Sunday, May 20, 2012
Posted by Jim on March 19, 2012
Catch up with Noosa Greens Candidate Jim McDonald and read what he says on various election topics.
Jim has been activiely campaigning to get some decent representation of Noosa into the parliament
Posted by admin on March 12, 2012
The anti-gay marriage advertisement by Katter’s Australian Party again shows how out of touch the party is toward the views of ordinary Queenslanders, the Australian Greens said today.
“The party’s latest ad is an insult to modern Queenslanders and shows how out of touch it is,” Greens’ marriage equality spokesperson, Sen. Sarah Hanson-Young, said today in Ashgrove.
“It does not represent the views of Queenslanders toward gay and lesbian couples. This is why Queenslanders should be voting Green because most Queenslanders, like the rest of Australia, support marriage equality for same-sex couples.”
Sen. Hanson-Young is in Brisbane today supporting Greens lead candidate Adam Stone to stop the LNP’s opposition to civil union laws.
“Queensland’s parliament has already said to same-sex couples ‘you are equal to heterosexual couples’,” Sen. Hanson-Young said.
“I’m working hard in the federal parliament so that this year Australia’s government amends the Marriage Act and spreads that message of equal love to all same-sex couples across Australia.”
“I call for the ad by Katter’s Australian Party to be withdrawn,” Greens lead candidate and candidate for Mt Coot-tha, Adam Stone, said.
“Our parliaments are meant to increase the rights of marginalised peoples, not diminish them. I’m standing up for Mt Coot-tha against the likes of Katter’s party. I’ll also defend the electorate against the LNP’s plans to repeal civil unions as part of the campaign for full marriage equality for same-sex couples.”
Posted by admin on February 3, 2012
Cartoon by Nicholson from “The Australian” newspaper
Australian Greens communications spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam today launched a campaign urging the Government to strengthen media cross ownership laws and protect diversity in the Australian mass media.
Senator Ludlam said the recent Fairfax raid by mining billionaire Gina Rinehart was just an example of the ongoing concentration of media ownership in Australia.
“This is not about Mrs Rinehart’s personal world view. It’s about the mass media in Australia being run by a tiny handful of people which is getting smaller and smaller.”
“Eleven of Australia’s twelve capital city daily papers are owned by either Fairfax or Rupert Murdoch’s News Ltd. The remaining newspaper is effectively controlled by the owner of Channel Seven. It stands to reason that the concentration of media ownership in this country has gone far enough.”
“Disturbingly, Australia is already ranked 30th in the world for press freedom. By comparison, Canada is 10th and New Zealand is 13th.” (Reporters Without Borders – Press Freedom Index 2011/2012
Mining billionaire Gina Rinehart has bought almost 14% of Fairfax Media, adding to her 10% stake in Channel Ten. The reach of Fairfax extends beyond the city mastheads the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age into regional towns right across Australia.
“The weakening of Australia’s media ownership laws by the Howard Government has had a negative impact on the integrity of public debate in Australia, a situation that will worsen if further concentration of ownership is permitted.”
“With the support of the Australian Greens, the Government can take the urgent action required to protect diversity in media ownership in Australia. We have asked the Australian people to write to Communications Minister Stephen Conroy through our website – http://www.greensmps.org.au/media-ownership – to urge him to take action before it is too late.”
Posted by Jim on January 25, 2012
The Greens candidate for Noosa, Dr Jim McDonald, said he will be attending the Australia Day ceremony at the Recreational Hall at Wallace Park.
He said, “I think it is important that a candidate aspiring to represent Noosa should be present at the formal induction of new citizens into the community.
“Citizenship ceremonies are one of the most moving secular ceremonies in our nation. I have always admired the bravery of migrants who choose to set up a new life in Australia and to formally identify themselves with our nation by taking on citizenship.
“My own migrant origins in Australia stretch back 180 years, so there hasn’t been a tradition in my family of people formally taking on citizenship. But the challenges facing today’s migrants and my forebears who were free settlers are similar in many respects.
“Some of our new citizens will have fled tyranny and persecution and we welcome them into our community and wish them a safe and prosperous future in our country.
“On behalf of the Noosa Greens, I welcome all our new fellow Australians.”
