Just in: The ALP has confirmed it won’t be running a candidate in the seat of South West Coast on Oct 31 – but Roy Reekie, who ran for Labor against Denis Napthine last time, will run as an Independent. This by-election just got more interesting! Do you think Roy running as an Independent (albeit as still a member of the ALP) will boost his chances of a victory? Read his open letter to voters below:
Tuesday 1 September, 2015
Letter to editor – An open letter to South West Coast electors
[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #DC943C;”] A [/dropcap]t the coming by-election for South West Coast, I will offer myself as an independent candidate to be your representative in State Parliament.
It’s fair to ask: if I’m not with a major party, what do you get?
Those who know me or who have observed what I’ve done in the community and in my career over the past thirty years will know that I won’t be propped up by photo-ops; I won’t speak through media release; I won’t be someone’s mouthpiece.
I don’t look like a normal politician. I don’t sound like a normal politician. I would not be a normal politician.
If I’m elected, I will consult with, listen to and speak on behalf of the community, with strength and without fear.
Having run in four previous elections (1999, 2002, 2006 and 2014), I recognise that this is my last chance to be elected as a parliamentary representative for a part of the world I love. My future – our region’s future – is in your hands.
This by-election provides the south west with a golden opportunity to control its own destiny; to break the mould by electing someone who can truly represent the entire region without fear or favour.
Whether that is me is not the point. The point is that, in this first ever by-election for South West Coast, our region might find its voice and, like the north east of Victoria, make itself contestable and relevant to both major parties.
Roy Reekie
Ferguson Street Warrnambool.
(PO Box 882 Warrnambool 3280
Facebook: Roy Reekie, Independent candidate for South West Coast |)
Sucking the wind right out of Portland’s sails
Portland is still waiting for its economic ship to come in. Street art on the side of the Julia St Creative Space, Portland.
OPINION
What is the long-term future for the beautiful seaside town of Portland and, moreover, does anybody care?
It appears that even when you have the Premier as your local member, it’s hard to get people to sit up and take notice that Portland – Victoria’s birthplace – is not growing, but going backwards.
The town’s population has failed to grow beyond 11,000 and, in 2001, it slipped below 10,000. It currently sits at around 10,700.
The harsh reality for this proud and robust community is that house prices are stagnant, the Year 12 attainment level is among the lowest in the state (49 per cent of students in the Glenelg area don’t complete Yr 12) and unemployment is consistently higher than for the rest of the south-west.
And while it cannot be declared to be dying, Portland’s hopes of building a strong future on the back of one bright hope – the renewable energy industry – are eroding.
Wind tower manufacturer Keppel Prince Engineering, which is the town’s second biggest employer after Alcoa, has been forced to rip 100 people from its 360-strong workforce because of changes to the federal Government policy on the Renewable Energy Target (RET).
The RET, in a nutshell, is the carrot to urge energy companies to invest in renewable energy rather than fossil fuels. Such a carrot means that companies like Keppel Prince, who make wind turbines, can attract more customers and therefore employ more workers.
But judging by what is happening in Canberra, the RET is about to be slashed, making the carrot far less carroty. As a result, Keppel Prince (as it has been warning for months) has had to lay people off.
House price growth in Portland (green line) has been on a downward trend for the past 8 years. Source: Australian Property Monitors.
One hundred job losses out of a population of 10,700 is huge, especially when there are not a lot of options to find other work in the town.
It is not unreasonable to suggest that a fair portion of these 100 – and their families – will leave Portland to find jobs elsewhere.
The good people of Portland have known for many years that, if they hope to have a strong future, they need to reinvent themselves and broaden their horizons from the “old” industries of aluminium smeltering and forestry.
Last year’s closure of Alcoa’s Port Henry aluminium smelter provided a reality check on Portland’s vulnerability if it continues to rely on Alcoa as its largest employer, no matter how good it has been for the town in the past, or how important it remains.
Renewable energy was seen as a potential goldmine for the town, with even the Committee for Portland describing it as a “big kicker”, but now the momentum is being lost.
