CANDIDATE Q & A – Kate Da Costa, Greens candidate for Robertson

What motivated you to run for the seat of Robertson?

I’m standing as the candidate for Robertson because I am really passionate about having a local representative working hard for local issues to do with the environment, aged care and education. My personal background is as an archaeologist, I take a really long term view of things, I think in 50 year time periods when I’m at work and I know in antiquity what’s happened when we have destroyed our local environment. So it’s really what got me involved in the Greens in the first place and I’m really proud that my local group has put their trust in me to stand as a representative for the Greens in Robertson.

Is this the first time you have run?

It’s the first time I have run in the Federal election, I ran as number 2 on the Greens ticket for the council last year.

What do you think will be your biggest challenge in winning this election?

I guess the biggest challenge is to get our message out without it then being misrepresented. I think that people when they look at our policies they are surprised at how much they agree with The Greens and this is really the big challenge to get that message out against the noise that comes from the old parties and through a media that is not always sympathetic to The Greens. We have got a lot of support from a lot of local media but every time I go to a candidates meeting or I talk to people when I am door knocking or working at markets, when I explain our policies people say ‘oh I didn’t realise that’s what the Greens stood for’, so it’s really a slow process we don’t see it as ending of course with this election but we are very frustrated that there is a lot of silliness in the electoral campaign, there is a lot of silliness in day to day politics and we’d like people to be voting based on policies, on what’s good for the nation and what’s good for the local area instead of on personalities.

In your local area what do you see as some of the big issues you would like to tackle?

One thing that has not been talked about in campaigning at all is the issue of aged car and older Australians. We have a very large retirement aged population here on the Central Coast and no discussion about that…keeping older people in work as long as they like, discrimination against older people who are trying to get work. The problem that grandparents have in caring for their grandchildren, the issue of carers in our community and then of course the issue of dying with dignity and care for the elderly at the end of their life and that’s just not come up and yet, I think that is one of the biggest issues on the coast. And the effect of climate change, it is just ignored and neither of the old parties is really treating this seriously and acting with any urgency. But the coalition is going to completely dismantle the structures that we have in place to deal at least at a minimal level on the impact of climate change, so I find that really concerning.

As you’ve been campaigning are these issues that you’re hearing that people in the electorate are concerned about?

What I hear most is that people don’t know really who to vote for, they are not happy with either of the older parties, with Labor or the Coalition. And they’re looking for genuine alternatives, and I’m finding a really positive response to the package that The Greens are offering. The people often for the first time are prepared to seriously consider The Greens because they see we have a set of policies that are joined together with a philosophy about having a caring society and a healthier environment and recognising that the economy serves us and not the other way around and that we need to clean up our economy. So that’s the big issue I hear but I also hear that people are frustrated that the environment is not being discussed, they’re very concerned about coal seam gas fracking in NSW and the impacts of coal mining and that comes through. I’m not hearing people say ‘oh we want to get rid of the carbon tax’. They are a little concerned with cost of living pressures but they recognise that renewable energy will reduce their electricity bill far more than getting rid of the small impost that the carbon price actually has on the cost of living.

With this frustration in the electorate, how do you rate your chances?

I think it’s difficult, it’s a difficult race. We have some high profile celebrity candidates really running on the Central Coast. We’ve got a pretty tough competition with the Coalition who are really just I think saying what people want to hear rather than spelling out real action and giving us details on what they want to do. We have a small organisation we haven’t got a massive war chest like the major parties have to pay for lots of advertising and double page spreads in the paper and things like that which is how people find out about their candidates so all we can do is the best we can and try and see as many people as we can and knock on as many doors as possible.

Some of the big issues this election are the issues of same sex marriage and the issue of asylum seekers, where do you stand on these issues?

Personally, I am very much in favour of marriage equality and my party has been for many years. It’s not just the personal attachments of the leaders of the parties, we are a party that believes we will only protect our environment that we all live in if we respect the environment and respect each other. And leading from that respect comes a recognition that if two adults are in love they should be able to marry. Any objections to that is based on religious grounds and people of faith are perfectly entitled in their community to accept or reject that. But that faith based decision should not be imposed on other people who do not share that faith. So I think it is absolutely inevitable and very soon that we will have equality in Australia. As for refugees we are disgusted with the level of debate, with the inhumanity that is being shown in a blatant push to just get votes, it’s not about protecting our borders, it is about protecting votes. We have advocated for several years now that Australia should be putting in place a variation on the same policy that Malcolm Fraser put in when Vietnamese boat people first started turning up, we know it works, we want to deliver safer pathways for people, to get safely to Australia on a plane before they get to boats that means processing more people in the camps overseas and having the Australian Government allow people to apply close to their country of origin. We don’t allow people in Afghanistan to even apply for a visa, so how can they get on a plane with the proper paperwork as I’m sure they would prefer to do it in order to escape from the Taliban. Australians are kind and decent people we know that refugees have immeasurably enriched our lives in Australia and we should have the kindness to look after them properly if they come to us seeking refuge.

Anything else you would like to add?

In think there are a lot of people in the community who are also very concerned about animal welfare and that’s another subject, whether it is domestic animals and the puppy farms where animals are treated appallingly in this country or wild animals with concerns for logging in national parks and the effects on the Great Barrier Reef or farmed animals and issues about live exports and I think there is quite a few people in our community who underestimate it.