Saffin, McClelland speak on climate change, Kyoto Protocol
Forty Ballina residents turned out last night to a community forum hosted by Janelle Saffin, Labor’s candidate for Page, with special guest Federal Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister Robert McClelland.
The forum was held in Ms Saffin’s Ballina office, and focused on the key issue of climate change and the Kyoto Protocol.
Mr McClelland, pictured with Ms Saffin, told the meeting: “Climate change needs action, not excuses. John Howard and the National Party have failed to act for 11 years. Ratifying Kyoto means getting Australian business and farmers a seat at the global emissions trading table.”
Ms Saffin told local residents that she wants to make sure everyone could do their bit in the effort to stop climate change.
“Coastal and farming cCommunities will be hit hard by climate change. Signing the Kyoto Protocol is the first step we must take to be serious about combating climate change. If elected, Kevin Rudd and Labor will make signing up to the global fight against dangerous climate change one of our first acts,” she said.
Ms Saffin said that, as well as working on the big picture, if elected Kevin Rudd and Labor will provide:
Low-interest loans of up to $10,000 to help families invest in rainwater tanks and solar panels
$250 million fixing leaking public pipes and water mains, because water is too precious to waste
$250 million to give $500 rebates to households that install pipes for grey water and rain water tanks.
Questions were asked on topics ranging from emissions trading, to the effect of climate change on farming communities, the effects of the Federal Government’s extreme workplace laws, to local disability services.
At the forum’s close, Ms Saffin said: “This successful public forum is just the start of my campaign to make sure that people from the Northern Rivers are no longer neglected like they have been by John Howard and the National Party for the last 11 years.”
