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Capacity Crowd for Tweed Sustainable Regions Forum

A good crowd turned out at the Presbyterian church hall in Murwillumbah last night for the Regional forum on sustainable energy targets. Speakers included Giovanni Ebono (Greens) Sue Page (Nationals) Justine Elliot (Labour) as well as Department of Primary Industry spokesperson Richard Swinton, and speakers representing National Farmers, Tweed Rivers Organic Producers Organisation, (TROPO) and Byron Farmers Markets.

Greens candidate Giovanni Ebono talked about climate change and how international economic forces can impact on the local economy. Specifically, how the take-over  by a multinational company had led to the demise of the local dairy industry through farmers having to sign exclusive contracts.

Mr Ebono continued, " We will hear from all of the candidates here tonight that they are concerned for your future.  The problem with the establishment parties is they are committed to keeping the economy growing as fast as possible. And they way they interpret and implement that is to run the economy for the benefit for these international companies. Their belief is, corporate profits and economic growth go hand in hand. So, even though myself and Sue Page may believe in  many of the same things, a vote for Sue Page is a vote for the Coalition Government, which has run down so many of our regional services, privatised Telstra and as a result, led to so many of the problems we are describing here tonight."

Vigorous and intelligent questions from the audience made the evening particularly interesting and informative. The candidates were kept on their toes.

In the second half of the evening, a  macadamia grower  talked about improving energy efficiency and quality of life on his farm. Richard Swinton gave a presentation on the development of char (charcoal)for improving soil fertility and energy production, and  a local Tweed organic farmer talked about the benefits of using organic methods of soil improvement ,especially the use of compost obtained from the recycling of organic waste  from Lismore.