HARRIETT SWIFT TO STAND FOR THE GREENS
 
Well known environmental activist Harriett Swift has been selected to represent The Greens for the Bega electorate in the March NSW election.
Ms Swift said that the choices facing voters in the election are stark and she expects that many people disillusioned with both major parties will consider voting Green.
"It is obvious that the Labor Government is staggering from day to day toward its inevitable demise and it deserves to lose, but the prospect of a coalition government is frightening."
"I fear that under an O"Farrell Government we will be struggling to maintain some existing services and hard won gains in social justice and environment policy," she said.
"The Greens view every election as a great opportunity to explain our policies to the public and as more people understand what we stand for in economic, health and education policies as well as good environmental policies, our support has steadily grown."
"Although we are realistic about what we can achieve in Bega, we see positive opportunities to address some important regional problems such as the bureaucratic and political impasse threatening the future of Aboriginal Health services.
"The far south coast has been a national leader in community action on climate change and clean energy, but the community has been let down by its politicians who have failed to build on the community's resolve."
"I have a lifelong commitment to social justice, especially Indigenous rights and I will be taking every opportunity to highlight these issues during the campaign," Ms Swift said.
"I am also keen to see some political attention on the lack of public transport services, so vital for the social and environmental wellbeing of our region."
Ms Swift is a First Class Honours graduate from the Australian National University, lives in the Bega Valley where she is actively involved in the South East Region Conservation Alliance and Chipstop campaigns to end native forest woodchipping.
 
Contact: 0414908997, 64923267
11 January 2011