Q&A with candidate Peter Ellem

Country Labor candidate Peter Ellem.

Adam Hourigan

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QUESTIONS and answers with Country Labor candidate Peter Ellem.

1). What is your policy on a second bridge over the Clarence River at Grafton. Where would you prefer it to be located and when will it be built?

A second bridge crossing of the Clarence River is essential to relieve peak hour gridlock on our existing bridge, which will only get worse as our population grows. A second bridge should bypass all residential areas of Grafton and link with the Summerland Way, north of Junction Hill. This has been my consistent position for more than a decade. We should not have to wait decades more for a second bridge.

2. What will you do to ensure the Pacific Highway is upgraded to dual Carriageway. When do you expect the upgrade to be completed?

I favour a bipartisan approach to making the Pacific Highway safer for all motorists and would work co-operatively with the O'Farrell-Stoner Government, the Gillard Government, local councils and road user groups towards achieving the ambitious deadline for dual carriageway by 2016. It is clear that more State and Federal funding will need to flow to Clarence in order to improve the fatigue zone between Grafton and Ballina.

3. How many new police do you hope to deliver to the Clarence Valley and Casino? Where will they be stationed and when will that happen?

I thank the hundreds of local business owners and residents in Grafton, Yamba, Maclean, Casino and Coraki who have signed my community petition for more police resources across the electorate, including 24-hour police stations in Yamba and Casino, and a mobile police van in Grafton. Conservatively, we need 14 extra general duties police in the Clarence Valley and another 10 in the Richmond Valley to move from reactive to proactive policing - more foot and car patrols. The two 24-hour police stations benefit all towns in the Lower Clarence and in the Richmond Valley. These experienced officers should be on top of probationary constable allocations arriving in December.

4) The current increase and interest in the mining of Coal Seam Gas seems to be paramount in the electorate of Clarence as the large mining companies are coming into our area and carrying out their operations by stealth all in the sake of greed.

Are you for it or against it? And are you prepared to accept the blame if their actions contribute to the pollution of the Mighty Clarence and Richmond Rivers through "Run Off," because of the chemicals that have to be used in "Fracturing?"

Coal Seam Gas mining in the Clarence and Richmond valleys risks our local agriculture, fishing and tourism industries. Worst of all, it could devastate our rivers, which are our most precious natural resource. Successive State and Federal governments have rushed headlong into the Coal Seam Gas industry, so I welcome State Labor's new policy which calls for the immediate suspension of all exploration and extraction licences until the science is in.

Our pristine coastline is also under threat from coal seam gas mining, with Metgasgo already discussing a pipeline to a floating offshore processing facility on the North Coast. As we have seen in Queensland, this would devastate our fishing industry and destroy our local tourism industry in Yamba or Evans Head. No mining has a place in our river catchments, which are the lifeblood of our region.

5). Could the candidates for the Clarence By-election please give their preferred location for a second bridge crossing for Grafton and provide an explanation as to why they reached their conclusion?

The cheap and convenient option for engineers is to replicate a bridge immediately downstream of the existing one, but this is the nasty option for residents of the riverside suburb of Dovedale, new estates to their north and people living near the CBD.  This route would lead to more congestion, ugliness and plummeting property values. My preferred location is bypassing the Jacaranda City, running west from Clarenza to the Summerland Way with links to the Trenyar industrial estate.     

6).Would you go against your political party's policy to protect your electorate from any threat to, say, pure clean drinking water?

As editor of The Daily Examiner, I launched the 'Not A Drop' campaign against the Federal Liberal-National Coalition's plans to dam and divert the Clarence River's floodwaters inland. Whoever wins the people's mandate this Saturday to represent this electorate must stand up to their party should they entertain any policy which would compromise the quality of our drinking water. If they failed to do so, they would deserve to be a one-termer.

7). I would like to know about your interest in the manner in which "Corporate greed" is increasing at such a rapid rate and whether you consider it is now time to act to stop its increase. Or do you favour it as most of our retired politicians seem to be getting involved in it through becoming members of mining company boards?

Many Australians are deeply concerned about the growing influence multinational corporations and profit-driven media monopolies are having on our society, particularly on our future generations. Short-term monetary gain is being put ahead of traditional values like respect and a fair-go for the individual, lending a helping hand to the most vulnerable, and consulting with, and listening to, local communities when major changes are proposed.  Former politicians can be effective as company directors in corporate life, but only if they carry out their duties in an ethical manner.

8). When you make a promise, will you actually keep it?

People who have followed my public statements as a newspaper editor and as a candidate in this by-election will see that I have been consistent in my views. I was, and remain, strongly opposed to the full privatisation of electricity in New South Wales because it inevitably will lead to job losses in Essential Energy, hikes in power bills which put strain on local households, and unreliability of supply and reduced customer service levels. I also opposed the former Howard Government's privatisation of Telstra and WorkChoices. Good ideas or projects sometimes take longer to realise, but I am committed to properly consulting with community groups and fully researching issues before making promises.    

9). Sports and tuition tourism is the fast growing tourism areas for rural Australia. What do the candidates feel need to happen to improve this for the electorate?

With the Federally-funded Fisher Park redevelopment, Grafton is now well placed to capitalise on hosting major sporting events which will attract more competitors, their families and spectators. In the Clarence Valley, cultural infrastructure - an extension of the Grafton Regional Art Gallery and a performing arts centre in the Lower Clarence - have real merit for exhibitions, live theatre shows and tuition tourism. Richmond Valley Council is developing a master plan for Casino's Queen Elizabeth Park, and this will require State and Federal support to get off the ground.  

10). With support for some of our long running festivals beginning to dwindle due to a change in demographics, should we also be putting more money into tuition events such as the heavily underfunded Artsfest?

Fay Boyd and her hard-working Artsfest committee did a wonderful job of promoting Grafton's rich cultural life nationally. While it was bittersweet that Artsfest has gone into recess, other local people may resurrect this tuition festival in years to come. We should be very proud of our popular festivals such as Jacaranda, the Clarence River Jockey Club's Cup Carnival and Yamba's Surfing The Coldstream - as they showcase the best of our country lifestyle. As any festival organiser knows, programs and/or attractions need to be constantly reviewed to keep pace with changing demographics.