Greetings from Clive's Backwater

Regular readers would be familiar that I often re-emphasise the core focus of my campaign at the start of my posts but I would like to be a little more expansive today. If elected, I will provide advocacy for everyday South Australians impacted by abuse and neglect, and the treating medical clinicians, first responders and witnesses supporting them. I choose to offer my opinions freely on a broad range of subjects but wish to highlight that one independent senator simply cannot direct any government's legislative agenda. I am not a career politician, I am not preferencing any other party or candidates and if elected, I expected to be supporting and working closely with everyday South Australians and their advocates. I encourage voters who share my frustration at our inability to address clearly identified abuse and neglect in a more timely fashion, to vote below the line and place me anywhere in your top 6 - noting that you must number a minimum of boxes 1 through to 6 below the line for your vote to be regarded as formal. To AEC staff and party volunteers who continue to challenge my campaign and instruct me not to distribute my campaign material, I'd like to direct you to page 41 of Tom Roger's Australian Electoral Commission Scrutineer's Handbook (Australian Electoral Commission, version 8, 2019) to prevent further incidents. I'm an everyday person trying something different to make Australia a more compassionate place – I am not seeking to generate more uninformed debates.

I’d like to briefly address a number of comments made to me regarding whistleblowing and references to my actions further clogging up the already congested courts. Parliamentarians are uniquely placed to make comment on various matters in parliament and are not subject to the same legal consequences that non-parliamentarians would be subject to if they made the same statements. Whilst uncomfortable with some recent uses of parliamentary privilege by some parliamentarians, my focus is on advocating for enforceable laws to address clear and repeated incidents of physical and psychological harm occurring in our community. Many incidents are currently only addressed through the taking of civil action and even if the complainant has the financial backing to pursue such action, many legal processes result in negotiated settlements which include non-disclosure agreements that do not prevent harmful behaviour from occurring in the future. I am mindful of the safety and privacy of vulnerable people in our community and if elected, view the making of any statement in parliament addressing wilfully harmful behaviour as a position of last resort. Through private and informal advocacy, I hope to make a difference in the lives of everyday South Australians but will only speak publicly following investigations and communications with all parties, and with consent from victims and their advocates. Whilst acknowledging the importance and recent focus upon whistleblowing in the financial services sector following the Banking Royal Commission, I also wish to bring about a focus on health and safety whistleblowing and a far less complex process directly engaging with incidents of serious and repeated psychological and/or physical harm.

Yesterday, Clive Palmer splashed another excessive full page advertisement in the Adelaide Advertiser championing nuclear energy as the saviour to all of our ills in SA. Despite Mr Palmer's recent slandering of South Australia as a backwater, we continue to be a national frontrunner in renewable energy generation, battery storage technology, the uptake of rooftop solar and the cutting of emissions associated with energy generation. Mr Palmer seems intent on a campaign of misrepresentation and garish financial extravagance whilst numerous ex-employees and small business operators in Townsville, still owed significant amounts of money from his failed Queensland Nickel venture, suffer the indignity of watching his wasteful onslaught of advertising. His recent rant on breakfast television that he couldn’t give a stuff about what anyone thinks whilst trumpeting his wealth at 4 billion simply confirms his wilful disregard of Australian workers, businesses and taxpayers and the money that they are owed. He may have fooled some in the past but I have faith that my fellow South Australians will not be fooled, bullied or brainwashed - standing up to individuals such as Mr. Palmer with his impossible promises, lack of accountability and inability to treat people with basic respect is central to my campaign. I’m fortunate that his wilful ignorance should prevent him from being hurt by comments from some backwater based rookie candidate whose campaign budget is approximately 0.001% of his own. I'd prefer not to directly address any other candidates in such a manner but I find his behaviour extraordinary for an individual looking to gain the trust and respect of the community.

