EIGHT ON CLARENCE STATE ELECTION BALLOT PAPER

By TIM HOWARD

The field to find the next Member for Clarence at the March 25 NSW Election has filled out with the nomination of four more candidates.

Joining the Nationals Richie Williamson, ALP’s Leon Ankersmit, the Greens Dr Greg Clancy and Independent Debrah Novak on ballot paper are:

Mark Rayner, Legalise Cannabis Party, Brett Duroux no affiliation listed, Nicola Levi, Independent and George Keller, Sustainable Development Australia. The ballot draw order is:

1. Mark Rayner

2. Greg Clancy

3. Debrah Novak

4. Richie Williamson

5. Leon Ankersmit

6. Brett Duroux

7. Nicki Levi

8. George Keller

The Clarence electorate has relished their chance to grill candidates at meet the candidate evenings around the electorate like one at the Grafton District Services Club on February 28.

The Grafton Chamber of Commerce invited the known candidates: the Mr Williamson, Mr Ankersmit, Dr Clancy and Ms Novak to a night of question and answer.

The evening, compered by former Grafton City Council general manager Ray Smith, provided some illuminating questions asked by both the meeting conveners and the audience of about 50 community members.

To start each candidate introduced themselves for a few minutes and talk about their connection to the local community. Then the three, set questions began.

1. With 90% of the North Coast National Parks or conservations reserves of that 10% available to the timber industry, just 4% is harvested a year. Do you support a timber industry that only harvests under strict guidelines.

Dr Clancy said forests on Australia’s east coast had been heavily logged and timber and when plantations began, the industry chose to use pine instead of native hardwoods, which was a mistake.

He said Greens policy was to phase out native forest logging because of the remnants of those early forests were wildlife corridors.

But he said the Greens wanted to discuss these issues with the industry and also to begin planting the timbers mills wanted in plantations.

“It’s Greens policy to move out of native forests as quickly as we can,” he said.

Dr Clancy also made the point that disturbance of native forests can affect drinking water, as the Clarence electorate found after the 2019-20 fires.

“I would like the Greens to sit down with the timber industry and see if we can come up with some plan to phase out native forest logging,” he said.

Ms Novak said her knowledge of the industry largely came from local timber legend, the late Spiro Notaras.

She said his main concern was how the state of the industry affected his employees and their families.

But she said other friends, who were environmentalists, had similar concerns.

“It’s family, it’s future, it’s sustainability,” she said. “How do we keep going? How do we make it work.”

She said the answer would come from getting the two sides together the come up with local solution, that’s best for the community on both sides of the fence.

Mr Williamson said his views and the Nationals was a “pretty simple yes”.

“Sustainable logging in the forest is exactly that, sustainable,” he said.

“There are literally thousands of jobs at risk if the Greens ever get control of the State.

For people with timber jobs, this question was the most important and there were clear choices: those who supported continued logging and those who would shut it down.

Mr Williamson also ridiculed Labor’s Koala

National Park, claiming it was a threat to timber jobs.

“You can’t take a resource away, In the State Forests, without consequences,” he said.

Mr Ankersmit said he and Labor were not against people having jobs.

But he pointed out Grafton had a history of losing industries and perhaps forestry was a declining industry in the region.

He dismissed criticism of the Koala National Park as affecting the timber industry.

“Most of the area set aside (for the park) is largely National Parks – 85% already National Park – with some set aside to create corridors and links to other areas to create sustainable koala population,” he said.

He said the mapping had not yet been done to create these koala corridors.

But he said Labor would work locally to support workers in a world that was changing.

2. NSW was the last state to legislate minimum rates for bands and performs at $150 to $200 for three hours plus costs of $350 per person. When will this legislation be passed in NSW?

Mr Ankersmit said it was actually a policy for Labor, but he pointed out it was just for performers at events that attracted grant money. It was not for performers contracted privately.

“That’s a private arrangement between the employer and the performer,” he said.

Mr Williamson said there was not a lot of difference between the parties.

