Greens announce Senate team

By Francesca Davis

On August 9, the Australian Greens announced their national Senate team. Greens Senator Bob Brown predicted the party would win extra seats in the eastern states and retain the seat held by Dee Margetts from the WA Greens.

In Tasmania, lead candidate Dr Louise Crossley is a university lecturer in environmental and science studies. She is national convener of the Greens and stood in the 1993 federal election and the 1996 state election.

Crossley is a former Antarctica station leader and deputy director of the Commission for the Future. She runs a consultancy specialising in environmental and social policy and economics.

Charmaine Clarke, a young Gunditjamara woman, is heading the Greens' Victorian ticket. A member of the "stolen generations", Clarke was the first indigenous journalist with the ABC and is a former member of the renowned band Tiddas. She has recently worked as cultural officer for the Victorian Aboriginal Women's Centre.

NSW lead candidate John Sutton has been a Newcastle councillor since 1991. He is a long-time campaigner for the rights of indigenous Australians.

Drew Hutton, a political activist and historian, is heading the Greens' team in Queensland. Hutton has been active in the peace, anti-nuclear and conservation movements since the late 1960s.

In the ACT, the lead candidate will be Deb Foskey, a specialist in the politics of population and reproductive technologies. She has worked as a campaigner for the Australian Conservation Foundation and the Australian Council for Overseas Aid.

In South Australia, community health nurse Craig Wilkins is standing. Wilkins has spent some time in west Africa and India as a volunteer on village development projects.

Former radio journalist Ilana Eldridge will represent the Greens in the House of Representatives seat of the Northern Territory. Currently the publisher of the Australasian newspaper, Eldridge has a long history of supporting self-determination for the East Timorese people.

The Greens list three issues that distinguish them from Labor, the Coalition and other parties: tax, the environment and indigenous rights.

"We will promote European-style eco-taxes instead of the GST, an abrupt halt to Jabiluka and any new uranium mines, an end to wild forest woodchipping and indigenous negotiating rights", Brown said.

From GLW issue 329