Five years ago, along with being the Federal Labor Member for Wills, Kelvin Thomson was the Deputy Chair of the Federal Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Treaties. In that capacity he wrote a Dissenting Report opposing ratification of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement.

Sustainable Australia Party Groom by-election candidate Sandra Jephcott, a Queensland veterinarian and farmer, today thanked Groom by-election voters for their support and congratulated Liberal National Party candidate Garth Hamilton on his win, as well as all other candidates for running.

Sustainable Australia Party is calling for Groom voters to support its campaign to ban all property developer political donations as part of its plan to protect our environment, stop overdevelopment and stop corruption.

Of the four parties contesting the 28 November Groom by-election, only Sustainable Australia Party advocates for a moratorium on new coal mines and coal mine expansions as part of Australia’s action plan to address climate change.

An idiosyncratic Tudor Revival house in Brighton that was afforded no heritage protection by the local council has been saved following a community campaign to stop it being bulldozed... Meanwhile a parliamentary inquiry will be held into heritage protection in Victoria after the Legislative Council passed a proposal by Sustainable Australia Party MP Clifford Hayes.

Independent candidates and political parties who get more than 4 per cent of first preference votes at this election will receive $8.62 per vote from the ACT Electoral Commission.

Despite the constant assertions from the ACT Labor-Green alliance that they run a ‘progressive’ government, one simple fact undermines this – the ACT election funding system.

An east-coast community-focused political party will use the Preserve Gnarabup campaign as part of its drive to contest seats in the South West at next year’s WA election.

Dear supporters and Sustainable Australia Party members,

I hope my letter finds you and your loved ones well.

I hope you are all staying strong during extremely difficult circumstances. This unprecedented pandemic is undermining the social and economic fabric of our state. 

As you will be aware, the past month has been dominated by the State Government's push to extend Victoria's State of Emergency.

I will touch on that, and many other issues, in this newsletter. 

Regards, 

Clifford Hayes MP

The Sustainable Australia Party welcomes the introduction of two anti-corruption Bills into the House of Representatives by the Independent Member for the Victorian Electorate of Indi, Helen Haines.

Transparent and democratic urban planning is essential in underpinning good environmental and social outcomes and delivering liveable cities. This is particularly the case with large and complex cities like Perth.

CLIFFORD HAYES MP: What does this State Government want to be remembered for? I imagine the Premier would like his Government to be remembered by his “getting things done” mantra of construction, construction, and even more construction.

The Sustainable Australia Party says that World Environment Day should be a time to reflect on the ongoing destruction of habitat both around the world, and here in Australia, and what we can do to stop it.

Dear Member / Supporter --

How did they corrupt our planning systems?

We know that the property industry wants our major cities to look like New York. But how could they possibly achieve something so undesirable and detrimental to most Australians?

With up to 26 per cent of the entire Australian workforce – or 3.4 million people – set to lose their jobs as a result of the coronavirus pandemic[1], the Sustainable Australia Party has called for a balanced debate on population and immigration.

Dear Member / Supporter --

Help register our WA state party

The coronavirus pandemic must be a wake up call about the dangers and limitations of our politicians' obsession with endless growth, and the need to focus more on health and wellbeing.

In the 1990s Tasmanian state governments introduced a range of progressive planning and environmental laws including the State Coastal Policy, the Threatened Species Protection Act, the Land Use Planning Act and the establishment of the Resource Planning Development Commission (now the Tasmanian Planning Commission) and the Resource Management Planning and Appeal Tribunal.

Dear Member / Supporter --

Who owns our politicians and media?

The coronavirus crisis has helped us to understand the power and influence of the property industry. Consider the following media reports from this week.

The announcement by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson that he will bring forward a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars in the United Kingdom to 2035 is very welcome.

Herald Sun: A motion to sack the embattled Casey Council, which is at the centre of one of Victoria’s biggest corruption scandals, will be made in the upper house today as frustration grows over the state government’s inaction. Sustainable Australia's Clifford Hayes MP will make the move in the Victorian Legislative Council today urging the Andrews Government to dismiss the council.

The Hon. Kelvin Thomson:

When the economist Leith Van Onselen was recently asked on ABC radio whether his support for a substantial cut in Australia’s migration program meant he was xenophobic, he replied that he supported a return of our migration program to the numbers we had when Gough Whitlam, Malcolm Fraser, and Bob Hawke were Prime Minister, and that he presumed that they weren’t regarded as xenophobes.

The Sustainable Australia Party has called for a ban on all property developer donations and contributions to political parties, following revelations yesterday at Victoria’s Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission.

Last year the Liberal Government passed the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Act, and it came into effect in December. In doing so it earned attacks from Bill Shorten and Kristina Keneally during the Bennelong Byelection that it was “China phobic”.

Federal Labor Leader Anthony Albanese's call for a "mature debate" about population is welcome, and would have been even more welcome any time over the past decade, says former federal Labor MP for Wills, Kelvin Thomson.

Sustainable Australia’s National Media Spokesperson Kelvin Thomson has welcomed the announcement by the Federal Government that it plans to introduce a national gas reservation scheme.

The government’s newly-announced first home buyers scheme comes with ‘huge risk’, according to the founder of the Sustainable Australia Party, William Bourke.

Ageing countries have higher economic growth - and the improved health and longevity of older people increases their economic contributions.

“We want value-added jobs in regional Australia..."

Party candidate for Tweed Ronald McDonald, who was a late entry into the race for the seat, told the Tweed Daily News the party's main platform was "sustainability for everything”...