Independent Nicola Levi supports banning mining in The Clarance catchment and does not support a thermal waste incinerator at Casino. Find out her detailed position as she responds to the last round of questions from The Echo before this Saturday’s election.
Ms Levi supports floodplain development in some circumstances and is undecided in her approach to short-term holiday letting. Read her full position outlined in her first round of questions.
Do you support the Clarence Catchment Alliance anti-mining pledge?
Absolutely
What action will you take if elected to achieve a ban on mineral mining in the Clarence catchment?
Simply state that mining in the Clarence Catchment must be banned. It’s a water source. Water is life! We have seen enough of big business, mainly in third world countries, damaging water supplies and other environmentally sensitive areas. We need to learn from this. We need to learn to say, emphatically, ‘No’.
Do you or your party support the NSW Government Policy and Protection of the Environment Operations (General) Amendment (Thermal Energy from Waste) Regulation 2022 which allows a thermal waste incinerator to be built in the Richmond Valley Job Precinct Casino? Yes/No
No
If yes, what is your personal or party policy on thermal waste incineration?
If no, what is your personal or party policy on waste management?
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Stop using petrochemicals to produce plastics. Don’t burn waste. Burn nothing. Burning creates emissions. Emissions heat the planet and cause global warming. Global warming produces methane. You can’t breathe methane. (Google – what happens when the Tundra melts?)
Use as little soft plastic if you can (none if possible.) Ban soft plastics in supermarkets. We didn’t have it 30 years ago and we don’t need it now. Supermarkets are full of it. Have a plastic free day every year where we buy nothing that is wrapped in soft (unrecyclable) plastic.
It is time to legislate for effective waste management practices and to charge for waste which is simply trash and not recyclable.
combined fishing fleet in NSW. Photo supplied
What is your position and policies on the climate emergency and what are you planning to do for mitigation and adaptation in our region?
My position on the climate emergency is that it certainly is a climate emergency and we need to do things differently from the way we always have done them.
‘Yes’, we will go without some things that we have been used to. So-be-it.
Further research is needed into the use of electric vehicles as batteries are a problem in themselves.
We need to do a lot of listening and a lot of funding of research.
There are no doubt solutions out there. We have to listen to all the creative people can provide lights at the end of the tunnel.
We must reject plastics. Plastic bags have not been eliminated in supermarkets. We just pay more for them now! The need to be banned completely.
Also, do they have policies and strategies to transition to regenerative agriculture models to ensure young farmers can establish themselves on the land and implement farming techniques that are ecologically beneficial?
I will write a policy for this. It’s a good idea. We could run a focus group and establish tourism activities in this area. It would be great to get some high profile regenerative agriculture tourism activities going. Would the person who has asked this question like to assist with a focus group to help to develop this idea further?
This is exactly the sort of thing I love to do. Listen to ideas, see what we can make of it. Network and solve problems!
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
