I’ve decided to put my hand up as an independent candidate for the state seat of Monaro.

You’d be right to think of it as a long shot. The sitting member Steve Whan is not unpopular and coupled with the difficulty of independents winning lower-house seats, in either state or federal parliament, it is an ambitious plan.

Nevertheless it’s worth doing because the party system is hopelessly broken. We have a government lurching from idea to idea and our traditional remedy, to turf them out and put the other lot in, is made meaningless by the others not having any better ideas.

At this early stage, the Labor sitting member Steve Whan and the National Party's John Barilaro, have traded a few ranging shots about who has done, or might do, the best by the people of Monaro.

Steve Whan, especially, is playing an odd tune when he trumpets loudly the importance and benefits of having a local member in government. Only rusted-on Laborites see much chance of the current government holding office after March 2011.

But it is what the candidates won’t be saying that makes them less than the best choice as our representative.

For instance, when Morris Iemma and Michael Costa ran the government, it came within an ace of selling electricity production and retailing in NSW. It would have been, and still will be, a disastrous mistake.

Our coal-fired power stations make about 80% of NSW’s electricity but they emit a fearful amount of carbon into the atmosphere. There are good reasons why the government should not sell them.

Firstly, there’s the half a billion dollars or so to the treasury each year, which is the money we all pay for electricity, returning to the government to pay for schools, hospitals and public transport. It could also be used to invest in sustainable energy technology to produce cleaner electricity.

Secondly, the government will not be able, morally or legally, to adversely affect the viability of the power stations once it’s taken the new owners’ money. But of course, reducing the competitiveness and thus the profitability of carbon polluting coal-fired power stations is the main aim of an emissions trading scheme.

When the NSW government wanted to privatise our power supply in 2008, the Liberal/NP Coalition voted against it. Now that the Monaro Nationals have picked their man we must check to see if that’s still Coalition policy or whether it was merely a ploy, as Liberal leader Barry O’Farrell said at the time, “It’s politics, mate”.

There are many other issues of great importance for the future viability of not just this state but for the whole country. Water security, land management, rural viability, sustainable infrastructure and climate change all pose questions that aspiring politicians must answer.

I don’t pretend to have all the answers but I won’t shirk the questions.
Ring me: 4842 8054 or 0417 459 775 or email me: paul@monaro2011.com.au

In 2007 I started writing a regular column in the Braidwood Times called ‘Time & Energy’. Most of the stories are about our governments’ failure to face the truth about the serious danger for the future posed by an unhealthy reliance on fossil fuels. It must have struck a chord with enough people to get me elected to Palerang Council in 2008.