The loss of 100 jobs just weeks out from a state election would normally leave a local member rushing to explain what he or she was going to do about it, for fear they would face an electoral backlash.
Yet despite facing an election on November 29, local member and Premier Denis Napthine has emerged from the news unscathed, apart from impassioned words from locals like Neville Dennert, a Keppel Prince worker who will lose his job and who took to Facebook to air his spleen.
Portland had been hoping for a significant role in the renewable energy industry, but the loss of 100 jobs at Keppel Prince is a major setback.
Dr Napthine holds his seat by an almost 12 per cent margin and one of the great disadvantages of living in such a safe seat is that your local MP doesn’t have to fight too hard for your vote: this applies whether the seat is held by Liberal, Labor or anybody else.
So Dr Napthine was able to manage the Keppel Prince disaster by firstly blaming others – in particular, wind energy companies – for buying their wind turbines from China, rather than shopping local. He then suggested Keppel Prince might do well out of other infrastructure projects that the Coalition has promised, such as the East-West link.
Sorry, but surely Portland deserves more certainty than that.
The state government, for example, could commit to introducing a state RET which was one of the ideas pushed at the renewable energy forum held in Portland in August. That idea was supported by none other than former federal Liberal leader Dr John Hewson, who was a guest speaker.
The Member for Wannon, Dan Tehan, has also avoided any serious backlash, despite his party being the one messing around with the RET.
Mr Tehan says he is hoping for a “middle ground outcome” where both “old” industry – such as aluminium smelting, which soaks up enormous amounts of electricity – and “new” renewable energies can both thrive.
The reality so far, however, is that renewable energy projects are collapsing before they even get off the ground because of the uncertainty around the RET. Just last week, it was reported that wind projects for Ararat and Penshurst are also under a cloud for the same reason.
Portland is being told to keep the faith, but for those 100 workers who have already been ‘let go’, it must sound like a load of hot air.
[box]Note: The Labor candidate for the seat of South-West Coast, Roy Reekie, penned an open letter to Keppel Prince workers after the announcement of the 100 job cuts. You can download it here. You can also find The Greens candidate Thomas Campbell’s updates on the issue via his Facebook page here. The Australian Wind Alliancewebsite is here. [/box]
The Greens have pre-selected Thomas Campbell to challenge for the seat of Great South Coast…maybe he has one or two surprises up his sleeve (or inside his coat)….
[dropcap style=”color: #a02f2f;”] W [/dropcap]hy did I decide to run in this election?
Our politicians take responsibility for representing our community values, infrastructure needs, future investments and the economy.
One of the most important aspects of our governments, local, state or federal, is whether or not they are profitable. From this, we have a Liberal party who pursue nothing but profit, showing no community values, selling off all investments and public assets, purely to afford grand election commitments in marginal seats.
Our “alternative” government, the Labor party, repeatedly show their willingness to waste public money. The Myki system and the Wonthaggi desalination plant, both initiated by the previous Labor government, were both economic disasters. Myki blew out by $1 billion and the desalination plant, costing billions to build, will cost Victorians $1.8 million a day for the next 26 years, even if it never supplies water.
My greatest concern, beyond this mismanagement, is that neither of the major parties seem interested in supporting the entire state, but instead fight elections in marginal seats.
Living in a Liberal safe seat here in the South-West Coast has its drawbacks. We all know it takes a contestable seat to have the two major parties actually invest a fair share of public taxes into the community. Here in the South-West our trains are a joke, our TAFE has been marked as high risk by the Victorian-Auditor general and the East-West link threatens all infrastructure funding for years to come.
Plans to untangle Melbourne’s traffic jams by building an East-West link will do nothing but create an expensive white elephant, say the Greens. Image: www.topgear.com
[dropcap style=”color: #a02f2f;”] S [/dropcap]winging back and forth between Liberal policies of “sell it all” and Labor policies of “waste it all”, we find ourselves heading towards the 2014 election.
