Policies

I've had a link to the Qld Greens' policies over in the sidebar for some time but I think it need promoting a little more, and I'd like to talk about some of the policies as they effect the voters of Greenslopes specifically.

The policies I've been highlighting for Greenslopes are:

Protecting the character of our suburbs

Real protection for character houses. Perserve and increase our green spaces. More community involvement to prevent inappropriate development. There's more in our Planning and Development policy.

Refitting homes for energy efficiency

Our "EASI-Q" plan (Energy Efficiency Access and Saving Initiative - Queensland) will roll out free energy audits in every home across the state, with the Government paying the upfront cost of efficiency upgrades. Households will pay back the cost over 10 years, with monthly payments capped at the amount of energy you are saving. EASI-Q will create 3 200 Green jobs by its fifth year of operation. You can read more about it in this pdf (it's only available in pdf, sorry) in our Climate Change and Energy policy.

Public Transport free for under 21s & seniors

Free travel for under 21s and seniors. New and improved bus routes and public transport reliability to quickly and cheaply get you where you need to do, when you need to go. It's all in our Transport Policy.

Childcare

Create more local jobs in community childcare centres to increase the number of places available. The Greens in the Commonwealth Parliament are also working to amend the Rudd government's Fair Work bill to introduce 26 weeks paid parental leave for all Australian workers.

Better recycling, cleaner environment

Contain deposits – cash back on glass, metal and plastic containers. Modeled on the hugely sucessful South Australian scheme. Nationally, the recovery rate for non-refillable soft rink bottles in 36%, whether glass or plastic, but South Australians recover 74% of plastic bottles and 85% of glass ones! That would be a huge reduction in waste and litter and a big boost to the recycling industry, creating more local Green jobs.

That's a few highlights that I think are particularly relevant to Greenslopes. Here are links to the rest of our policies on the Qld Greens website:

• Biodiversity and the Environment
• Climate Change and Energy
• Democracy
• Economics
• Education
• Food and Agriculture
• Health
• Indigenous Queenslanders
• Industrial Relations
• Planning and Development
• Seniors
• Transport
• Water