Beyond The Rona

[Beyond the Rona is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Queensland Greens. Views and opinions contained within this episode are those of the individual.]

'Tis the week before Federal Election 2022 and Tim and Andrea are joined by fellow volunteer and Logan Greens Branch Spokesperson, Dave Kolcze to give some behind-the-scenes insight into what it’s been like during the first week of early voting in Rankin during this election period. All three are hoping for change, and so are many of the people they have met during the past 6 days of pre-poll.

Tim, Andrea and Dave discuss:

• Interactions and conversations with voters
• Experiences on the different booths - Springwood, Woodridge and Browns Plains
• The types of people coming through pre-poll this week, what issues are important to them and how passionate they are about these issues
• Problems at the booths eg: the choice of venue, the way it’s set up, safety issues, carpark issues, accessibility issues, suitability for the community it serves
• How are voters choosing who to vote for
• Cultural and language issues

Dave discusses a policy platform that is close to his heart - dental and mental health into Medicare.

Andrea talks about the WeChat social media platform, used by 86% of the Australian-Chinese community to get Chinese Language news and how this platform is being harnessed by our politicians for political use during this election.

Dave talks about finding volunteers and notes you don’t have to be over 18 to volunteer at the booth.

We did a combined 3 Big Ideas for this coming Election Week:

Dave: 1: Use Social Media

Tim: 2: Volunteer on a booth

Andrea: 3: Unify to kick out Scomo

Beyond the Rona Podcast is recorded in Logan, Queensland on Yuggera country. We acknowledge the traditional owners past and present.

Join us next time on Beyond The Rona Podcast. Get in touch at: https://beyondtherona.com/

Here we get to know a bit more about Western Waka Waka man, 21 year old university student and teacher aide, Jordan Hall, who is Greens Candidate for Forde - https://www.facebook.com/JordanHallGreens

Jordan tells us what drives their campaigning to create a better future for all. Jordan laments on the pressure placed on the shoulders of young people in order to compete for jobs in the shadow of capitalism and how difficult it is for young people to keep focused on a clear view for the future while carrying that burden on their shoulders. The burden is complex including:

• The cost of higher education including university and TAFE in order to compete for a job that earns enough money to afford the soaring costs of living
• The privatisation of education and training which is to maximise the profits for educational facilities but therefore puts further financial burden on the person needing employment and training ie young people
• The fear of the effects of Climate Change for young people and what this means for how young people will experience their world in the future
• Whether young people will ever be able to buy a house in their futures or even have stable housing
• Flattened tax brackets which has created wealth inequality across Australia and less money available for publicly funded social services for young people
• Five times greater funding for private schools than public schools - again creating unequal opportunity for those who can afford private schooling

Jordan explains how climate change is the most important Greens policy platform and comes above all else - https://greens.org.au/platform/climate

They believe young leaders of the future will be able to help mitigate the effects of climate change in the future for rich countries but there will be differences in how badly people are affected according to level of wealth.

We also discussed ideas for change in the schooling system. Jordan believes our national curriculum is in need of improvement for young people, as well as how we measure outcomes. Jordan thinks our whole schooling system may need an overhaul, possibly looking at overseas systems for direction.

They believe people should vote for them because they actually care about the things they talk about and wants young people to have a better future.

Jordan’s 3 Big Ideas:

1. Climate Action
2. Workers Rights and Protections, Raised Minimum Wage
3. Social Justice for minority groups eg Trans People are currently not being treated equally

Beyond the Rona Podcast is recorded in Logan, Queensland on Yuggera country. We acknowledge the traditional owners past and present.

Join us next time on Beyond The Rona Podcast. Get in touch at: https://beyondtherona.com/

In this episode we speak with Nav Singh who is a member of the Indian community on the southside of Brisbane and on the senate ticket for the Greens. He immigrated to Australia 15 years ago. Nav discusses with Tim and Andrea the demoralization of the Indian community during the Covid period that occurred when the Prime Minister decided to initiate a 5 year jail term for the Australian citizens traveling from India, if they tried to enter the country when the Australian borders were shut. This is something that had never happened before in history. These Australian citizens were essentially left stateless.

Nav described to us the immigration program which was initially thought of as an act of goodwill from the Australian government but actually the Indian community has been needed by Australia to help drive the Australian economy because we've needed workers.

