New Greens MP Michael Berkman is looking forward to the opportunity to put Greens policies and values forward as the new member for Maiwar.
He told 91自拍论坛 Weekly that it was a 鈥渉ugely significant result鈥 for the Greens to win their first seat in Queensland and a significant increase in their vote in other seats.
鈥淥ne of the common myths about the Greens is that it is a wasted vote,鈥 he said. And that is a myth he is keen to bust.
鈥淎 lot of people don鈥檛 understand the preferential system and their sense that a Green is not likely to win makes them disinclined to give Greens their first preference,鈥 he said.
He is hoping that winning a Queensland seat for the first time will give more confidence to people who align with Greens policies and values to vote Green in future.
At the same time, he was at pains to point out that he will be a lone Greens voice in the parliament that has a slim Labor majority. Therefore, when considering priorities where outcomes may be achieved 鈥渋t will be easiest to focus on those issues where Labor already has some legislative program鈥.
One such example is donation reform. 鈥淭he fact that [Labor] has opened up the door and started talking about developer donations is a positive indication, but our policy has been for some time that we need to go much further. All for profit, corporate donations should be banned,鈥 he said.
Berkman said that 鈥渢here is a much bigger conversation to be had about [political] donations [more generally]鈥 canvassing possibilities that donations could be capped or removed altogether to be replaced with public funding of elections.
When asked about union donations, he said that banning union donations was a 鈥渃ommon retort鈥 to the suggestion that corporate donations be banned. However, he said there is a 鈥渧ery real distinction to be drawn between donations coming from singularly profit-driven organisations compared with member-based organisations such as unions and other representative bodies鈥.
Ultimately, he said, 鈥渋f we want to get money out of politics altogether 鈥 we need to look at some model of public funding of elections.鈥
Abortion law reform is another issue where 鈥渨e've already seen some movement from Labor鈥.
鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be really important that once the Law Reform Commission has finished its work that Labor moves very quickly on that. It may not be something that we need to drive as a priority, but it certainly should be something dealt with as soon as possible by the new parliament.鈥
Berkman also raised Treaty and 鈥減roper recognition of Indigenous sovereignty鈥 as an issue that should be addressed 鈥渋n earnest鈥 even if it cannot be resolved quickly. He acknowledged this is something that requires both federal and state engagement, but that it is 鈥渞eally encouraging seeing open acknowledgement in other states鈥 about the need for Treaty.
鈥淭here should be no doubt in anyone鈥檚 mind that sovereignty has never been ceded and everything that we do in Australia we do on stolen land.鈥
Berkman is also concerned about the rise of inequality and the disengagement from politics by ordinary people.
鈥淲e brought some genuinely transformative policy initiatives to this election,鈥 he said. These include universal housing, tackling the imbalance of power between renters and landlords and cheap and expanded public transport.
Berkman said the Adani coalmine was a powerful issue in the election campaign that crystalised progressive thinking. But it is also emblematic of a 鈥渄eeply flawed system鈥.
鈥淭he fact that a big corporation like this, irrespective of the public opposition, can continue to garner support of government at the state and federal level is just wrong.
鈥淚t just demonstrates that representative democracy is fundamentally flawed in some way鈥, he said.
鈥淭he policy focus of both major parties on corporate concerns means the day-to-day concerns of regular people aren鈥檛 being properly addressed.鈥
When asked about his views on the future of the Greens in light of the public debates in the federal party room, Berkman replied: 鈥淚 think the most sensible way to characterise these issues is that the party is dealing with growing pains.
鈥淚 honestly feel these are essentially questions of emphasis and messaging; I don鈥檛 feel there is a dramatic ideological rift within the party.鈥
He pointed out that now the Greens have state representation in Queensland, there is a need to create internal structures to support that work and ensure necessary lines of communication between the grassroots party and the parliament.
鈥淭hat presents challenges but none of them are insurmountable.鈥
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