Elections > Federal Election 2007 > Candidates

Bruce Carnwell

Australian Democrats candidate for Petrie

Why I am standing

What do you want from your society ? I am running as a candidate for the Queensland Democrats for Petrie … not because I have some naïve view that the world will shift on its axis and the electors will believe that my party has the best policies (it does!) and that we should form government (though that would be nice!) but because this is one of the best ways to be engaged in the political process and put forward new and innovative solutions to our quality of life concerns.

Right now the most critical issue that will impact on our quality of life is climate change. The electorate of Petrie is on the edge of the beautiful and iconic Moreton Bay which is still a home to dugongs and the sea-grass meadows which are a key part of their fragile eco-system. Moreton Bay also provides an amazing array of seafood to the local area and many fishers are dependant on harvesting this natural resource. It is critical that we stop the horrific impacts of climate change on this fragile environment and ensure that it is protected for future generations. A one-two percent rise in the water temperatures in the bay will kill off most of the existing marine life and forever change the ecosystem. We can start fixing this critical problem right now by funding solar hot-water systems and domestic solar power generation feeding back into the grid with a payback based on the reduction in electricity bills.

** No uranium mining – at all – anywhere in Australia **
But don’t buy the line that the only solution to providing clean energy is nuclear power – it is not clean on ANY level – the process of creating nuclear fuel rods from uranium consumes a large amount of non-renewal fuel and disposing of the waste requires finding a geologically stable site that will last 250,000 years. And to cap it off this is a non-renewal fuel, just like oil.

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Important issues in my electorate

The key issues that are reducing our quality of life in Petrie, besides climate change, are transport and traffic congestion, bad urban planning and housing affordability. The Democrats have solutions to all these problems and the thread that links them all is environmental and economic sustainability. We can begin to fix our transportation issues and help the environment by building a train line between Petrie and Kippa Ring which would immediately reduce the commute time heading into the city. Go to www.wheresourrailway.org for more information.

The Federal Government must begin to act on key infrastructure projects like this and it can be funded in the following way: by immediately introducing a carbon tax of 10%, increasing annually, on all non-renewal energy production or consumption points. Using these funds and a significant portion of the very large budget surplus they would be able to dramatically subsidise public transport to a level of 90% via tax credits, and provide income-contingent loans to either the State Government or directly to a publicly-listed company to build the rail line. This first step would dramatically change the transport energy environment, and provide the incentive for Australian business to lock-in to a renewal future. This is a productive use of the financial benefits resulting from the resources boom!

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Important policy documents

The Democrats are a party of ideas and have an alternative vision of how Australia could be; environmentally and economically sustainable, embracing of cultural and sexual diversity and a shining example of human rights in practise! But flowing through all this is a common sense approach to change; the best way of ensuring change is effective and long-lasting is to bring the people along with you. This is common sense! Forced change that doesn’t take into account differing views will result in sections of the society being alienated and angry.
For a full list and detailed policy go to: http://www.democrats.org.au/policies

## Climate Change Solutions ##

The Democrats don’t believe that our future is all doom and gloom! Human-induced climate change and the depletion of world oil supplies are critical issues that we must address but we have both the technology and the money right now to address them. But we must act now because any further delay will mean that changes will be more dramatic and cause more dislocation. One of the positives is that the solutions to both of these threats will be synergistic: using solar power to separate water into oxygen and hydrogen does not produce carbon dioxide pollution and will also provide a liquid fuel for transportation.

This is just one example of renewal technology and this is a key point. It is unlikely that there will be just one solution to our climate change crisis and energy needs; in fact there will be many solutions which in turn pushes our economy forward and provides both jobs and job satisfaction. It is a crime that Australian innovators are forced to seek capital funding overseas rather than being backed by our Australian government. The number one impediment to a clean green energy-sufficient environment is lack of seed capital to enable brilliant ideas to become prototypes, and effective prototypes to go into production. This is where our Federal Government should be injecting the massive budget surpluses via an investment mechanism known as income-contingent loans combined with a co-contribution scheme. This would enable innovative companies to take a punt on a project that might not work out in the end but is currently showing dramatic potential. If the concept is developed through into a saleable outcome the loan would be repaid from the profits made. If it failed or was not cost-effective only the initial outlay would be lost.

What I find most annoying about the current election campaign is that there is no attempt to use the huge surplus funds that we are getting from corporate taxes as a result of the resources boom to address seriously these issues. This could be our last roll of the dice and we are currently throwing the opportunity to invest in our quality of life away!

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Contact Details

Other Candidates

BRITT, Peter - CDP
D'ATH, Yvette - ALP
* GAMBARO, Teresa - LP
JONES, Terry - GRN
POPE, Michael - LDP
VINCENT, Sally - FFP

* incumbent

Previous Elections

Bruce has also been a candidate in the following elections:

Federal Election 2004