10 Reasons to Vote Greens in Sydney

The election on Saturday 2 July is an opportunity for our community to ensure that our values are represented in federal parliament into the future. The role of politicians is not to rule or tell other people what to do. It's to amplify the voices of social movements and the community. And Sydney is a place with a strong sense of community, where social movements thrive. Where people organise, and fight. So it’s not a question of if, but when Sydney will turn Green. Here are ten reasons why to vote Greens in Sydney this weekend.

1. Smash the Patriarchy

The Daily Telegraph described Greens candidate Sylvie Ellsmore as "a blue haired karate-chopping Greenie (who) wants to kung fu kick Labor's deputy leader Tanya Plibersek out of her seat." However, she's more focussed on smashing tories and the patriarchy.

She stands up and fights for all women, especially the most vulnerable in our society- like Refugee women and women seeking Asylum. She stands alongside her non-binary and trans comrades too- fighting a system that privileges white, cis, able-bodied men.

We do this by fighting for real action on domestic violence, to increase access to reproductive health services, compassion for women fleeing persecution and violence, amongst many other initiatives.

Sylvie always makes room to mentor and listen to younger women- working and resisting together. Women united will never be defeated, step one to smashing the patriarchy.

2. Compassion for People Seeking Asylum

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Australia’s cruel policies towards people seeking asylum must change. Australia’s offshore detention policies are cruel and inhumane, and cost billions of dollars. Australia should be a welcoming country, and a sanctuary. The Greens plan will create safe pathways for those seeking asylum, and will immediately shut down detention centres and bring those languishing in them to Australia.

At a time when there are more refugees internationally than there were during the height of World War II, boat arrivals are something many countries are facing. We must comply with our international obligations, treat those seeking asylum with humanity, and process them on shore.

Off-shore processing means indefinite detention. And let’s call that a euphemism for what it actually is – indefinite imprisonment.

Indefinite detention violates human rights and is in breach of international law. Indeed, the UN found Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers violates the Convention Against Torture. The Greens oppose mandatory detention. Close the camps and bring them here.

3. A Clean Energy Future

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Coal is killing our planet, including the Great Barrier Reef. The Greens have a fully costed and tested plan to begin the transition to 100% renewable energy right now, bringing tens of thousands of new jobs and a new economy.

The world is moving away from coal because of air pollution, climate change and the rise of renewable energy. There is a huge surplus of coal for sale, with many mines shutting down and the price of thermal coal plunging. It makes no sense to continue mining coal when the coal industry is in structural decline. There should be no new coal mines. We have a plan to phase out coal and switch to renewable energy.

The real innovation plan starts right here. A sustainable future is possible.

4. Free Education for All

Education is the key to an innovative economy and democratic society. Yet from childcare to TAFE, primary school to university, our education system is becoming more expensive and less fair. The Greens support fully funding the Gonski reforms and drastically reducing the cost of going to university. Australia deserves and can afford genuinely free education.

Currently, Australia under-funds public higher education in comparison to the OECD average. If Australia spent as much on higher education as other OECD countries, we would have more than enough funding to abolish student fees, increase student support and improve education equality.

5. Stop WestConnex, invest in Public Transport!

The Greens have opposed the destructive, unnecessary WestConnex toll road from the very beginning. Stopping WestConnex is possible, just like the community stopped the East West Link toll road in Melbourne. The project relies on federal funding. The Greens would stop the project immediately, tear up any contracts, and redirect the money into public transport and other essential services.

Modern cities should be cheap and convenient to get around. Growing public and active transport – not private tollways – is the only real way to fix traffic congestion, reduce pollution and make our cities healthy and liveable. Priority transport projects for the Greens include light rail for Central to Green Square, light rail along Parramatta Road, integrated bike paths and expanded heavy rail.

6. Treaties, Yeah!

The Greens will always prioritise the voices of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community, and support means for self-determination. The call for treaties is not a new one, and we already see agreements and treaties in place across Australia (such as the Noongar settlement).

We are campaigning for a framework to be established for talks between governments and communities to establish treaties across the country. This is just one aspect on the journey to reconciliation- and we’re sophisticated and mature enough as a country to address multiple aspects at the same time. It’s important to note that discussions around treaties can happen at the same time as we prepare for a referendum to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in the Constitution, and deal with the racial discrimination in it.

The lack of protections in the Australian Constitution has historically meant Indigenous people could be discriminated against – not just decades ago but more recently, for example when the Liberal and Labor parties voted in the Federal Parliament to “switch off” the Racial Discrimination Act to allow the NT Intervention. The Greens support protections in the Constitution to prevent legal discrimination in the future.

7. Marriage Equality + LGBTQI Rights

Sydney has a proud history of LGBTQI resistance and activism, and it is core to social justice. The Greens have an unwavering history pushing for marriage equality- every vote, every MP, every time. We need to get the job done, without a harmful and expensive plebiscite that won’t even bind MPs. Beyond this, we are still fighting for supporting safe schools, increased support for LGBTQI youth homelessness, increasing access to PrEP, removing legislative discrimination for transgender people (including forced divorce) among many other campaigns.

8. A Hub of Culture, Innovation and Creativity

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A humming amateur, emerging and professional creative scene is integral to Sydney. Funding cuts to Arts organisations, late night lockouts and a lack of affordable venues all hold us back from our creative potential.

From the White Rabbit Gallery to Oxford Arts Factory to Freda's- we need to fight to save Save Sydney, we want it to live up to it’s creative potential!

9. Renters Rights & Affordable Housing

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We deserve a safe, secure affordable home. We need to fix our broken tax system, remove negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions, and invest in new public and affordable housing. The Greens plan will slash public housing waiting lists, reduce homelessness and provide renters with greater security against rent increases.

Renting across the city is barely affordable. The Greens are the only major party calling for national minimum standards to protect security of tenure for renters, and to stop excessive rent increases.

10. Cleaning up Politics

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Big interests have too much power. Through political donations, well-funded scare campaigns and jobs for ex-politicians, corporations are buying our democracy. In NSW, the Greens successfully led the charge to strengthen donation laws and defend ICAC. Nationally, we will create a Federal ICAC, clean up political donations and enforce transparency.

The Greens do not take political donations from the fossil fuel industry, which has donated $3.7 million to the two old parties over the last three years alone.