Your vote counts: Paul Bambrick, Greens candidate for Flynn in the 2022 Federal election

Here’s what Greens candidate for Flynn, Paul Bambrick thinks about key issues such as housing affordability and climate change, and local issues such as better internet access for the regions.

Improving internet access and the healthcare system for regional Australians are among this Greens candidate’s top priorities, as he also outlines his party’s plan to build one million affordable public homes.

As a qualified architectural technician, as well as having experience living in a housing co-op and helping at-risk teens, Rockhampton-born Paul Bambrick says he has seen first-hand what homelessness does to families and youth.

Here’s how Paul responded to the questions we put to all seven candidates vying for your vote in Flynn.

What are the three issues that you believe matter most to voters in the Flynn electorate?

1. The risk of more severe weather events and job losses due to climate change

2. Rising costs of living, especially housing

3. Inaccessible and expensive healthcare in the regions

How will you address and seek to resolve the increased pressure of cost of living?

We need long term solutions to bring down the cost of living, not piecemeal stopgaps that expire after the election.

Because housing is the single biggest cost for many families, our plans to bring down housing costs and protect renters from unreasonable rent increases are a top priority.

When we were last in the balance of power, we got free dental care for kids – this time, we’d bring dental and mental health under Medicare for everyone, and scrap out-of-pocket fees for diagnostics like MRIs.

The reason living costs are hitting many households so hard is because inflation is outstripping wage growth. The Greens would increase the minimum wage to 60 per cent of the median wage, increase award wages in women-dominated industries including education, childcare, nursing, and cleaning by CPI + 0.5 per cent each year for 10 years, and raise all income support payments, including Jobseeker and pensions, above the poverty line to $88 a day.

We’d invest in free education from childcare to uni and tafe. We’d abolish the income test for childcare payments so you don’t need to leave work to claim, fully fund state schools so parents don’t have to pay extra for things like sport or music, and abolish HECS debt.

Finally, we’d make power bills cheaper by creating a public renewable energy retailer, ending price-gouging and extra fees for things like advertising and big CEO salaries.

How will you make house prices and rent more affordable, increase public housing and reduce the number of homeless residents?

To urgently house the 100,000+ people who are currently homeless across Australia on any given night, the Greens will invest an additional $550 million per year in dedicated homelessness support services, guaranteed and indexed for 10 years, and implement a national homelessness strategy as called for by key housing advocates.

With the waiting list for social housing now sitting at more than 155,000 people, neither major party has committed to build enough public housing to meet even the most urgent needs of our current population.

The Greens are the only party with a fully-costed plan to actually bring down housing prices and make renting more affordable.

We would build 1 million affordable public homes across Australia over 20 years, including 875,000 public and community homes where rent is capped at 25 per cent of income, and a shared ownership where first home-buyers can own up to 75 per cent of their home for just $300K, and sell their equity back to the federal government if they want to move.

I’ve worked in architecture, building and planning, have lived in a housing co-op in Adelaide and also seen first-hand what homelessness is doing to families and youth, so community housing is close to my heart and I know it can be done.

We’ll also cap rent increases, abolish ‘no-grounds’ evictions and phase out negative gearing for people who already have more than one investment property, improving security and affordability for renters.

With the focus of Flynn often being on Gladstone, what are big projects and issues you will address in more remote parts of the electorate?

Internet access is one of the biggest issues for remote areas across Australia, including in Flynn.

The Greens will fix the NBN rollout by 2025 with the best fibre and 5G wireless technologies, ensure it remains publicly owned, and provide free broadband for one million low-income households.

We also know schools in remote areas are drastically under resourced.

The Greens’ education plan includes the largest investment in public education of any party, with $49 billion to fully fund public schools based on their level of need, and $400 million per year for building and infrastructure, ensuring the majority of funds go to the state schools that really need it.

Remote areas often miss out on crucial infrastructure because politicians allocate funding based on votes rather than need.

The Greens will create a $3 billion fund to allocate funding for local sports facilities, playgrounds and parks based on independent assessment of applications, with clear and transparent criteria and decision making.

Do you support the Mt Morgan water pipeline project and do you support the rehabilitation of the Mt Morgan Mine by Heritage Minerals?

I’d like to see responsible rehabilitation of the Mt Morgan mine site that brings a good outcome for the community.

We’ve seen promising plans in the past that have failed due to lack of support. Our weak legislation often allows mining companies to leave town without cleaning up their mess, with massive environmental and social impacts for locals.

Mt Morgan is one of several regional communities facing a water crisis and we support federal support to address this, including a pipeline if that’s what is recommended by environmental and engineering experts.

