Ronald McDonald is running for the seat of Tweed on behalf of the Sustainable Australia Party – Stop Overdevelopment / Corruption. The key element to their campaign is to reduce immigration to Australia from 200,000 back to 70,000 per annum.
They promote anti-immigration policies to ‘stabilise Australia’s population size as soon as practicable, aiming for a population target under 30 million through to and beyond 2050’. They also are aiming to ‘stabilise global population as soon as practicable’ as they see ‘Population growth is a key driver of overconsumption worldwide’.
They state that ‘Importantly, Sustainable Australia Party is opposed to coercive efforts to reduce fertility’.
SAP say they are not anti-immigration
Responding to the summary of their policy by The Echo that highlighted their key point of difference from other parties was in relation to immigration, the President of the Sustainable Australia Party (SAP) William Bourke, who is a Councillor at North Sydney Council and is the SAP Lead candidate for the NSW Legislative Council, has told The Echo that:
‘First, the key element of our campaign is not immigration at all. At no stage in our correspondence with Echo have we said that immigration is our key issue. The key element in our NSW election campaign is reform of planning and environment laws. In our correspondence with Echo, we have clearly outlined a broad agenda with population only as part of this.
‘Second, SAP is a PRO-immigration party. We are for immigration. We do however call for immigration to be simply lowered back to the historic norm of around 70,000 p.a. Again, this is not anti-immigration!!!’
Mr McDonald’s responses to The Echo‘s questions:
What is your big number one issue that you’re looking at going into this election?
For Sustainable Australia Party, protecting our environment is always going to be number one, this includes stopping overdevelopment and stopping corruption.
What is your background – what did you study or train for? What skills do you bring to this?
NA
What is your current job?
NA
Why is it important to you that you’re in Parliament?
It is important that Sustainable Australia Party gets into parliament in either the Upper House or the Lower House because we are the only party to have sustainable solutions for the problems facing us today and tomorrow.
Looking New South Wales Parliament at the moment what is the thing that frustrates you the most?
The thing that is most frustrating is the corruption. Having vested interests have sway in policy decisions while the people that are supposed to be represented aren’t getting looked after.
Do you support building on floodplains?
No.
How would you address the issue of legacy floodplain approvals (developments that have been approved but not yet built, that are on floodplains)?
We would look at a buy-back program.
Do you consider that the current NSW government’s Short Term Rental Accommodation laws (STRA) has contributed to the current housing crisis and would you advocate for local councils to regain control over STRA?
Yes and yes. Local governments and owners corporations should be given more rights to impose restrictions on short-stay accommodation. Housing is a fundamental need and human right.
♦ To see Mr McDonald’s responses on State Significant Farmland and commitments in relation to Tweed Hospital issues click here.
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