Candidates “final say”

Trevor Anthoney is standing as the candidate for Bullet Train for Australia party in the Hume federal electorate because all of Hume, and especially the community of Goulburn, would benefit hugely from high speed rail.

Goulburn would gain both economically and socially by becoming one of the first regional centres to be linked by any Australian east coast high speed rail network. It would also be an ideal location to develop and manufacture solar and wind technologies which could provide electricity for the trains.

33-years of talk and neglect by all sides of politics has left our nation unable to make a commitment to this essential infrastructure. I want to see this country move into the 21st century now, not in another 50 years.

I would support the immediate (re) establishment of an executive authority to oversee and further the concept of high speed rail.  By formalizing inter-governmental agreements and establishing federal financial commitment, it will be possible to commence planning and detailed engineering studies for Stage 1 (Sydney-Canberra).

I want to help create public transport that my children and millions of Australians along the east coast can easily access. Anyone who has been on a bullet train anywhere in the world will tell you it is the only way to travel.

If you want to boost local economies, if you really want to talk about ‘jobs and growth’, then we should be more than just ‘talking’ about high speed rail. My ‘three word slogan’ for this election is applicable to all parties; “Less talk, more action”.

If you would like to have bullet train transport that is clean, efficient, good for our families, communities, and cities, then Vote 1 - Trevor Anthoney, Bullet Train for Australia for the electorate of Hume, then as you normally would.

Christian Democratic Party - Adrian Van der Byl

Adrian Van der Byl’s first involvement with politics was in 2007 when he assisted the Christian Democratic Party’s (CDP) campaign in the Federal Election. It was the year of Labor’s Kevin 07 campaign.

You may call me a veteran campaigner as this is the 4th campaign that I have contested as a CDP candidate since 2011. The reason that I have campaigned this year is that since Malcolm Turnbull has become Prime Minister the Liberal Party has moved so far left it is now indistinguishable from Labor on moral and social issues. I now stand as the only strong conservative voice for the constituents of Hume.

I chose the CDP as it was the only party that truly honoured our Federal Constitution whose preamble opens with the words, “Humbly Relying on the Blessings of Almighty God”. Without this recognition it is not possible to act in the best interests of our country.

The vision I have for the Southern Highlands / Hume Electorate is the improvement of public Transport infrastructure, more particularly the establishment of a Very Fast Rail network connecting Sydney, Canberra and ultimately Melbourne. It is a concept that has a long history but has never yet got off the ground. The time has come to make it happen.

It has long been recognised that strong conservative social values with the family unit based on marriage between a man and a woman is the basis of society that will prosper any nation. The present major parties are too busy with social engineering with marriage equality and safe schools to act in the best interest of our nation. For this and other reasons many are leaving major parties to join the CDP. This is why people are now voting for the only conservative alternative party, the CDP.

Briefly, the policies I stand for in this election are:

• Establishment of a Federal Corruption Watchdog, we want to fight corruption and keep politicians honest.

• No changes to Superannuation, we believe it is not fair to change the rules and taxes on Superannuation.

• No Medicare cuts, we will stop the Government’s cuts to Medicare and Health.

• Support Free Speech, The Greens and Labor want to further restrict what you can say and think. We will defend your rights to free speech and other civil liberties.

• Defend Marriage; we will defend the definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman.

• Protect Children – stop ‘Safe Schools’ I will fight to protect children from sexualisation and abuse.

• Control Mosque development Applications, we will stop the legal dualism championed by our government. No Sharia Law. Mosque establishments violate Australian sovereignty.

• Keep Aussie assets. Aussie owned, Stop the government selling off our vital assets to foreign countries.

This is the most important election in a generation. The 2016 federal election is about restructuring the values that will shape the nature of our nation for years to come. It is time to restore this country to the great nation it once was. Vote 1 CDP.

