TONI WARDEN, Greens WA candidate for Kalamunda in the September 6 state election, is a founding member of the Stop the Eastern Terminal Substation Action Group (SETS) and a member of the Hills Climate Action Group. GLW’s Annolies Truman interviewed her about her campaign.

What do you see as the main issues in this election?

The main issues are the climate emergency we are facing, and social inequities that have been exacerbated by the resources boom.

We need to bring WA’s emissions down fast, as the overriding priority. Firstly, through introducing a differential feed-in tariff and State-sponsored financial incentives for businesses and residents to buy grid-connected Photovoltaic systems. Secondly, through assisting the fast track development of renewable energy technology in Western Australia to help transition coal workers into new jobs. Thirdly, through a moratorium on the building of any new coal-fired power stations. Lastly, through the protection of all existing crown land to the same level of protection as that of existing National Parks.

What’s the problem with the resources boom?

The resource boom is a time bomb, waiting to go off. It is a major driver of social inequity in WA. Not enough wealth is being collected from the mining and related sectors and reinvested into improving social areas that are in decline. The other long-term problem is the lack of focus structuring our cities, jobs and education for the inevitable downturn.

The boom is making some people extremely wealthy. However, it is also worsening the lives of many others. People who aren't working in the resources industry aren't getting the big salaries, but they are having to use more of their income to pay the rent or mortgage, fill up their cars, and put food on the table.

Increasing petrol prices are causing the greatest impact on those households who can least afford it. Lower income households on the margins of the metropolitan area are paying a greater proportion of their income to keep the family car running. Improving Perth’s public transport infrastructure is critical to redressing this. We need to improve the transit services throughout the Hills - I support the establishment of a light rail link to Forrestfield, Maida Vale and High Wycombe, with frequent buses feeding the rail link from surrounding suburbs.

Economic rationalism dominating the thinking of the Liberal and Labor parties has caused the deterioration in services in outlying suburbs. We've seen the loss of Kalamunda District hospital and police services in Kalamunda. I would push for their restoration and the return of Kalamunda District hospital to provide acute hospital, surgical and obstetric services.

How do your views differ from the major parties'?

Neither major party sees Climate Change as an emergency. Most of the latest scientific data is suggesting that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's worst-case scenarios are happening. If either major party truly faced up to the emergency, they would place an immediate moratorium on the construction of new coal-fired power stations. However, The Greens and Socialist Alliance are the only parties with such a policy.

The Liberals are advocating nuclear power generation, whilst Labor is advocating coal-fired power generation as Western Australia's future. Both support channelling vast sums of research and development money into carbon sequestration, despite the fact that the technology is not yet proven, is at the very least 15 years away and may be extremely costly to implement once it is ready.

Both Labor and Liberal share a "growth at all costs" attitude, backed by bodies such as the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. This attitude has led to an unprecedented imbalance in our society that has seen the whittling down of social services, policing, our education and health systems. I am supportive of business, but it must at all levels meet the triple bottom line - environmental, social and economic.

Tell us about the SETS campaign

SETS formed after a Western Power consultation about constructing an electricity substation in the Hills area.

Western Power had clearly already selected the Hacketts Gully area, because 300,000kV, high-powered transmission lines had been previously "dog legged" there.

Apart from local environmental devastation, the project would contribute to Global Warming. The Collie to Eastern Terminal transmission line upgrade would see Perth's power needs predominantly supplied by coal, not renewables. It would also mean an unprecedented amount of land clearing in the remaining 7% of South West bushland.

Western Power recently admitted that it had mismanaged the public consultation process and announced it will start again from scratch.

This represents a win. Unfortunately, Western Power has also re-affirmed its desire for a terminal near Hacketts Gully, so SETS is going to have to continue!

Visit the Green Left Weekly website and see the article.

Through my work with the Stop the Eastern Terminal Substation, I became acutely aware of how endangered the Perth Hills are to continued urban development, mining and public work projects (Western Power and the Water Corporation).

The Hills are viewed as being rich for the pickings. We have good bauxite (Aluminium) mining reserves 8km east of Mundaring Weir Dam. The Hills can be considered “cheap” land by Western Power and the Water Corporation (to name a few government entities). Developers also see the opportunity to carve up blocks close to precious water catchment areas for high density living as a cash bonanza!

So why should the people of the Perth hills and all Western Australian’s fight to stop the same over development that the rest of Perth has to suffer with? Essentially, the Perth hills ARE the vital lungs and rain belt for the greatest amount of population in Western Australia.

The Darling Scarp forms part of the South West Ecoregion.  Globally it is recognised as one of the planet’s major biodiversity hotspots and the only hotspot in Australia. To be considered a hotspot, high levels of natural diversity, particularly for plants and amphibians, together with high levels of threat to that diversity is taken into consideration. To put that into perspective, just 2.3% of the earth’s surface, is home to more than half of the planet’s living species!

Picture:

Darling Scarp, Perth, and Swan Coastal Plain. Image Science and Analysis Laboratory, NASA 

To quote the South West Ecoregion Initiative report, “The Southwest Australia Ecoregion is thus a significant part of the planet’s natural heritage, and the conservation of the biodiversity of this globally significant area is the responsibility of all Australians.”

Only 7% of the original vegetation is intact, with the remaining vegetation scattered in fragmented remnants of bush land that vary in sizes, condition and degree of isolation. Land clearing is the major driver of habitat loss and the fragmentation that results generally results in the continuing loss of species, which occur long after the land has been cleared.

We are only just beginning to recognise the importance of the role that vegetation plays in rainfall and the decline of rainfall within Western Australia. A recent study by Murdoch University focussed on the rabbit proof fence that divides the wheatbelt from the Great Western Woodlands, and found that clouds stayed over native vegetation and not the cleared agricultural land. The implications of this study are giving scientists new insight into how land clearing affects climate change and drought conditions.

So from an environmental perspective alone, it is vital that the Perth hills has some form of protection. This form of protection has come from Giz Watson MLC (Greens Upper House - North Metro), as the draft Perth Hills Planning Bill. It was conceived after requests to Giz Watson from hills residents to find a way to better protect and plan for the future of the Perth hills. You can read more information about the Bill at the Save Perth Hills organisation’s website.

I fully support Giz Watson’s Bill and if elected would seek to support it’s finalisation and passage through the Parliament. I would also seek to support the extenuation of the National Parks boundaries throughout the Darling Scarp, in order to further the protection of our endangered remnant bushland.