“We want to see performers paid a fair

Continued page 14 quid for a fair gig,” he said.

He said for the Nationals it was already a requirement that the $250 minimum would be paid.

Mr Williamson said the only reason it had not been legislated was because it might disadvantage regional areas.

Ms Novak said it came down to musicians getting the support of their representative in the union and government.

“Whoever is elected, its their job to go and lobby on behalf of our musicians in the seat of Clarence,” she said.

Dr Clancy said the Greens would support the payment but could not say when it happens.

He said as an amateur drummer and singer he had gigged with musicians and was well aware how tough it was for them particularly when time for practice was factored in.

3. Each party has a policy for the future of poker machine operations in NSW. What knowledge does each candidate have of the club industry and the effect that a mandatory cashless gaming card will have on clubs and they communities?

Dr Clancy said the Greens have raised major concerns about gambling and the social problems it created, but recognised this meeting was being held in a club with poker machines that did a lot of good in the community.

Dr Clancy said the Greens campaigned against poker machines in clubs and he was sympathetic to that idea.

Mr Williamson said cashless gaming is coming and said local clubs need to be part of the discussions of the future.

He said the industry would change and the Minister, Kevin Andrews was from Tamworth and understood the problems facing communities.

But he would hate to see regulations that forbad someone having a “$20 flutter on the pokies” after a birthday party.

He said there also needed to be issue about keeping track of problem gamblers.

His main issue was online gambling and there needed to a more nuanced and holistic approach to the issue.

Mr Ankersmit said he agreed with Mr Williamson, particularly about gambling online, which was impossible to regulate.

He said clubs already had measures in place to control problem gamblers, called Know Your Customer, which allowed club staff to intervene if they noticed people gambling irresponsibly.

He liked the Labor idea of trialing a cashless seem in 500 machines to iron out unintended consequence.

He did not want to cut out the fun side, which he said described as an unintended consequences.

He said the trial would reveal more of the issues.

He also noted that money laundering was unlikely to be an issue.

A question from the floor from Clarence

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Catchment Alliance coordinator Shae Fleming about the candidates’ their views on mining in the Clarence catchment and what they would do to prohibit mining in the Clarence, brought was also noteworthy.

Dr Clancy said he was a foundation member of the CCA.

He said mining in the Clarence should be banned entirely here and in neighbouring catchments.

He said the Clarence Valley Council had written to the State Government to let them know about their opposition to mining, which confirmed he was speaking for most of the community in opposing mining in the region.

But Dr Clancy said the government had largely ignored a petition against mining in the Clarence with 11,000 signatures and the current local member had voted against it.

Mr Williamson, who as Clarence Valley Mayor from 2008-16, spoke out against mining in the Clarence, continued his opposition to mining, even if it meant going against his party policy.

“I have always stood up for the Clarence River. Always,” Mr Williamson said.

“It’s on the record, three or four mayoral minutes and a couple of notices of motion around water diversion.

“There’s also a couple of motions around CGS and the Nats were the party that revoked CSG mining licences.”

“And I’m on the public record of being against mining in the Clarence Valley.”

Mr Williamson said he was acutely aware of the “wilderness ark” in the Clarence and also Richmond Valleys.

“It needs proper protection and that protection should be through the form of no mining, because we’re not built for mining here,” he said.

Mr Ankersmit said local Labor branches were against mining and had worked to protect the catchment from mining and would continue to do so.

He said there needed to be a concept that this is something that community won’t permit and any idea of a social licence to the contrary should be withdrawn.

He said there did not appear to much difference between the views of all the candidates on this topic.

“We love our river and our river is a fragile ecosystem,” he said. “We’ve got industries down river that depend on clean water.

“We need to protect that and it’s worth protecting. We need to be a community that stands together and says that.”

Ms Novak said mining was needed for some things and not others, but one of the things that was not needed in Clarence was mining in water catchments.

“That would have catastrophic impacts downriver.”

There have other candidates nights more recently including one in Yamba on Monday.