Citizens Electoral Council - Lindsay Cosgrove

Lindsay Cosgrove says the voters in Hume, and all Australians, must look for real solutions

Citizens Electoral Council (CEC) candidate for Hume Lindsay Cosgrove says "Two issues subsume all others, which the CEC alone is addressing: ­the deepening economic crisis in Australia and the world;­ and the danger of Australia being drawn into a war with China ­and Russia."

He said "Australia has record foreign and household debt; we are losing our productive industries, such as agriculture, and our car and steel manufacturing; real unemployment is at least 11 per cent; and our banking system faces wipe-out when the property bubble inevitably crashes."

Lindsay said he wants people to not just vote CEC in Hume, and in the Senate, but he's asking them "to join our fight for the future".

"The CEC is fighting to revitalise Australia's productive industries, which are the backbone of a prosperous economy".  Along with parity pricing for producers, he said, "the CEC's immediate policy, modelled on the 1933 US Glass-Steagall Act, is to separate banking—investment from deposit-taking—before the next global financial crisis, and before the banks start 'bailing in' (skimming) everyone's bank accounts." Lindsay said these measures will "keep investment in the productive sector".

The CEC, he said, "wrote the legislation for a National Bank of Credit for Australia" back in 1994. "By establishing a government-owned and -directed national bank, masses of new credit can be created for investment in major infrastructure development like a high-speed, magnetically-levitated ring-rail around Australia, to drive real productive employment and increase the movement of goods and people."

On the global issues, Lindsay said: "For 28 years the CEC has fought as an independent political party for the principles of the common good and national sovereignty, in economic and foreign policy, which are needed today.

"The global financial system is a powder keg of bad debt, which underlies the very real threat of WWIII as the same US and British decision makers who committed us to the regime-change fiascos in Iraq, Libya and Syria that created ISIS, are now escalating against China, Russia and their BRICS partners." Lindsay made the point that "Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, as well as nations such as Egypt, are already building major infrastructure projects at home and abroad and they've invited all countries to participate in this ‘win-win’ perspective. Australia must join their World Land-Bridge shipping and rail network to transform our trade and economic production."

Greens - Michaela Sherwood

Hume is  a large, diverse electorate with three distinct socio-economic areas: Camden/Narellan, Southern Highlands, and the rural-regional area of Goulburn, Crookwell and Boorowa.  The needs of these areas are different, but in some ways overlap.

The rural-regional area of the electorate is facing five pressing challenges: impacts of climate change; transport; communications; employment opportunities and social inequality.

The impacts of climate change on agriculture are being experienced now, with shortened growing seasons, changing patterns of weeds, and many other problems.  I am strongly advocating a significant increase in funding to CSIRO and other research bodies to urgently find ways of mitigating these problems.  The Greens have a policy of 90% renewable energy by 2030 to help combat climate change.

A high speed rail line from Melbourne to Sydney, through the Hume electorate, has been discussed for 30 years but, despite bipartite support, has not turned into reality.  The latest study, which shows the line to be feasible, has no plan for a station in the Hume electorate.  I am advocating very strongly for a station in the electorate, probably in Goulburn because the planned route goes there, and for the project to commence now.  This will bring enormous economic benefits to the region, which of course includes Crookwell.

The Coalition’s and Labor’s NBN plan relies on satellite connections for all but the centres of Hume’s regional towns.  These connections will cost up to 3 times more for a much lesser service, despite Labor’s original promise that everyone in Australia would pay the same irrespective of location.  The NBN, even in the Hume towns, is not going to cope with the new wave of internet technology, the Internet of Things, which is set to deliver huge benefits in agribusiness, telemedicine, education and many other areas of life.  I am advocating an urgent review of the NBN plans of both the Coalition and Labor and an expert assessment of alternatives modes of access.

