GREENS POLLIE BLASTS CONSERVATIVE RULE

Queensland Greens candidate for the Hinchinbrook electorate Carolyn Mewing.

MILD-MANNERED Queensland Green’s candidate for Hinchinbrook Carolyn Mewing has come out swinging, blasting decades of right-wing rule in the deeply conservative electorate.

“Sixty years of relentless conservative rule in the electorate of Hinchinbrook has led to the environmental, social and economic pothole we find ourselves in today,” Ms Mewing said.

She questioned why Hinchinbrook continued to miss out at the feeding table in Brisbane, asking “have conservatives made us the losers?”

She further firmly rejected the myth of so-called green tape when the party had just one elected member of parliament, Michael Berkman.

“How on earth can the Queensland Greens be blamed for anything, when it’s the others who’ve been in power for 60 years in Hinchinbrook, and across Queensland?”

She said that while the old Queensland had been forged on the back of cheap labour, the “new economy is on the back of cheap energy”.

“The Queensland Greens have a fully funded plan to build 100 per cent publicly owned renewable energy by 2030, creating 23,000 jobs per year in Queensland,” she said.

“Hinchinbrook-townsville will benefit with the proposed Solar PV factory for our area, delivering 750 local jobs.”

Ms Mewing said the Greens’ comprehensive multi-billion renewable energy plan included $6.25 billion a year for 20GW of publicly owned wind, solar and storage over four years, paid for by $25 billion debt-funded infrastructure investment using “record-low interest rates”.

It also included $6.4 billion for new transmission lines and $2 billion for community renewable energy such as solar on public buildings.

She said the proposals equated to 7799 jobs, including 2500 jobs in Hinchinbrook and Townsville.

“Voting the same way, over and over, and expecting a different result, is madness,” she said.