Gold Coast Greens

Greens candidate takes stand on election waste

Anja Light, Greens candidate for Burleigh, says she refuses to hand out How to Vote (HTV) cards in her electorate on Saturday, calling it a waste of paper, a waste of tax payers money and a waste of time. She claims that people are sick of battling the scrum at polling booths on election day and its time that someone take a stand on this issue.

“Labor and the LNP could have changed this years ago, but they seem happy to let the waste continue. I am calling on all candidates from the major parties to pledge that they will take action on this issue if elected.”

“I have listened to people complain of feeling intimidated on election day and feeling disgusted at the waste. There is a very simple solution to this issue - HTV information displayed on a single board inside the polling booth - like it is in many European countries. Instead of handing out paper I plan to display preference information for the Burleigh electorate on a board outside the booth. The Greens are a democratically run party and support their candidates in taking action like this. ”

Said Ms. Light.

The Greens will be handing out HTV’s in some other electorates on the Gold Coast but caution voters to be wary of bogus HTV cards produced by major parties to try to swing more preferences their way.

“The big parties don’t want you to know that if you vote one for a smaller party or independent candidates, your vote will mostly likely be counted again for your next preference – your vote for the Greens will not be wasted.”

“ It suits the major parties to keep people ignorant on preferences and not educate voters that ultimately people decide who to preference, not any political party.”

“The Greens are not a preference machine. We do not support Labor and we do not support the LNP. We are standing to provide a real alternative to the kind of politics that has caused disasters like oil spills, climate change and the global economic meltdown.” Said Ms. Light.

Ms Light says she is encouraging all voters to “just say no” to the HTV cards they are presented on election day, to decide before coming on how they will vote and to push candidates from the big parties to promise to take action on this issue if elected.