Small business is crucial to rural-regional economies and jobs, but the Coalition’s and Labor’s small business policies (company tax cuts and tax concessions) will do very little to assist, especially to sole traders and partnerships.  Those policies will only really assist companies (not sole traders) with turnovers in the millions.  I propose a number of measures to support small business.  One of these is my proposed Commonwealth Staffing Hub, whereby public servants don’t have to commute to Canberra but can work in secure, fully equipped premises in Goulburn and connect to their home agencies via the NBN.  People in Crookwell could make use of the facility or, if sufficient demand, another such facility could be established in Crookwell.  These Hubs would use local small business for its support and would improve patronage of business close to the hub, such as coffee shops.  They would also attract more people to the region. The Abbott and Turnbull government budgets have (would have) serious impacts on the vulnerable, disadvantaged, the elderly and the sick.  I firmly stand to protect all such people. Fiscal prudence is all very well, but it’s a matter of priorities:  the Greens believe that having large companies and the very wealthy pay their fair share of tax will provide sufficient revenue to allow a more equitable society.  I also share the Green’s values of promoting diversity and not allowing prejudice and bigotry.  As a transgender woman I relate to all those who suffer prejudice as a result of who they are.

Liberal Party - Angus Taylor

My number one approach to effectively representing Crookwell and Upper Lachlan, indeed my whole electorate, is to get out and listen. I have made a point of being very accessible at a local level.

I have always sought to get to every last corner of the electorate, that’s not a new approach, that’s something I’ve been doing since I became a candidate for Hume almost four years ago. For the best part of three years I have been running the Hume Village Visits program.

Ultimately my job as your local MP is to listen, to identify issues and solve them, to identify opportunities and go after them.

Fixing Crookwell TV reception was a great achievement for the local community. It was a problem presented to me when I first became the local candidate, so I worked on securing the necessary licence, securing the funding for re-transmission services and with strong support from council, the RBAH (Regional Broadcasters) and the community, we had the equipment installed at Wades Hill earlier this year.

There has been unprecedented Federal investment in the region in the past three years. We have funded Upper Lachlan Shire Council $7.6 million (2014-19) under the Roads to Recovery program, committed to improvements to Devil’s Elbow on the Crookwell Road near Grabben Gullen and safety works on the Collector Road, a mobile phone tower at Dalton, the Crookwell Pool refurbishment. We have just announced that a re-elected Turnbull government will invest $200 million on a regional jobs incentive program Australia-wide.

Supporting regional small businesses to grow is a major focus for me. We want them growing and employing and I’ve spent an enormous amount of time talking to local businesses. We have a great opportunity here because it’s a growing region and we need to maintain what’s great about the Upper Lachlan villages while continuing the growth.

Our small businesses are our lifeblood and to support them we need the right infrastructure – the right telecommunications infrastructure, the right roads and community infrastructure – to back families and businesses in the area to get on with their lives.

Hume is a big place, with fantastic people and a huge range of issues. That’s what makes it so interesting and such a great job for me.

I sent out a community survey to all 53,000 households in Hume a couple of weeks ago and in the past few days I have sat down and gone through every single response. I find if you listen, you’ve got a chance of solving problems.

It has been a privilege to represent the communities within the Upper Lachlan for the past three years. I hope to have the opportunity to continue doing so - Angus Taylor

Labor Party - Aoife Champion

Labor has announced its NBN policy which will give fibre to the premise for 2 million more premises than under the coalition. The Labor party had originally planned for 93% of premises in Australia to receive fibre to the premise, but after the coalition reduced that to 20%, the Labor Party will have to contend with work already done and multimode technologies already contracted out.

Aoife Champion said “We will release our plan in two stages. Stage 1 will increase the rate of premises with fibre to the premise to 40% of Australian premises. It will include those without contracts for multimode technologies already in place, or work already commenced or completed. Stage 2, further down the track, will be a reassessment of premises on the various lesser technologies, in co-ordination with Infrastructure Australia and relevant experts, to ascertain how and when those premises can be transferred to fibre to the premise. It was and remains our intention to have the vast majority of Australians on fibre to the premise to ensure we are equipped to handle a future where businesses, students and regional Australia are connected to the world and can keep pace with the world.”

