Wildin 23:49
Yeah, yeah. Have you got any ideas for, you know, infrastructure for schools or hospitals?
Claire Garton 23:59
Yeah, look, it’s interesting, actually, with schools. So there’s a big increase in families around this area where I am. And the schools or the state, the primary schools at the moment are all growing quite really strongly. Which is, which is great to see. And they’re very thriving, great, thriving schools and really impressive. High schools in the area. We used to have a high school in the suburbs of Salisbury a state high school that is in the summer of Salisbury, but unfortunately, Campbell Newman was one of the ones that he chose to sell off back in 2012. And so I think the Yeah, I think there’s gonna be a bit of pressure. So he sold that off to a to Life Church, who actually run a school they’re now at like a evangelical sort of religious school. But I think there’s going to be a real demand, you know, in the next few Two years for four more state school in this area, I’m not sure about what capacity is left in sort of the local schools, the high schools, but you know, it’s it’s something that that I think, has been neglected over a number of years. And, you know, and it was, because there wasn’t the demand, the demand was decreasing for a long time. But, but in recent years, a lot of families have moved into this whole area. And, and obviously, that puts, put some more requirements and more demand on public services. So yeah, it look, yeah, it’s hard to say about schools, to be honest with you much more than that, but
Andrea Wildin 25:41
I’d always advocate for Inclusive Education. I’m an advocate. So I mean, that’s my thing that, you know, I’ll always push for that. I think we need to move away from segregated education between the, you know, disabled people and able bodied people. There’s a lot of research for that. And it’s a loaded question. You know, but there’s a huge movement pushing the two together, but it means, you know, and the reason why people are against it is because they think that we mean, just closing down all the special schools and moving everybody into the same school. But it’s not like that at all. It’s actually reimagining the entire way that we do schooling.
Claire Garton 26:29
Absolutely. Right. Yeah. There are some strong advocates in this area of around that, actually, which is, which is great. So, yeah, look, you’re spot on. It’s, I mean, I’m all for inclusion, absolutely. In all aspects of inclusion.
Andrea Wildin 26:44
Yeah. So it means, you know, having a way to access the, the curriculum for everybody. And it means providing wheelchair access, for example, in public schools, it means providing, you know, safe rooms, or areas where people who are overstimulated can go to, you know, of their own accord, not because that was sent there, you know, these sorts of, like, different ways of accessing the curriculum that suits the individual, it means blind people, deaf people can go to public school, which they haven’t been able to in the past. But it also for me means that, you know, able bodied people have knowledge and experience of how to communicate and how to be in the community with a disabled person, which they don’t at the moment. At the moment, they see a disabled person, and they don’t know how to act. And I have that experience because, you know, I use a wheelchair, and when I’m using my wheelchair, they, they really don’t know how to act. They I had this experience with one politician who is quite well known. I won’t embarrass him. But he’s quite well known. And I went and introduced myself. And he came up to me and put his hands on his knees and came down and screwed up his nose, and he goes “hello”
Andrea Wildin 28:17
and I thought oh my god, you’ve never met anybody in a wheelchair before? No I’m not two!.
Claire Garton 28:25
That’s it that’s interesting experiences.
Andrea Wildin 28:29
I thought he was going to offer me an Ice cream or something? And I thought oh, God, I’ll take that.
Claire Garton 28:37
it just shows. Yeah, there’s there’s fear of when there’s lack of information, lack of education about aspects and, and people just don’t understand and look it comes with trans people and all sorts of things as well. Yeah, similar experiences. But yeah, you’re absolutely right. It’s inclusion from a young age. Yeah, it breaks down all the barriers.
Andrea Wildin 28:55
Yeah. And I suppose, you know, you would get that as well. You know, if people haven’t met somebody who is trans, they don’t know how to act or be, you know, they just like, oh, I don’t know what to do.
Claire Garton 29:10
Yeah, that’s absolutely right. And to some people, it’s a curiosity, you know, and they just, yeah, look, that’s yeah, I’m all for answering questions when people you know, to educate people to help people understand better and so, you know, there’s a lot of I get a lot of that sort of people asking all sorts of questions, because it is so you know, curious, but I do get a lot of negativity as well, unfortunately. And a lot of you know, a lot of people for some reason, think that trans people are paedophiles and yeah, we Yeah. Look, it’s it’s, yeah, it’s I don’t know where it comes from. But you know, there’s a lot of that sort of stuff as well. But, you know, you’ve got to have thick skin to put yourself out there in politics in any in any aspect, but it’s being being of any sort of minority as well and putting yourself in politics. I think it’s you You even have to have thicker skin.
Andrea Wildin 30:02
Oh you do yeah totally. Ok. Well Have you got three big ideas for infrastructure to help the community move through this period of the Rona and you know help our community build back better, Claire?
Claire Garton 30:24
Oh gosh 3 big ideas, I don’t know how big they are but
Andrea Wildin 30:30
oh well small
Claire Garton 30:31
well I think I mean as a country, I mean one of the things that’s really important to me is that I think we need to have treaty with our First Nations people and you know effectively how we are now is founded on invasion and dispossession of First Nations People and until we are honest about the fundamental injustices and ongoing impacts of that I feel like we can’t move forward into the future as a country with respect to our self identity and things like that but
Claire Garton 31:02
On a more local level I’m very much into sort of local politics, local issues, community. I’d love to see things like a library in Moorooka, for instance, more community gardens, and social spaces, dog off leash parks. You know, a lot of those local infrastructure type of things. I’d love to see more public transport for example a city flyer bus all the way down into Chardons Corner in Annerley. I’d like to see the Tennyson rail line reopen. The Cross River Rail stations rebuild. More Active transport and segregated bus lanes. I guess that all wraps up into sort of community type of things. And I don’t know if that’s what you consider a big idea? These are sort of my more local level ideas. But again and again on a broader scale. [No wonder you’re so busy. You’ve got lots of ideas]. Look, I love the local stuff.
Claire Garton 32:07
Economic inequality is really out of control in Australia. I see that as because big corporations and billionaires have got far too much power. As I said earlier we need to Take the money out of politics, take the corporate donations and cash for access out. I strongly believe if we can solve financial inequality problems in this country we can solve so many more of our more localised social issues as well. Inequality drives so many of the social issues.
As I’ve said before we need an independent anti-corruption body but one with real teeth.
And. I ultimately really think We need to kick the liberals out. Get the Greens in balance of power and ensure the next government can go further and faster on tackling this inequality and the climate emergency .
Andrea Wildin 33:08
That’s a lot. But I really. I’m really inspired by what you hope to achieve.
Tim Hill 33:19
And You do a bloody good job Claire in Moreton
Andrea Wildin 33:23
Go big or go home
Tim Hill 33:27
Thats great!
Andrea Wildin 33:29
Thanks so much for talking to us today Claire, I really appreciate it
Claire Garton 33:33
Thanks for having me on Thank you very much I really appreciate it
Andrea Wildin 33:36
So Good to talk to you again Tim
Tim Hill 33:39
As Always
Andrea Wildin 33:40
You’ve been listening to Beyond the Rona, Captioned audio is available on our YouTube Channel. Or you can catch up with previous episodes at beyondtherona.com. We’ll catch you later!