Do you support Gladstone being reinstated as a “Distribution Priority Area” for doctors and what other commitments will you make to health services in Flynn?

The Greens support improved healthcare services in Gladstone and Central Queensland, including by ensuring that areas where people are struggling to access doctors are recognised as Distribution Priority Areas.

We want to make billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share of tax so we can properly fund our public health system, especially in the regions.

We went to the state election with a plan to build 200 Public Health Clinics and provide publicly funded and paid GPs for every community.

At this Federal Election, our plans go even further, by bringing mental and dental health care under Medicare and making education and training free so we have more doctors, psychiatrists, dentists and other specialists across the country.

In addition to bringing dental and mental health under Medicare, we’ll reduce healthcare costs by scrapping out-of-pocket fees for diagnostics like MRIs, and make telehealth a permanent part of our Medicare system, increasing access to essential care for everyone.

We’ll also stop the handouts to big private health corporations, reinvesting $59 billion of public money from the private health insurance rebate back into the public health system.

Do you support net zero emissions and do you endorse the shift to hydrogen and other renewable industries emerging in Gladstone?

The major parties’ “net zero by 2050” commitments mean very little without a plan for this decade. The Greens support the science on climate change and we also believe workers deserve to know what’s going to happen to their jobs in the next 10 years, so we have a comprehensive, fully-costed and funded plan to reach 100 per cent publicly owned renewables by 2030.

This presents massive and exciting new opportunities for Flynn. Our plan would create thousands of new jobs in renewable energy, manufacturing, reforestation and more. In Gladstone, we’d invest in critical minerals processing and green steel manufacturing, which uses hydrogen instead of coal.

Do you support traditional industries in Flynn such as coal and gas?

It’s a fact plain and simple that coal and gas are making climate change worse, but that’s not the fault of workers.

Instead of promising new coal and gas projects like the Liberal and Labor parties are, the Greens believe workers deserve honesty, certainty and a plan to transition to new industries.

Our plan to look after coal workers and communities while we phase out coal and gas would give every worker a job-for-job guarantee, free retraining and wage stability for 10 years.

Our $2.8 billion Diversifying Coal Communities Fund would help places like Gladstone get new projects off the ground so people can raise their kids here knowing they’ll have a secure, well-paid job in 10 or 20 years’ time.

While hospitals are a state issue, residents are telling us it is unacceptable that Gladstone Hospital is a level three facility, without an ICU unit, will you lobby for upgrades to the Gladstone Hospital?

Everyone should be able to access quality healthcare, regardless of where you live or your bank account balance.

We need to stop the cost-shifting between state and federal governments, so that facilities like Gladstone Hospital can have funding certainty.

The Greens would create a single funding agency to end cost shifting and invest an extra $8 billion for public hospitals like ours, by legislating equal funding of hospitals between the Commonwealth and states.

We’d also end the $7 billion annual handouts for private health insurance companies and reinvest them in the public system, where they can be used by everyone.

Has Scott Morrison handled this term as Prime Minister well and do you think Anthony Albanese would be a better Prime Minister going forward?

We need to kick Scott Morrison and the Liberal/ National Coalition out of government this election.

The Greens are on track to win the balance of power in both the senate and the lower house, and we’d use that position to push a Labor Government to go further and faster on a plan for climate change and the cost of living.

Should people in Flynn put independents and minor parties above the major parties, and why? 

It’s getting harder and harder to tell the Liberal and Labor parties apart. While Pauline Hanson and Clive Palmer talk a big game, their parties are run by career politicians who almost always vote with the Liberals anyway.

We need strong voices in parliament to hold the corrupt major parties to account – and as the only party who refuse corporate donations, only the Greens can really do that.

If you agree we should make billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share of tax to fund affordable housing, dental into Medicare, free childcare and more climate jobs, you should put the Greens first this election.

What makes Flynn different to other electorates?

Our region has relied on coal exports for a long time, so we will be on the forefront of the transition away from fossil fuels.

Right now we face an uncertain future, but we also have an opportunity to lead the world in new industries like green steel and renewable energy.

While they might pretend to care about us at election time, the major parties are really just sticking their heads in the sand and backing in the same coal and gas companies who donate to their campaigns.

I’m proud to be running alongside Gladstone local and public school teacher Penny Allman-Payne this election, who only needs a 1.5 per cent swing to win another senate spot for the Greens.

I know she’ll fight to seize the opportunities we have here in Flynn, to create new jobs, a secure climate and better access to health, education and housing services for all of us.