Here are some further responses to questions from electors and advocacy groups:

*Will you commit to paying early childhood educators a professional wage? There is nothing more important to us all than our children. The low hourly pay rates in early childhood education will result in the sector struggling to retain high quality educators to guide our children through their early years. I support Labor's pledge to strengthen the ability of the Fair Work Commission to order pay increases for workers in the early childhood education sector.

*Federal Election Priorities for South Australia's Young People and Children - It should be unsurprising that I wholeheartedly support all the priorities listed in the recent report by South Australia's Commissioner for Children and Young People. If elected, I hope to support and be informed by the Commissioners work, with my particular focus being on the areas of the accessibility of the NDIS and mental health services, increasing the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 14 and making the family court system more child focused.

*Playgroup Australia Priorities - I support the priorities detailed by Playgroup Australia and Labor's planned $6.1 million investment into playgroups and toy libraries. I note the absence of any reference to playgroups in the Liberal Party's campaign so far. If elected, my focus will be upon these two priorities particularly:

*Supporting a national policy agenda for child, family and community wellbeing for 2020 — 2035 to include recognition of the role of play and playgroup for children’s development and family outcomes.

*Establishing a national supported playgroup program which includes a focus on supporting vulnerable and disadvantaged communities and families, and on growing intergenerational playgroups ($3m per annum ongoing).

*Time for the Talk contacted me and they have rated my response to climate change as good. I provided the following responses to them:

 Which of the following statements most accurately reflect your views on climate change?
Climate change is...
    It's not real
    It's real, but not caused by human action
    It's real and it’s caused by human action
    Other (please specify)

Which of these most accurately reflects your views on Australia’s carbon emissions?
    Australia should not be trying to reduce its carbon emissions
    Australia is reducing its carbon emissions an appropriate amount
    Australia should reduce its carbon emissions more than it currently is
    Australia should reduce its carbon emissions significantly more than it currently is
 
The responsibility of dealing with climate change lies primarily with:
    Federal government
    State government
    The private sector
    Individuals
    Nobody

During my first term after the 2019 election, reducing carbon emissions (and other related policies) is:
    Not something I will vote for
    Something I will vote for but not introduce
    Something I want achieved by the end of the first term
    Something I will prioritise
    My top priority

Which party’s policies to do with reducing carbon emissions are you most likely to vote for?
    The Coalition
    Labor
    The Greens
    I don’t think we should have policies to reduce carbon emissions
    I don’t think any of those parties are doing enough to reduce carbon emissions

If you have climate-change-related policies, what are they (please include or attach them to your response)?

If elected, I aim to identify and respond to individual cases of abuse and neglect that are currently creating serious harm in the South Australian community. There is a pressing need for greater enforceability of common sense health and safety responses to clearly identified wellbeing risks in our community, informed by the directions of treating health professionals, and the accounts of first responders and witnesses. It is possible that further inaction in addressing climate change may make this issue a more pressing safety concern, and have far greater overlap with my stated priorities than is currently the case. This is a distinct possibility as extreme events such as wildfires, flood, heatwaves and drought become more and more commonplace and start to jeopardise the safety of our community.  My position on environmental issues will be continually informed by the hard work undertaken by the Climate Council of Australia.

Whilst many of my fellow South Australians are watching the footy, I’ve chosen to keep responding to emails and working on my campaign. As we enter the final week of the election campaign, the issue of abuse and neglect, and the possibility of change continues to motivate me. I do look forward to watching the mighty Port Adelaide again after the election (insert collective groan if applicable for non-football people or non-Port supporters), and spending some quality time with my family. I’d like to dedicate this post on the eve of Mother’s day to my mum, a woman who taught me how you can be both vulnerable and strong. I particularly want to thank mum for her brave decision to share all the information she knew about her biological father with me after advising her of my intention to run for the Senate, knowing that it would become public knowledge. Happy Mother’s Day mum – and Happy Mother’s Day to all mums. We are entering the home straight but I will try to post again before Saturday - please send through any questions or issues not yet covered to independentagainstabuse@gmail.com

Authorised by Brett O'Donnell 126 Muller road Greenacres SA 5086