[ Sep 24, 08 ]
Greens Deputy Lord Mayor Candidate Cr Kathleen Maltzahn writes:
Over five years ago, I stumbled across slavery in Brunswick St Fitzroy. It was shocking, but not surprising. It wasn’t the first time I’d found out about slavery in Melbourne’s inner city. It wouldn’t be the last.
What was shocking was how long it took for the federal government to respond. It took from the raid of the brothel in mid-2003 to a High Court decision that was handed down on August 28 this year for this case to be resolved.
In between, the five victims endured a committal hearing, two trials, an appeal to the Court of Appeals and the High Court case. Finally though, they have been told that yes, what they experienced was slavery, a crime against humanity.
So what does that have to do with local government?
[ Sep 23, 08 ]
Swanston Street is an inconsistent mess. When it comes to traffic in Melbourne CBD, we need to move people without petrol. The time has come to actively prioritise bike, public transport and foot traffic. And that means limiting car and tourist bus access.
If elected in November, The Greens will do three things:
[ Sep 11, 08 ]
In an era of drought and water scarcity, Melbourne has to start securing its own water supply. 
While John Brumby pursues polluting projects like a desalination plant, the real solutions are much simpler. We need to begin looking at all our local spaces - roofs, parks, streets - as potential water catchments. We must advance and fund new projects, like The Greens’ proposal to remove the depot from the Fitzroy Gardens and replace it with a wetland, using otherwise lost water to irrigate the gardens.
[ Sep 5, 08 ]
A special guest post about the current state of play in transport from Greg Barber, Greens MLC for Northern Metropolitan.
Above: protesters outside the State Government’s Transport Summit on Friday.
John Brumby is promising us a ‘30 year vision’ for transport for Victoria, due before the end of the year. It sounds like he is softening us up for the bad news: that some communities will have to wait 30 years for the public transport improvements they are crying out for right now, while a privatised road tunnel gets built in the meantime.
What we need is a much quicker, say ten year, plan that deliver on the promise his government made six years ago; a doubling of the proportion of trips (to 20% by 2020) that are taken on public transport. It requires a dramatic upgrade to the frequency and extent of trams, trains and buses.
Click ‘read more’ for the complete post.
