Brunswick candidates support climate emergency declaration #Vicvotes2022
November 8, 2022 at 3:32 pm John Englart 1 comment
Candidates | Forums | Scorecards | Upper House | Climate Emergency Declarations
The 2022 State election date is Saturday November 26
The electoral roll closed 8pm 8 November (Enrol to vote), candidate nominations close on 11 November. Early voting starts 14 November. We are asking all candidates to sign the Climate Emergency Declaration as the Victorian parliament has not declared a climate emergency. Although declaration of a climate emergency is a symbolic act, it starts the process of systemic change in ramping up climate action in address the climate crisis that can clearly be seen in multiple extreme weather disasters now happening around the world. The Victorian Floods in the last month and the 2019/20 black summer bushfires and the weeks of smoke that smothered our city highlight the problems.
Merri-bek Council adopted the climate emergency in September 2018. In November 2018 the Climate Change and Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio signed a climate Emergency Declaration. Six of Nine Brunswick candidates supported a climate emergency in 2018.
Climate Emergency Declarations
In the Brunswick electorate those who have so far signed or supported a climate emergency declaration include:
- Dr Tim Read MP (the Greens),
- Rachel LaMarche (Animal Justice Party),
- Shea Evans (Reason Party),
- Nahui Jimenez (Victorian Socialists).
- Note: Labor candidate Mike Williams was asked at the forum, followed up twice and has not committed.
Candidates
Confirmed candidate listed alphabetically by surname from VEC nominations. Dr Tim Read (Greens) is the current MP.
- Shea EVANS (Reason Party) – Climate Survey BrunswickVotes2022-SheaEvans-ReasonParty
- Nahui JIMENEZ (Victorian Socialists) – Climate Survey
- Rachel LAMARCHE (Animal Justice Party) – Climate Survey BrunswickVotes2022-RachelLaMarche-AnimalJustice
- Minh QUAN NGUYEN (Liberal Party) – Climate Survey
- Dr Tim READ MP (Greens) – Climate Survey BrunswickVotes2022-DrTimRead-Greens
- Lillian Shaker (Family First)
- Kenneth Taylor (independant)
- Mike WILLIAMS (Labor) – Climate Survey
Forums
The Brunswick Residents Network organised a forum on 20 October at Brunswick Uniting Church which heard from five candidates. The full forum was livestreamed on Facebook. Read Mark Phillips account of the debate at Brunswick Voice: Brunswick candidates trade blows over planning
Watch on Youtube:
See also Merri-bek Transport Forum which was very Brunswick focussed.
Candidate Photos from the Forum
Scorecards:
Climate One is assessing candidates with their traffic light voting for Brunswick.
Transport Scorecard
The Public Transport Users Association have published a Transport Scorecard comparing the transport promises of Labor, Liberal and The Greens, with fottnote mention of other parties such as Transport Matters and Reason Party. – Transport Scorecard
Cycling Scorecard
Merri-bek Bicycle User Group has done a survey of Brunswick candidates on cycling. Responses (in order of when the survey was submitted):
The Victorian Cycling Strategy 2018-2028 provides a strong guide for improving bike conditions across the state. However, achieving goals such as 25% of all trips by foot or bike by 2050, means a significant investment is needed in new active transport infrastructure. UN recommends 20% of transport budget should be on active transport. Victoria is under 1%.
Bicycle Network Election Commitment Tracker…
Clean Energy Scorecard
Very detailed scorecard on energy by Environment Victoria election. This Clean Energy for All Policy Tracker reveals the best and worst climate policies on offer, Comparing Labor, Liberals and the Greens.
Logging Native Forests Scorcard
In Vicvotes, Where do the parties stand on logging? FoE Melbourne have the answers in this Scorecard, that also assesses the minor parties and some Independent candidates. Stopping Native Forest Logging in Victoria could save 3 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year, 14 million tonnes by 2030.
Victorian Forests Alliance has identified where Victorian Election candidates in certain electorates stand on ending logging in native forests. The general Scorcard for the 3 main parties – Greens, Labor and Liberal
Upper House (Legislative Council)
Our climate survey was sent out to some lead candidates:
Jerome Small (Victorian Socialists) Climate Survey – No response
Sheena Watt (Labor) Climate Survey – No Response
Samantha Ratnam (Greens) Climate Survey – NorthernMetroVotes2022-SamanthaRatnam-Greens
Leah Horsfall (Animal Justice) Climate Survey – NorthernMetroVotes2022-LeahHorsfall-AnimalJustice
Evan Mulholland (Liberal) – Climate Survey – No Response
Fiona Patten (Reason Party) – Climate Survey – NorthernMetroVotes2022-FionaPatten-ReasonParty
Friends Don’t Let Friends Vote Above the Line
Victoria is the only Australian jurisdiction still using Group Voting tickets for the Legislative Council election. This is where you can vote 1 above the line or number candidates below the line. If you vote 1 above the line, the party allocates your preferences according to a registered group voting ticket.
Minor parties have learnt to use this by tightly swapping preferences and bargaining with major parties for their preferences. The deals often reach across different regions. Group Voting Tickets has resulted in the rise of preference whispering, in which a person sets up deals between different micro parties to swap preferences, for a substantial fee of course. Ben Raue of The Tally Room recommends that Friends Don’t let Friends vote above the Line.
Voting below the line is easy: “You simply need to number 1 to 5 on your ballot, and then number as many extra boxes as you wish. As long as your first 5 numbers are unique and sequential, your vote is formal.” says Raue.
However to maximise preferences you should continue numbering candidates. For an effective climate vote below the line, number as many parties as possible, best to worst (all candidates). Download the Vote Climate Northern Metro scorecard (PDF)
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Entry filed under: Climate Emergency, election, Vote Climate. Tags: Brunswick, Brunswickvotes, Climate Emergency, vicvotes, Vicvotes2022.
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