By Stephen Robson
PERTH — When nominations for the by-election in the federal seat of Fremantle closed on February 15, only four names were on the ballot, including candidates for the ALP, Liberals and the Greens (WA). The Australian Democrats were disqualified on technical grounds.
Green Left Weeklyspoke to Stephen Walker, the Greens (WA) candidate, about the issues.
Walker, 40 years old, has worked as a solicitor in Fremantle for the past six years. The bulk of his work has been in legal aid, primarily appeals against Social Security Tribunal decisions and defending people charged with Social Security offences.
Walker said this had caused him a lot of concern because of the high rate of imprisonment. "Anyone who really knows and looks at the issues realises that imprisonment is just not appropriate. There is this knee-jerk reaction."
Walker has also been involved with community legal centres in Fremantle and Kwinana, just south of Fremantle. "It brings me into contact with people with even more difficulties because they often can't even get legal aid."
Other areas Walker has been involved with include child welfare in the Children's Court and immigration.
Experiences such as these, plus the fact that some years ago Walker worked with the Aboriginal Legal Service in the Kimberleys for two and a half years on both criminal law and land issues, led Walker to a strong interest in social justice issues. They will be important in his campaign.
With the "old parties" of Liberal and Labor, "All the rationalist outlook says is that we need more private investment for more jobs", Walker points out.
Walker believes that the Social Security Act needs to be totally overhauled. "There are supposed to be safety nets to protect people in need. We think that a revision of these in a constructive, fresh, creative approach is long overdue. The rules in many cases have long outlived their usefulness and no longer have any hope of achieving the aims for which they were designed."
Citing the example of the prohibition of Jobsearch or Newstart recipients being enrolled as full-time students, Walker explains, "People can be enrolled part time and receive the benefits ... It just means it takes twice as long to obtain their qualifications and it costs the community twice as much in terms of providing social security benefit to them and slows up the process of these people obtaining qualifications. It really makes no sense at all."
Walker is actively seeking contact with the union movement "to seek their views". "We very much support the view that unions should be able to operate effectively and without unfair hindrance" from civil law and criminal law, he says.
The state government has proposed to expand the Kwinana industrial estate. A "misconception that needs to be addressed is that this is a great employer. With modern technologies it really isn't."
Walker says, "The Greens want to look at promoting appropriate industries which will be environmentally sustainable and which will be labour intensive. We want the promotion of development to take a different path." This would involve both the location of the industry and the amount of employment.
Walker identified public transport as an important issue. "Fremantle has the lowest use of car usage of any city in Australia ... and is becoming extremely popular as a tourist destination." The state government is resurrecting an Eastern By-Pass around Fremantle, "which is going to have a number of very serious consequences for the people of Fremantle.
"There will be a four-lane highway, encouraging large numbers of vehicles to drive through some very important residential areas like White Gum Valley."
As well, the state government with federal money is proposing to extend the heavy rail network down the centre of the extension of the Kwinana Freeway to take a rail line down to Rockingham and then onto Mandurah.
The route will also cut through the Parmelia wet lands and the Leda and Lake Cooloongup nature reserves. This area, south of Perth, is likely to have high population growth in the next 30 years.
Walker points to a number of practical problems with the plan. The indirect route between Rockingham and Fremantle will not encourage patronage. The Greens call instead for light rail to be built.