Jim McDonald
Greens Candidate Noosa
Media Release, 25 January 2012
Posted by Jim on January 24, 2012
Jim McDonald, the Noosa Greens Candidate for Noosa writes to the Noosa News about de-amalgamation:
I’d like to thank Bob Ansett for pointing out what the LNP’s website says about Noosa’s de-amalgamation because what the LNP spokesperson for Local Government, Gympie MP, David Gibson, says and doesn’t say on that website is quite different from the LNP’s actual policy.
As The Greens candidate for Noosa, I have called for a referendum to establish the ratepayers’ wishes as the primary step in giving the Noosa community the local government it really wants. This is a community-focussed process of decision-making and the role of the Government will be then to facilitate – through community consultation – any changes resulting from the community’s response.
The LNP proposal is for “an advisory poll of voters in any proposed new Local Government boundary” after a Queensland Boundaries Commissioner has prepared their “preferred options” for any changes after he or she has considered submissions from the community.
These are important differences that need to be understood by all the groups involved. The LNP offers the Noosa community an “advisory” role in a poll. The policy does not indicate what kind of poll that might be. The Greens have called for a local referendum – let the community decide on deamalgamation not some appointed Commissioner fiddling with boundaries, “advised” by the community.
This “advisory poll” is something quite different from Mr Newman’s and Mr Gibson’s undertaking that “residents living within the proposed new council area will, by a simple majority, vote whether or not they wish to establish a new Noosa Shire Council”.
In designating a role for a Commissioner to make the decision on whether Noosa is to get the Council it wants, the LNP has developed a process that pushes the community to the side. LNP policy also will load the cost of a new Noosa Council on the residents: “ratepayers of any proposed new local authority would bear the full costs of any de-amalgamation.”
The Greens position is that if the community decides on separation the cost should be borne by the Government since it was the Queensland Government that forced amalgamation on us in the first place.
The Commissioner’s process of decision-making looks very like a “Yes Minister” scenario. I say that because the LNP policy includes the critical statement of principle: “The LNP has made it clear that its preference is for Queensland’s Councils to remain as currently constituted to avoid any further disruption and cost for local communities.” With that statement goes any confidence that accommodating the electorate’s interests is anything more than a sop to the community’s wishes.
As a Noosa resident who favours de-amalgamation, I’m rather disappointed that Friends of Noosa and the Alliance find the LNP position so attractive since any close examination of the LNP policy shows that Campbell Newman and David Gibson have made an offer that is designed to fail the wishes of the Noosa community, and the LNP cannot be trusted to carry out their wishes.
Jim McDonald
Greens Candidate
Noosa
13 January 2012
Posted by Jim on August 22, 2011
Good luck on Thursday, Drew.
There is no doubt about the immorality of CSG extraction and coalmining on productive land and in people’s homes, but the laws are not geared towards what is best for Australia’s food security, nor what is best for the aquifers and the Great Artesian Basin, nor for the atmosphere as methane leaks, nor for the destruction of family lives and the peace of communities. On these grounds alone you have an absolute reasonable excuse.
The work you have done for the farmers and communities of the Darling Downs is sowing seeds across the country sustained by your’s and the farmers’ courage to stand up against multi-nationals and Australian companies out for a fast buck whatever the damage they do.
Drew, you should be proud of what you have achieved for all of us in bringing the pernicious industrialisation of our land and its resources to the public consciousness. I am!
Jim McDonald
Wide Bay Greens Spokesperson
Posted by Jim on December 20, 2010
Jim McDonald was recently interviewed on Noosa Community Radio about the coalmining exploration in the Wide Bay and north Sunshine Coast and the possibility of further exploration in Sunshine Coast.
Listen to the interview here 
Jim McDonald, Greens Spokesperson, Wide Bay Federal Electorate, 18/12/10
Posted by Jim on August 2, 2010
Proposals to allow the expansion of the Kin Kin quarry raise issues about its suitability in the Kin Kin district. The following are comments made by the former Minister for Infrastructure and now Premier about the Titanium tourist project, which are relevant to the quarry:
“I need to be satisfied the proposed size and location is consistent with the intent of the SEQ Regional Plan.
“The site includes good quality agricultural land and areas of significant biodiversity value – the very areas the SEQ Regional Plan was established to protect.
“The Regional Plan is our safeguard to ensure growth in SEQ is managed in a sensible fashion. It protects more than 80 per cent of the region from urban development while providing for better land use, environmental protection, improved connections between homes and infrastructure and sustainable use of resources such as water and energy.”
