My name is Rick Westgarth and I am the Campaign Manager and second Senate candidate for Victoria.

Also let me congratulate you on the work you do. However what I did wish to discuss was the lack of talk in regards to our and other parties on your website. Please don’t get me wrong, I am not having a shot at you. Just wishing to encourage you to consider our position.

We are an active party on environment issues even before the Greens were formed and have maintained a strong stance on these issues for many years. We have been strongly against Nuclear energy and Mining of Uranium for decades.

I think your members and readers would see our party as a good alternative. There are many Australians that are very concerned about the issues your organisation stands for but may not be comfortable voting for the Greens due to other policies in their platform.

I myself feel strongly on the environment and sustainability but as a small business operator the Greens IR policies mean I could not vote for them.

The Australian Democrats and the Greens have worked together many times and in fact at this election have preferenced each other very high. In Victoria the Greens have positioned us directly below them in the Senate and as a matter of interest the Labor Party has put us straight after the Greens.

To conclude I am not after your endorsement or any favor, just to consider letting your members know a little more about how we stand up for their views.

Rick Westgarth
Australian Democrats (Victoria)

rick.westgarth@vic.democrats.org.au
0400 885 905

While the media follows Julia Gillard looking under a car or Tony Abbott playing soccer with school children, indigenous issues have gone missing in this campaign, say the Australian Democrats.

Senate candidate for Victoria, Rick Westgarth, who recently worked with indigenous people instructing in tertiary education at Fitzroy Crossing in northern WA, says that with so little coverage on indigenous issues during this election, he has to question whether the big parties really give a damn.

“Merely saying ‘sorry’ to Aboriginal people does not right wrongs: action is needed to match the rhetoric.

“What is missing, as shown in the Northern Territory intervention, is a lack of cultural respect. We should be working in partnership with, and not at cross-purposes to, Aboriginal people.

“It was always extraordinary that both major parties agreed to suspension of parts of the Racial Discrimination Act. The Australian Democrats call for the full restitution of these rights for Northern Territory Aboriginal people.

“Greater indigenous involvement is needed at local levels of decision-making across Australia and this applies in all aspects of their society from health to education.

“We will not make headway unless the services provided are culturally appropriate.

“Our policies recognise the fundamental importance of education to indigenous students, and we advocate a schooling system which is more appealing to them, offering indigenous language, history and culture.

“With research showing that learning in a child’s mother tongue increases their chances of success at school, we support UNESCO’s position that children have a right to learn in their own language. And yet the state and territory governments thrust newly graduated teachers out to these schools without the appropriate training.

“When so many Aboriginal and Islander people continue to live in developing world conditions in a developed nation, why are the major parties silent on this issue?”

Further comment: Rick Westgarth 0400 885 905
rick.westgarth@vic.democrats.org.au

“When we do this we will position Australia to become a world leader in environmental sustainability. This will give our children the brightest future possible.

“I believe in a smart Australia with a better and more effective education system that gives our children the chance to become whatever they want. A child’s birth place or family’s income should not determine their future potential. We need to encourage our citizens to strive for better, to have goals and to have every opportunity to achieve them.”

Rick was born and raised in rural western Victoria. He started his working career as an apprentice butcher. Before finishing his apprenticeship he joined the Royal Australian Navy and became a Medic.

“During my 7 years with the Navy I found myself looking harder at how the government’s choices affected people’s lives.

“I currently live in the city of Geelong and work as a workplace trainer. This puts me in contact with many Australians from diverse backgrounds and many tell me of the troubles they have in their lives.

“The major parties fail to listen to the average Australian. They’re only concerned with what they think when election time comes around. The promises made are done with the intention of being popular and therefore are doomed to be forgotten after the election.

“Commonly their cash splashes are upheld and that means somebody else has to lose out. If somebody offers to give you something for nothing then they have to take it from somebody else; sometimes it’s from you. I believe in raising our potential and not just robbing from Peter to pay Paul.

“I believe I have what it takes to help Australia grow. The current and past governments have not done enough to make that happen. I am running for the senate because Australia deserves Better.”

Afghan refugees shortly after the US led invasion in 2001. Nine years later about a quarter of a million remain displaced within their own country and 3 million languish in refugee camps in Pakistan and Iran. UN Photo/Luke Powell

The Australian Democrats have issued two media releases in the past 48 hours opposing the Gillard Government’s “Timor solution” and rejecting the Opposition’s Hanson-Howard tactic of spreading lies, fear and paranoia. See the Media Releases below.

Seeking asylum from violence, war, famine, torture and persecution is legal under international law. Instead of reverting to yet another “offshore solution” the government should stand up against the misinformation the Abbott Liberal opposition is peddling.

Media Release, July 8, 2010

Australian Democrats Support Asylum Seekers

Julia Gillard and the ALP are invoking Pauline Hanson, catapulting Australia back to its racist past, Australian Democrats nominee in the Federal seat of Batman, Con Sarazen said today.

”The progressive centre will be reclaimed by the Australian Democrats at the forthcoming election.

“It’s an insult to intelligent people everywhere,” Con said.

“Using fear and paranoia to divide the Australian population on refugees is a tactic John Howard used on the Australian public. It is a lie. It is a failure of moral and ethical leadership.

“The Australian Democrats are ready to reclaim the centre. I urge people who want a compassionate, enterprising and progressive country to vote Australian Democrats at the federal election,” Con urged.

We oppose mandatory detention of all unauthorised arrivals.

We oppose all legislation to repel asylum seekers on the high seas, such as the Pacific Solution.

We believe Australia has an ethical responsibility – as well as a duty under international law – to provide a safe haven for refugees and not return people to persecution or death.

We believe asylum seekers and refugees are primarily a humanitarian issue, not a security matter.

The Australian Democrats will continue working to improve the quality of life for refugees and asylum seekers and to change attitudes within parliament to match the tolerance and compassion of the Australian community.

Contact: Con Sarazen 0418 108850
Australian Democrats nominee in the Federal seat of Batman.

Media Release, July 7, 2010

Statement on Asylum seekers

The National Executive of the Australian Democrats has voted to strongly oppose the offshore processing and demonising of asylum seekers and calls on the Gillard Labor Government to:

* Acknowledge that seeking asylum from violence, war, famine, torture and persecution is legal under international law;

* Stand up against the misinformation that the Abbott Liberal opposition is peddling about asylum seekers and not to bow to political pressure to reverse the ALP’s commitment to our human rights obligations;

* Ensure that Australia lives up to its obligations under United Nations Conventions on Human Rights and Refugees;

* Provide an assurance that no asylum seeker will be sent back to an environment that will endanger their lives or result in persecution, torture or other harm;

* Ensure that the process of assessing claims for asylum is open to public scrutiny, including temporary detention of asylum seekers on the mainland for health and security assessment purposes and opening up the detention centres to NGO scrutiny and monitoring of the standards of living and compliance with human rights;

* Ensure the efficient and expedient processing of claims and limiting of detention to a short period whilst health and security assessments are made. Once it is determined that there is no health or security risk, move asylum seekers to community based accommodation whilst their claim is finalised providing financial and case work assistance until an outcome has be reached;

* Ensure a transparent appeals mechanism to ensure procedural fairness to those asylum seekers appealing against the refusal of their claim for refugee status;

* Ensure that those who are found to be legitimate refugees are given adequate financial and resettlement support including but not limited to Medicare and Centrelink benefits, Job seeker assistance and Education and Training support.

Further comment: National President, Julia Melland, 0431 357585 or Australian Democrats Human Rights Spokesperson, Sandra Kanck, 08 8336 4114 or 0417 882143