Doug PollardBrian Walters - Greens, Melbourne
The podcast of this interview is at cpod.org.au/page.php?id=165
DOUG: We are talking on the line with Brian Walters who’s the Greens’ candidate for Melbourne – good morning, Brian.
BRIAN: Good morning. How are you?
DOUG: I’m very well. How’s it going?
BRIAN: Going well. Pouring with rain outside.
DOUG: Yes.
BRIAN: [indistinct] everywhere but going well.
DOUG: Everyone gets the car out when it rains, don’t they?
BRIAN: Yes.
DOUG: Now all the signs are pointing to you making a bit of a splash, in Melbourne I hear – if the polls are right?
BRIAN: I think we’ll do better than last time. But whether we do well enough remains to be seen.
DOUG: You’re up against some formidable competition, of course; because it’s been Bronwyn Pike’s seat for quite a long time and she’s very high profile. (and) She’s also pro-gay marriage so why should people pick you over her?
BRIAN: Because I’m standing for a Party which is also pro [gay] marriage and because we’ll introduce legislation in Victoria – m’mm, if we are elected. To support same-sex marriage in this State.
DOUG: You’ve also very strong “Green” credentials – I mean, in the traditional sense of the word: green. In other words, ecological credentials. You started: Wild. Australia’s wilderness magazine, didn’t you?
BRIAN: That’s right. Yes. 30-years ago now and - - -
DOUG: So you like getting out in the bush?
BRIAN: I love getting out in the bush and I do it regularly. I bush walk, I ski-tour and – you know, camp. With friends and family. It’s been a great source of inspiration and refreshment for me.
DOUG: What do you think the government of Victoria needs to do and what will you help it do, to improve our “Green” credentials – if you get elected?
BRIAN: M’mm - - -
DOUG: There’s a whole raft of things people are worried about – like, you know – water. (and) Transport and so on. What could you do on those fronts?
BRIAN: Just talking about climate change, for a start; we’re in a situation where the Brumby government had the Hazelwood Power Station [and Mine] which was due close down in 2005, but extended its life to 2031. Victoria is well able to replace that with renewable in the life of the next parliament. It requires government investment on the infrastructure necessary. But last year alone, China replaced the equivalent power of Hazelwood 24-times over just with solar energy.
DOUG: M’mm, m’mm.
BRIAN: We can do that here – well, not 24-times over. But - - -
DOUG: [laughs]
BRIAN: - - - at least once. I’d like to see an end to native-forest logging, there’s no need for that to be continuing. We’re already getting many times the amount of hardwood let alone, soft wood from our plantations in the west of the State. Our forests are of course, the most bio-diverse temperate forests on Earth and they should be now protected because they’re huge stores of carbon and of course they’re very important for our water supply. We’re still logging Melbourne’s water supply and that’s costing us at least 15-gigalitres of water per year.
DOUG: On a day like today when it’s absolutely pouring with rain not only do we think about water but we also think about our public transport system. How do you see we could fix that up?
BRIAN: [indistinct]
DOUG: Because it’s not terribly efficient especially on days like this when there’re lots of people who want to use it.
BRIAN: Yes. The public transport system in Victoria is a real problem and the first thing we say is the failed privatisation experiment should be brought to an end. Public transport should be back in public hands and run for the public good. It needs a centralised, public-transport authority; which co-ordinates all the factions of public transport – at the moment, we’ve got MetLink. We’ve got VicTrack – we’ve Metro. Yarra Trams. There is no public transport map for the whole-of-Melbourne, it’s just not available because no-one’s sufficiently co-ordinated to have it. (and) It hasn’t been available for over 4-years.
DOUG: Yeah. Co-ordination is one of the things obviously missing isn’t it?
BRIAN: Yes.
DOUG: The number of times you can turn-up on a bus at a railway station and then you don’t know when the next train’s coming?
BRIAN: Well, that’s right and – m’mm, it needs a central planning authority to deal with that. That’s been the hallmark of all the successful models overseas whether it be Zurich or indeed, here in Australia – with Perth, which is now functioning much better than Melbourne.
DOUG: But do we really have the population density here to support a fully comprehensive, public transport system – aren’t we too scattered?
BRIAN: No. A city that’s fairly typical or fairly similar in its layout to Melbourne would be Toronto in Canada and it really works. With its public transport system, moves far more people than ours. It has a similar population density and for us to be relying on cars – such an inefficient way of moving people around – because the public transport system isn’t functioning properly is very wasteful.
DOUG: It’s going to be expensive to do though, isn’t it; from where are you going to raise the money?
BRIAN: Yeah – look, some of it will actually save money. So having a centralised authority will save money. Zurich administers its entire public transport system which I might say, moves considerably more people than Melbourne – with just 36-staff here in Melbourne we have for example, the Transport Ticketing Authority. Which has only one job which is to hire somebody else to run a ticket system, they hired: myki.
DOUG: M’mm.
BRIAN: They have 104-staff and with privatisation you’ve all these people pouring over contracts at great government cost. So in fact, a lot of it would save money but if we stopped building white-elephant freeways which just move traffic jams around – like, Westlink [M7] which the government says is its Number-1 priority and will deliver 5000-cars-an-hour into the Docklands /Kensington area. Like the north-east [Link] Banyule Freeway (sic) which will compromise important wetlands and parkland, through that area – like, Peninsula Link which is being pushed-through parkland(s) as we speak. Abandoning those things would free-up billions-of-dollars to give us a much more efficient public transport system and it would be the envy of the world.
DOUG: Okay, Brian – well as I say it’s a marginal seat where you are. It’s about 2 per cent I think - - -
BRIAN: That’s right.
DOUG: - - - as the margin, there. You’re not going to get Liberal preferences are you?
BRIAN: Well, the Liberal Party machine has not directed preferences to the Greens. But I think the voters of Melbourne are pretty smart, they’ll direct preferences where they want to direct them and I hope a number of them will want to direct them to the Greens.
DOUG: Fingers crossed for you. Good luck at the weekend.
BRIAN: Thanks very much.
DOUG: I shall be here at Joy, on the evening and hopefully we’ll get a chance to speak with you some time during the election night?
BRIAN: That’d be great. I won’t take calls from everybody but I certainly will from JoyFM.
DOUG: Thanks very much for that, Brian.
BRIAN: Thank you, ‘bye.
DOUG: That was Brian Walters, the Greens’ candidate for the seat of Melbourne.
 Add Comments
|
|
Read More
