Retired TAFE teacher Peter Morris has been announced as the Greens’ candidate for Hunter.
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A Valentine resident, Mr Morris has lived in the Lower Hunter for most of his life.
He has been active for many years on environmental matters and is keen to work on social justice issues.
“I’m prepared to stand up and have a go,” Mr Morris said.
“The Greens vote is steadily increasing and I want to play a part in helping it grow in this electorate.”
The Greens’ Hunter campaign will focus on the issues of sustainable development and the creation of thousands of jobs in the renewable energy sector, and the restoration of TAFE funding.
“Moving our workforce out of mining won't hurt this region,” Mr Morris said.
“If state and federal governments cooperated we could have a commitment to industries such as high-speed rail and we could build the rolling stock here.
“This region could and should play a vital role in developing renewable energy industries.
“If we stop paying our workforce to pump carbon into the atmosphere and find them new jobs in clean industries we can rightly hope for a better future.”
Mr Morris said restoring full funding to TAFE will increase the opportunities for young people and for anyone retraining, and will be vital to the renewal of industries in the new economy.
“Both the demand and the technologies for renewable energy are growing fast and extreme climate events have shown that our coal exports are harming the planet,” he said.
“It has been increasingly obvious over recent years that employment in mining has been waning, but our governments have ignored the very real need to plan a just transition of labour from mining to renewable energy industries.
“Employment beyond coal mining will be in new industries and people will need to be trained up, and TAFE will play an important role in that.”
Mr Morris said he also hopes to help Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon return to the Senate.
Mr Morris was joined by Ms Rhiannon to launch his campaign on Wednesday.
They visited the Bulga Progress Association to discuss the impact of the Warkworth mine; stopped in at Singleton and then travelled to Cessnock, where they had afternoon tea with local supporters.
Ms Rhiannon said the Greens have a fully-costed plan for transitioning towards 90 percent renewable energy by 2030, and away from reliance on coal-fired power.
She also stressed the need for action on climate change.
“We value our clean air, clean water and fresh, local food,” Ms Rhiannon said.
“We value a safe climate, and we want to pass a safe Australia on to our children and their children.”