We’re still endlessly searching for fossil fuels to exploit, trashing our TAFE system for a quick buck, watching our public roads crumble and investing in the next white elephant infrastructure project that will deliver nothing but congestion and pollution, the East-West link.
I’ve mentioned the East-West link twice now, this is because when the Liberal party was elected in 2010, they correctly stated that Melbourne couldn’t build its way out of its congestion problems and had no plans to build the East-West link. It seems that statements made before an election mean nothing to political parties.
I also seem to remember a pledge that Victorian teachers would be the best paid in the country, though in fairness, that was a whole Premier ago.
I won’t deny it’s easy to throw dirt at political parties. It’s easy to point out the mistakes, the flaws and unfortunately, the corruption of political parties and politicians (Geoff Shaw, Aaron Lane and leaked tape recordings come to mind).
But still, I want to support my community. When I moved to Warrnambool I initially worked two casual positions, one at the Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory, the second at Murray Goulburn, before taking up a Bachelor of Education at Deakin University.
Through my jobs, education, joining and creating various clubs and speaking to the public, I truly believe that the Greens can achieve great things for Victorians. Our Upper house candidate Lloyd Davies, a qualified engineer and previous councillor for Queenscliffe, is a caring, optimistic, compassionate and intelligent person. He not only exemplifies community values, but was also my inspiration for running in this election.
The Greens have been among those opposed to unconventional gas exploration and fracking. Image: ABC online.
[dropcap style=”color: #a02f2f;”] B [/dropcap]ut what impact can the Greens have in Parliament? What does it mean to vote Green?
Over the past four years, the three Greens members in the Victorian parliament have been fighting to ban unconventional gas and fracking, to give firefighters fair access to Workcover and to support ambulance paramedics for pay parity.
We’ve been bringing forth policies to encourage investment in renewable energy, standing up to a government that’s trying to push through an $18 billion toll road and fighting for our public TAFE system to be fully restored from the major parties failures.
The past four years have been characterised by bad policy and a lazy government. Thousands have lost their jobs while the state government just stood by, no fight, no plan, leaving thousands with an uncertain future. A vote for the Greens will start re-investing in Victoria to solve these problems and create new jobs.
That’s why I joined the Greens and that’s why I’m standing for this election.
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Labor candidate Roy Reekie will be aiming for the swinging voter when he takes on Dr Denis Napthine for the seat of South West Coast at the November state election.
[box] Roy Reekie has chosen a Q&A style for his piece. The questions were selected by an interested observer, not Bluestone Magazine.[/box]
[dropcap style=”color: #dc943c;”] R [/dropcap]oy, the margin of the Liberal Party in South West Coast is nearly 12%. No-one else seems to have been interested in running for the Labor Party in this election. Why are you running?
When I first ran in 1999, it was about getting a few key issues on the agenda – logging of native forests in the Otways and the impact of pokies. We had a win in getting logging stopped in the Otways, but pokies are still the scourge they were.
When I ran again in 2002, it was about building some momentum to make the South West marginal. We got awfully close (well under 1%) but couldn’t quite get there.
I knew that was about as close as we might ever get, but felt honour-bound to run again in 2006. That was about making Dr Napthine accountable for the things he had promised in 2002 and trying to squeeze as much as we could out of our seat’s marginal status. We got a huge amount for South West Healthcare and multi-millions for Portland Hospital and schools in Warrnambool, Portland and Port Fairy. We got Port Fairy its public swimming pool and got funding for Stage 2 of South West TAFE’s infrastructure project. We got Warrnambool’s new courthouse built.
I left the region at the end of 2006 to live and work overseas, returning to Australia in 2009 to work in Melbourne, so I missed the 2010 State election down here.
Now that I’m back home, I feel that I have something to offer to get our region back into marginal territory.
This is largely about encouraging – enabling – people to think carefully about how they vote and why they vote a certain way and what it might take for them to change the way they vote, to make their vote count and to make it work towards our region becoming relevant to both parties by being marginal. People down here tend to vote blindly the way their parents did. I want them to think about it.
