The Greens have chosen ecologist and social scientist, Dr Saan Ecker, to be their candidate for the state seat of Goulburn.
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Dr Ecker is already selected for the Hume electorate in the federal election, but said she is allowed to run for both state and federal seats.
“You are allowed to run for both, but not stand for both, so I would have to choose if I was elected,” she said.
Dr Ecker said the federal election is ‘like a Cheshire cat’ - it could appear at any point.
“I put my name forward as a state candidate as well for the same reasons I did for the federal election,” she said.
“I want to stand for issues that the Greens support that is not being picked up adequately by the other candidates, even though there is a rush now to announce funding for schools and hospitals.
“These are not the priorities for the major parties in the same way they are for the Greens.”
She said the Greens have also announced a policy for free education.
“The gap between rich and poor is growing - Austudy is not sufficient and university fees are too high, so a lot of young people are being cut out of our education system,” she said.
“This is a priority for spending public funds. In Goulburn, we want to restore funding for TAFE.
“We want publicly funded education to ensure people have the option of getting an education without creating a lifetime debt.
“Many countries around the world have free education there is no reason Australia can't.”
Dr Ecker believes there should be more transparency in important state issues.
“Governments should govern for the people rather than for corporations,” she said.
“We need to clean up politics in NSW.
“It’s time to ban corporate political donations that unduly influence the major parties.
She said NSW also needs to get serious about addressing climate change and ending the reliance on coal.
She also intends to address NSW biodiversity legislation laws.
“NSW is facing a crisis in native vegetation loss, with vegetation clearing accelerating under the Berejiklian government,” she said.
With expertise in water catchment management, she also has better management of water resources firmly on her agenda, an area that she says the government has clearly neglected.
Specifically, in the Goulburn electorate, Dr Ecker said she would be targeting transport, health, housing, education and employment.
“We can have sustainable growth in this region that is good for the environment and helps people to live a good life”.
She will also target locally based renewable energy projects, such as the Goulburn Solar Farm, improved resources for hospitals and upgrading transport options along the Canberra to Goulburn to Sydney route, including high- speed rail.
Dr Ecker has lived and worked in the Southern Tablelands for 20 years. She lives near Gunning.
She is a social science and environmental researcher with a PhD in social science, a Masters of Ecological Management and qualifications in psychology.
She volunteers with landcare and leads a grassroots community action group — Saving the Superb Parrots. She is also a member of the Rural Fire Service.
The Greens will launch their Goulburn and Hume campaigns with Senator Dr Mehreen Faruqi on February 8 in Berrima.
Dr Faruqi said Goulburn faces pressing social, environmental and economic issues.
“Dr Ecker has a lifetime of experience working to solve complex social and environmental issues, and I am extremely excited to have her as our candidate. I look forward to campaigning with her on important issues to build a future for all of us,” she said.
Additional biography
Dr Saan Ecker has managed multi-million dollar community-based projects in water catchment management, sustainable agriculture and biodiversity conservation and has extensive experience in community engagement and complex problem solving.
She also has expertise and has published research in the areas of water resource and catchment management, sustainable agriculture, agri-tourism and food tourism and environmental stewardship .
She has worked in state and federal government and in the non-government sector as well as running her own social science research consulting business.
She has presented her research at many forums across the country about sustainable food and fibre systems and developed a sustainable agriculture program in Western Australia called BestFarms. S
She has a vision for improving triple bottom line sustainability for agriculture and revamping our broken national natural resource management support system. She is also a committed campaigner on social equality issues.