The Greens campaign is gaining momentum in the ACT, says Federal leader Adam Bandt, who believes they are “on track to be the most powerful third party in this parliament”.

“If there’s anywhere that can see Greens break through in both the House [of Representatives] and the Senate in the same place at the same time for the first time, it’s here in Canberra and the ACT,” Mr Bandt said last Wednesday.

The politician visited the party’s local office in Braddon after his National Press Club speech.

Dr Tjanara Goreng Goreng, a First Nations (Wakka Wakka) academic and former public servant, is contesting the seat held by Senator Zed Seselja (Liberals), while Tim Hollo, an environmentalist and musician, is standing for the seat of Canberra, held by Alicia Payne (Labor).

Mr Bandt believes the Greens’ victory at the 2020 local elections – when five new Green members were elected – could be replicated at the Federal level.

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“Totally, I believe it can,” Dr Goreng Goreng agreed. “There’s such a groundswell of support for the Greens generally.”

She said she had heard from the community about the cost of living, the needs of vulnerable communities, and integrity in the public sector.

“People are seeing us out there; people are hearing us, talking to us, telling us their concerns,” Mr Hollo said.

“They’re telling us very clearly their top concerns are the climate crisis, the shocking state of politics, and housing affordability. They’re issues the Greens talk about, and will act on and use what role we can in any Parliament.”

Tackling climate crisis and the cost of living

The Greens have committed to “tackle the climate crisis” by stopping new coal and gas projects, and replacing them with renewable energy, Mr Bandt said.

He said the Greens would “tackle the cost of living” by getting dental and mental health into Medicare (as they got dental for children into Medicare in the 2010 Parliament), providing more affordable homes, wiping student debt, and making childcare free and accessible. They would also lift the rate of JobSeeker to $88 a day, above the poverty line, and sign a treaty with First Nations peoples.

To pay for this, they would tax billionaires like Clive Palmer and big corporations (a third of whom do not pay tax, the Greens claim) and end government handouts to them.

The Greens’ answer to the housing problem is to provide one million affordable homes around Australia, which people could rent at 25 per cent of their earnings, or buy for $300,000.

“Housing in this country has gone from being about getting a roof over people’s heads into being an investment for the wealthy,” Mr Hollo said. “We need to change that… We want to see housing for people.”

Some First Nations people could not secure housing because they could not afford it, Dr Goreng Goreng said; they “live on the breadline and under it”. Elders waited up to four years for social housing, while single mothers and people coming out of prison (the ACT has the highest Indigenous incarceration rate) needed homes.

“People in Canberra and the ACT know that if you want action on the climate crisis and the cost of living crisis, you vote Greens,” Mr Bandt said. “That message, I think, is getting through at Federal levels as well.”

Other Green policies for Canberra

In Canberra, the Greens have promised to revitalise Australia’s public service: restore APS jobs to match 2012 levels; lift APS level wages by 4 per cent per annum over the next four years; limit outsourcing to labour hire firms and the Big Four to 75 per cent of an agency’s budget; reform the appointment process to reduce politicisation; ensure public servants can participate in public debate; and protect public sector whistle-blowers who disclose Ministerial or Departmental misconduct.

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“We’re only going to be able to tackle the climate crisis and health crises like the pandemic if we have … a strong and independent public service,” Mr Bandt said.

“We have to restore the public service and restore the cuts that have been made. Public servants deserve to be paid properly, and we need to lift public sector wages. We need to ensure that our public service is independent. And it’s only the Greens who are fighting for that this election.”

The Greens would also mandate anti-racism training to “challenge white privilege and white fragility, and reveal ingrained prejudices” for all Federal Members of Parliament and Commonwealth employees.

The Greens’ national security policies have concerned the Liberals, who claim they may have repercussions for Canberra. The Greens plan to reduce military spending to 1.5 per cent of GDP, while increasing global aid and humanitarian intake. Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John (WA) estimates this would make $312 billion available over the next decade to spend on homelessness, health services, and income support. The Greens also want to renegotiate the US alliance; close all foreign military bases in Australia; sign a ban on nuclear weapons and lethal autonomous weapons; and pass legislation to ensure governments cannot declare war without Parliamentary approval.

Last year, Canberra Liberals deputy leader Jeremy Hanson MLA, a veteran, said the proposal would endanger ACT personnel and wreak economic havoc. He said the ACT was home to ADF headquarters, employing 8,000 direct ADF staff and a further 7,000 defence personnel in the APS, and that the defence industry contributed $4.3 billion GSP and 25,000 defence-related jobs to the ACT and surrounding region.

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Greens would be independent

Last week, former ACT Greens MLA Caroline Le Couteur, in an article in Green Agenda, worried the local Greens were heading toward being a faction of Labor. “We put forward a positive policy platform, and it gets reduced to a green-tinged ALP government, and we have to publicly defend whatever the government does,” she wrote.

As a Green representative, Mr Hollo emphasised that he would be independent. “People want a representative in the Federal Parliament who actually has the independence to stand up and vote for what this community cares about.”

Green policies, Dr Goreng Goreng said, captured the voices of the people on the ground: café owners, business people, academics, farmers, agriculturalists, and environmental sustainability experts. Their policies were determined by consensus at monthly meetings and conferences.

“Policies don’t get made by some faceless people in an office in the Greens; policies get made by the people who live on the ground, work on the ground, live in the community, using their own experiences. … Politics is about making a difference.”