Chris Lahy, Australian Citizens party
IF elected, the Citizens Party will prioritise the following policies and projects for the Mallee:
• Post office bank – A public Postal Sa v i n g s Ba n k would replace lost private banks, properly service our communities by guaranteeing deposits, protecting access to cash, and using local deposits to back local community projects. The LPO group has called on all political parties to support such a bank.
• National infrastructure and development bank – to provide low interest credit for road, rail, water, power, communications and health infrastructure ending our reliance on foreign borrowing, “asset-recycling” and expensive public-private partnerships and help fund LGAs.
• Fix the Murray Basin Rail Project – With funding from a National Bank, we must immediately finish this critical project: standardise the rail gauges; get access for grain to Geelong as well as Portland; get tens of thousands of B-Doubles off our decrepit road network thereby improving road safety; normalise passenger rail from Mildura to Melbourne.
• Water – Fight to return water rights to farms and to prohibit speculation on this essential natural resource. • Support family farmers – by expanding domestic production of fertiliser and fuel; funding manufacturing to address supply chain issues and expanding the rural workforce.
• Cost of living – Increase public housing; deflate the housing bubble with a debt reorganisation; protect home owners and farmers from mass evictions in a housing market crash with a foreclosure moratorium.
• Aged care and health – Reform the health care system with a massive increase of funding for public aged care facilities, hospitals and staff. Quality aged care and health is a public good and should not be a profit-making enterprise.
• Childcare – Increasing the child care subsidy will help working families but many more places and childcare workers are needed. I would work to attract more people into the child care sector, and for greater budget funding for Community Support Programs and facilities in the Mallee.