I want both major parties to be forced to think about how they represent and support our region. I want them to fight for our votes. I look at Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo and what they get each budget and think ‘why not the South West?’ We need a strong voice for the South West that is listened to because both parties have to pay attention. I can help achieve that.
Mobilising voters to think about their vote and make the seat of South West Coast marginal again is at least part of Roy Reekie’s motivation for running.
[dropcap style=”color: #dc943c;”] Y [/dropcap]ou said you were overseas. Where were you?
I spent about five years in total in Scotland. I was working on addressing anti-social behaviour – neighbour disputes, vandalism, community issues, youth crime, family violence – of which there is a lot in Glasgow. I learnt a helluva lot doing that work, and living in that environment – about myself and about what makes communities tick. I came back with a new set of skills and a renewed enthusiasm for community and an admiration for the power of community-based action. I’m keen to apply those skills here now.
[dropcap style=”color: #dc943c;”] W[/dropcap]hat’s your vision for the South West then?
Having travelled in the UK and Europe – and lived recently in Melbourne, I can honestly say that the South West is a special place with unlimited potential. I can sense that it has changed, matured. It really has amazing potential – mainly in food production, but also in renewable energy generation and tourism.
As a young person, I left Warrnambool to go to uni and to start my career. I returned to raise my children here and now they’ve all left for work and career advancement. Having been away and returned again, I’ve noticed that a lot of people my age are returning, like migrating whales.
My vision for the South West is that we have an economy, supported by social infrastructure (for health, education and transport), that makes it possible for our young people to either stay here for their education and careers or to return quicker. We need to keep our best and brightest connected to the South West and support them and welcome them when they return, and we need to provide those who prefer to stay with opportunities to advance their careers. This will help us to achieve our region’s potential. I want to be part of that.
[dropcap style=”color: #dc943c;”] W [/dropcap]hat are your chances of winning?
Let’s be realistic – not good. But let’s also have a red hot go at getting the seat as close as possible, and some fun in the process.
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Warrnambool lawyer Roy Reekie will line up against Denis Napthine for a third time at the next state election.
COMMENT
[dropcap style=”color: #8f9f59;”] A [/dropcap]fter months of speculation, Warrnambool lawyer Roy Reekie is poised to announce his preselection as the Labor challenger to Premier Denis Naphine for the seat of South West Coast.
Well-placed sources said Mr Reekie’s pre-selection had been recently finalised by the Labor Party and an official announcement would be made shortly.
Ever since returning to live in Warrnambool last year, Mr Reekie has been one of the most promising prospects for Labor because of an already-established profile on the back of the 2002 state election. In that year, Mr Reekie came within a tantalising few hundred votes of pulling off the greatest upset that the south-west has ever seen.
Then, as now, his competitor was Dr Napthine, as it was again in 2006.
The election on November 29 will see the third showdown between the pair, but this time Mr Reekie faces an enormous task, despite the polls indicating that the Coalition will lose office.
While far from the safest Liberal seat in Victoria (that honor goes to leafy Malvern on a 20.5% swing) South West Coast requires an almost 12% swing for the seat to change hands and that is highly unlikely to happen.
What will happen, however, is a concerted push by Labor to carve into that bloated margin and, at the very least, drag it back into single digits so that the 2018 state election becomes a real contest.
And this can only be good for everybody, whether you vote Labor, Liberal, Greens, Nationals or for the Palmer United Party.
Marginal seats are seats where things happen and things get done.
Such predictability makes politicians go soft in the mouth. They know they don’t have to work too hard to actually deliver, because, heck, we just keep voting them back in anyway.
Judging by his extraordinary number of media appearances of late, there is no doubt Dr Napthine works very hard at his job, but the South West Coast is suffering.
Our major roads are terrible, our education standards are embarrassing, our tourism appeal is patchy (especially compared to what is happening at the other end of the Great Ocean Road), and our V-Line train service is one of the worst performing in the state.
We deserve better.
Mr Reekie, together with the Greens candidate Thomas Campbell and all of the other candidates yet to emerge, has his work cut out for him, but let’s at least hope for a robust race.
We deserve that too.
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