Nav said it costs around eight to $10,000 per person for someone to come into the country but then he also discussed once they get here how difficult it is to have left your family behind. It can then cost around $120,000 for you to bring both your parents over or you have to wait around 30 years for a humanitarian visa. The reason for the high costs and the long wait is because of the fact that the elderly are of no economic benefit to Australia meaning that they will not be working and will be seen as a burden to Australia. The 30 year wait is because of the backlog of humanitarian visas that are available.

The other problems that Nav discussed are the actual employment that is available to the Indian community once they arrive, the fact that when they get here the main concern with employers is the English competency rather than the ability for the worker to do the job, even though they are contributing and paying taxes which is what they are here to do. Nav says working here in Australia is very difficult for members of the Indian community not only emotionally but for their mental health as well due to the casualization of the workforce but also because they are working in much lower positions than what they are qualified to do.

They also tested for their English competency every two years when they have come from overseas and are deported if they're found to be not competent in English, which is a discriminatory practice considering many other adults would not pass the same English test.

As well as this, there is an undertone of racism in the community towards the Indian community and they are not respected for their high levels of competency in their roles back in India, for their qualifications, their knowledge, their experience and for the treatment that they're having to endure for the time that they're here, as well as the emotional ordeal of being separated from their families. No matter how long they have lived here, they are still treated as “other”.

The Prime Minister's response to this failure towards the Indian community during Covid was to highlight his ability to provide his family with curry on a Saturday night. However as Nav points out, the Indian community is able to make their own curry. What they would prefer is for the Prime Minister to actually help them.

Nav’s 3 Big Ideas:

1. Stop the casualization of the workforce
2. Tax the billionaires and redistribute that wealth
3. Sustainability of our water supply because water is essential and is being treated as a commodity

Beyond the Rona Podcast is recorded in Logan, Queensland on Yuggera country. We acknowledge the traditional owners past and present.

Join us next time on Beyond The Rona Podcast. Get in touch at: https://beyondtherona.com/

This episode our guest is Nicole Thompson who is the Greens Candidate for Wright in this federal election: https://www.facebook.com/NicoleThompsonGreens/

Nicole has been working as a Registered Nurse for 30 years and has also spent 20 of those years as a qualified Midwife in Australia. She’s worked in both Australia and the USA. This year, she has chosen to leave her job and concentrate full time on her role as a federal candidate, traveling around the Wright electorate and connecting with farmers, residents and community groups.

Nicole lives on Tamborine Mountain which is a small community where the town has no mains supply for water and no town sewerage system. Residents living there tend to have their own bore water and live off-grid with roof-top solar and septic tanks for sewerage. The issues the residents face include being overdeveloped, and losing their water supply as residents complain to Nicole that their personal bores are drying up.

Nicole says the loss of water from Tamborine Mountain is an issue they are facing while commercial giant Coca Cola is licensed to continue water mining in the area, without regard to the views of the residents. However, QUT is currently studying the effects of water-mining in the area to determine the level of what effect the water mining is having on the environment and the local community.

The electorate of Wright: It covers the Scenic Rim and Lockyer Valley up to the NSW border. With more suburban areas like Greenbank and Yarrabilba; where new developments are going in for housing but with the 2 lane road remaining going into the estate. There’s a lack of infrastructure and Planning!. Then there is the “Food Bowl” of Scenic Rim and Lockyer Valley. Used for Agriculture & agri-tourism. This area brings in $400 million Gross product per year.

Our discussion for Beyond the Rona this episode also covered:

• Water Rights & Water Licenses
• Health care in rural areas
• Staffing ratios especially in rural areas
• Poor Internet access: Digital Exclusion for Wright and the Scenic Rim
• Floods: Grantham, Lockyer Valley assistance
• Access to Mental health care in Wright, being rural and regional Queensland
• Domestic violence in the regions

An issue we didn’t cover was bushfire management. Nicole notes that the Greens support hazard reduction burns and have a policy on this available online (although many in the regions don’t have internet access in order to view it). https://greens.org.au/bushfires

Nicole’s 3 Big Ideas:

1. The need for safe Staff Ratios for Nurses and Midwives
2. Mental Health into Medicare
3. Behaviour Programs like Respectful Relationships in Schools, Codes of Conduct and hopefully all this leads to an ICAC

Beyond the Rona Podcast is recorded in Logan, Queensland on Yuggera country. We acknowledge the traditional owners past and present.

Join us next time on Beyond The Rona Podcast. Get in touch at: https://beyondtherona.com/