“Ms Bligh said her decision followed a rigorous assessment process by the State Government and Noosa Shire Council. The development application has been the subject of deliberation by numerous agencies since it was lodged in November 2005….”
[Noosa Shire Council] refused the application, citing reasons including that the application was in conflict with their own planning scheme….
[Ministerial Media Statement, 18 April 2007]
Ms Bligh said in Parliament last year:
“No wonder the expert planning advice I received as part of the call-in said that ‘the proposed development would introduce inappropriate levels of development’ and that ‘the site has significant biodiversity values’ and ‘there is no overriding public interest to justify the conversion of this land to non-rural development’.”
As State departments dither on the quarry, why are not the same principles being applied by the the Council and State Government on this issue?
Posted by Jim on July 31, 2010
Noosa’s best chance of representation by a candidate who understands the community is the Greens’ candidate for Wide Bay, Jim McDonald.
Jim has been a resident of Noosa for 15 years and has been involved in the community during that time. He stood for Council in 2004 and has been involved in various community activities since becoming a resident. He has been president of Noosa Chorale, a lecturer in negotiation for Noosa U3A and for a time on the U3A Committee, a volunteer speaker for the Australian Heart Foundation. Early this year, he ensured that the Sunshine Beach community became aware of Council proposals to change Sunshine Beach village. His article in the Noosa News led to a large turnout of residents at a Council briefing session letting the Council know the community position, which had been neglected in consultation processes. Jim is also a member of Noosa Arts theatre and edited an online theatre newsletter and bulletin for the Sunshine Coast.
Jim McDonald on the campaign trail
As the Greens candidate for Wide Bay Jim has thrown his support behind the Kin Kin community’s concerns about the expansion of the Kin Kin quarry and PAGE, which is trying to protect beautiful hills habitat in the Noosa hinterland from Powerlink’s proposed high voltage transmission lines through Eerwah Vale. The Greens also support Noosa’s de-amalgamation from the Sunshine Coast Regional Council and informed the Friends of Noosa about that a couple of months ago. Neither the Labor candidate nor the sitting member understands our concerns about the negative effects of amalgamation on the Noosa community. Once part of a viable and solvent Shire Noosa residents have inherited rising rates in a debt-ridden regional council. We support a Council which unites the common interests of the Noosa Hinterland and the hinterland towns as well as Noosa and the Eastern Beaches.
His was one of the few voices that raised concerns about the inclusion of Noosa in the Wide Bay electorate before the 2007 election. Many Noosa people are not aware that the administrative centre for the electorate remains in Maryborough. That’s further away than the Brisbane CBD. The area covered by the old Noosa Shire demographically, economically and regionally has more in common with the Sunshine Coast than the rural communities and towns of Wide Bay.
Despite half the voters in Wide Bay being located in Noosa, the Labor and Nationals campaigns are being run out of Maryborough. Noosa perspectives are neglected. The Greens candidate understands the Noosa community while having responded for some months to community issues throughout the electorate as he campaigned throughout Wide Bay. The Greens campaign is being run out of Noosa.
On 21 August Vote 1 Jim McDonald, Greens Candidate for Wide Bay and Noosa
Posted by Jim on July 21, 2010
I have pledged my support for students as follows:
If elected as the member for Wide Bay, I pledge to use my vote in the parliament to:
Jim McDonald
Greens Candidate for Wide Bay
As a former academic, I am appalled that the Labor Government failed to restore the levels of support for student organisations that existed before their removal by the Howard Government. University is a very special experience and personal growth can be enhanced by student involvement outside the lecture hall and the tutorial room. Many politicians, such as former Treasurer, Peter Costello, who voted out support for student bodies, benefitted personally from experience in student organisations.
Funding for universities in research, teaching and facilities must be increased as a fundamental investment in knowledge, innovation, science, culture, Australia’s prosperity, and the people of our country. Presently, there needs to be an increase in accessibility to the university experience for students in the regions. That experience is potentially undermined by large staff-student ratios. Regional universities in particular have high ratios of lecturers to students and that affects both on-campus teaching and distance education. Additional funding should address improvements in the number of teaching staff in universities.
On 22 July, Senator Hanson-Young announced a four-point plan to help tackle student poverty and housing affordability.
Comment, Jim McDonald, 21 July 2010
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