The Greens are hoping, for the first time, to have two
councillors come September, a realistic hope according to Irene Doutney, who
with the strong support of party members from the South Sydney and Inner City
Greens, is already in campaign mode, and ready to serve the city she has lived
in all her life.
Ms Doutney is a well-known and respected activist for peace
and social justice, with an impressive resume. She is the tenant rep for the
public housing complex in which she lives, an editorial board member of the
tenant newsletter The Redwater News, secretary of the management committee of
the Factory Community Centre in Waterloo, and a co-ordinating member of
REDWatch (set up to monitor the plans of the Redfern-Waterloo Authority and development
in South Sydney).
As a member of the Greens she has worked on the Heffron and Sydney campaigns, and is
currently a member of the Anti-Privatisation Working Group, convenor of the
South Sydney Greens, a member of the Housing Working Group, the Council
Reference Group and the editorial committee of the Greens newspaper Greenvoice.
The Greens, Ms Doutney says, offer real alternatives to
exploitative capitalism, and the party’s policies are grounded in four
consistent principles: economic and social justice; sustainability; peace and
non-violence; and grass-roots democracy.
“These are not abstract principles,” she adds. “When
considering a Development Application, it’s important to ask for whom the
project is beneficial and who stands to lose. Does it weaken essential
community infrastructure? It’s important to consider the environmental
sustainability of the project – mandatory standards should be set – while
encouraging open and fair community discussion and involvement.”
Ms Doutney is keen to point out that the Greens are
committed to independence. “We take donations from individuals only. No
developers. No corporations.”
In the present and near future, key social issues include
programs for youth and the elderly, detox centres, and dry centres for the
homeless. “A psychiatric referral centre in Redfern is sorely needed,” Ms
Doutney says.
“It’s frustrating to see trendy little pocket parks – and
the fuss made of that – when there’s such tremendous disadvantage among the
people, including Indigenous people.
Sometimes it seems that festivals and events are organised
to placate and distract the community from real and urgent needs.
“I’m thinking of the new lighting erected over Redfern Street.
It’s ironic. Under the lights such disadvantage in the streets. We now have new
lights but crumby boarding houses, few services for people with health
problems, mental health issues, drug and alcohol addictions.”
The Greens are sometimes accused of naivete, of being
anti-progress. “The opposite is true,” Ms Doutney says. “There are finite
resources and we need to find more innovative and future-oriented ways of
managing resources. We don’t need more cars and freeways. We don’t need more
competition, more of the same. We need real alternatives to over-development
and self-indulgent investment. We need affordable housing, and in a hurry.”
Source:
South Sydney Herald April 2008 – www.southsydneyherald.com.au