Clarence Valley Council Election 2012: Greg Clancy

Media release from Dr Greg Clancy

Candidate in the 2012 Clarence Valley Local Government Elections

My vision for the Valley is to see a healthy, happy community embracing less privileged people and living in harmony with the natural world.  We need a good economic base but not at the expense of our social, community and environmental values.  Development needs to be ecologically and socially sustainable and employment needs to be in fields that enhance the Valley’s attributes, not detract from them.  Small business and self-employed people are the backbone of the north coast.  This is a desirable situation. 

The establishment of additional tertiary educational facilities, which is now starting, is fully supported.  Ecotourism is an industry that has great potential in the Valley.  The reduction in the public service sector in the Clarence Valley is disturbing.  Institutions, such as the Grafton Gaol, need to be run efficiently and economically responsibly but alternatives to an almost complete shutdown should have been pursued.  It will have a serious economic and social impact on the Valley.  The ‘gold rush’ of mining throughout the country is also threatening the Clarence Valley.  Coal Seam Gas and Antimony mines are threatening the waterways of the Clarence.  The ‘pie in the sky’ schemes to dam the Clarence and send water to the west are also fully opposed.  All of the water of the Clarence River is needed for agriculture, fishing and the environment.  Water running to the sea is not ‘wasted’.

·  No coal seam gas in the Clarence Valley;

·  No antimony mines in the Clarence Headwaters

·  Support for extended tertiary education facilities;

·  Full implementation of the Clarence Valley Biodiversity Strategy;

·  Equal support for minority groups, indigenous communities and small outlying villages;

·  Support for ecotourism and other ‘clean’ small industries;

·  Support for, and the extension of, public service jobs;

·  No damming of the Clarence River;

·  Changing the preferred option of the Pacific Highway upgrade through the  Valley to the orange route to avoid unnecessary and massive ecological and social damage;

I believe that I would make a good councillor as I have had over 30 years’ experience running a small business (ecological consulting), worked in various state government departments, including planning, and have an extensive knowledge of the relevant planning and environmental legislation. I am Chairman of the Susan and Elizabeth Islands Recreation Trust, President of the Coutts Crossing Tidy Towns Committee, Vice-president of the Clarence Valley Branch of the National Parks Association and Secretary and Musical Director of the Grafton District Services Country Music Club. I served as the Ecological Society of Australia’s scientific representative on the Clarence Regional Vegetation Committee.

Media Release: Dr. Greg Clancy, 56 Armidale Road, Coutts Crossing NSW