Despite Malcolm Turnbull’s very recent denials of the Government’s intentions in relation to Medicare, the Coalition has a track record of saying one thing before the election, and doing the opposite after. Medicare is slowly but surely being converted to a user pays system. Elements of the service currently and formerly delivered by government will not continue to be delivered by them. The Liberal Party are determined to retain their freeze on the indexation of GP payments leading many GPs who have until now bulk billed, with no choice but to add on a co-payment just to ensure the standards are maintained in their practices.

Aoife Champion said “There are parts of Hume with GP’s who bulk bill and parts without. I met a mother in Bargo who told me that her GP now charges $5 up-front per person per appointment as a co-payment in addition to bulk billing, and that adds up to quite a bit when she and all the children have to see the doctor at once. I had another couple in Bundanoon tell me that their GP charges a full consultation fee for one of them and bulk bills the other, and they do not know the reason for the differential treatment. I also had an elderly woman with a 92 year old husband, telephone me from Goulburn whilst I was standing at the Pre-poll booth in Camden, and immediately after a Liberal supporter had denied her party was privatising Medicare in any fashion. This elderly lady called me specifically to ask to sign a petition to protect Medicare and to tell me that prescription prices had already gone up where she lives and her own GP had said there was nothing they could do about the ongoing squeeze on GPs, other than to pass it on to patients.”

Ms Champion said “A survey of over 500 doctors, conducted by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, has found almost a third of doctors will be forced to abandon bulk-billing as a consequence of the freeze. More than half said they would increase out-of-pocket costs. MS Champion said “This is not a future projection, this is already taking place and indeed up and down this electorate, as evidenced in the stories I am told by the multitude of people who to talk to me about it because they know only the Labor Party will stop the destruction of Medicare and consequently Australia’s health.”

Radiology and pathology clinics all over the country have petitions in their reception rooms, filled with signatures of people asking the Government not to cut payments it makes to those clinics. They are warning that the effect will be that the cost will be passed on to customers in up-front payments from July 1, the day before the election.

Additionally, the Abbott-Turnbull Government has begun the set-up of an official taskforce to develop a plan to privatise the Medicare payments system, has put money in the Budget for the taskforce, and has made recommendations for how to prepare for the sale. They have also given a consulting firm $5 million to start the sale. Expressions of interest have come from big banks, telcos, even multi-national security company Northrup Grumman, and the Government has asked the Productivity Commission to report on how to privatise service delivery including Medicare using the United States of America to exemplify the kind of system they are considering.

Aoife Champion said “If expecting people to make up front payments for Medicare services such as GP visits, blood tests and x-rays, is not a privatisation of the system, I don’t know what is. If it is not an Americanisation of the system, I don’t know what is. When all the LNP can do is deny to the public what they are already doing and have done, and deny it to their trusting supporters as well, they haven’t a leg to stand on when the facts get in the way. Furthermore, a Freedom of Information request was made to the Department of Health for documents discussing privatisation of the Medicare payments system. The request was denied, and documents were not released to us because they were protected by Cabinet privilege and “would reveal matters considered by cabinet.” The Department of Health have therefore confirmed that privatisation of Medicare has indeed been considered by Malcolm’s cabinet, and the rest of us aren’t entitled to know about it.”

We know the LNP position on Medicare: “In an ideal world, every Australian would have private health insurance. That would be the best, that would be the best outcome.” [MALCOLM TURNBULL, ABC RADIO, 15 MAY 2009]. And this is the same position they had when Medicare was introduced as Medibank by Gough Whitlam. They removed it, privatised it and the Labor Party had to reintroduce it as Medicare when they were put back in power under Bob Hawke. The LNP were always totally opposed to the idea of universal health, and to this day, continue to tear it down.  

Further, Aoife Champion said “This is also an infection control issue. If a family just like my own with toddlers, has a coughing 3 year old, but can’t afford the associated pathology cost of a mouth swab and a co-payment at a GP who is struggling due to the payment freeze, they may ignore the niggling cough thinking it will subside, send the child to day care where there are unimmunised babies, and inadvertently spread contagions like whooping cough. This is reality. And indeed, we should be scared.”