Campaign Trail: Greens to deliver for mums, Libs borrow from Tories and Chic goes electric

On The Campaign Trail today, the Greens pledge more maternity services, the Libs take a leaf from Boris’s playbook, Chic goes electric and the minors make the case for more electoral funding.

• Greens promise new maternity services package
• Coe takes a leaf from the Conservatives’ playbook
• Chic on the charge for electric cars
• A fairer distribution of electoral funding

Greens promise new maternity services package

The Greens have released their plan for improved maternity services, which includes more midwives and minimum nurse-to-patient ratios.

The midwife-led Birth Centre at the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children will also be expanded, as will the criteria for home-birthing.

ACT Greens spokesperson for women and founding member of the Friends of Birth Centres, Emma Davidson, says that while the Birth Centre at Canberra Hospital is highly regarded, the waitlist is too long.

“Every woman should be able to choose where and with whom she gives birth, but for some women the choices are limited by not having enough beds in the Birth Centre,” she said.

“Many women do not want to give birth in a highly clinical setting, and for women with low-risk of complications, a Birth Centre offers a supportive, midwife-led environment, with the additional security of being close to hospital facilities if necessary.”

Coe takes a leaf from the Conservatives’ playbook

Two days out from election day and the Canberra Liberals have pulled another stunt, this time, literally smashing the cost of living.

If all of these stunts are striking a familiar tone, its because you might have seen them all before – on Boris Johnson’s re-election campaign last year.

@alistair_coe says only the Canberra Liberals will smash the cost of living in the ACT. #actvotes pic.twitter.com/tca98QNGFC

— Brent Ford (@BrentFord26) October 15, 2020

Break the gridlock. Get Brexit done. ?? pic.twitter.com/o4EqkTIqSc

— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) December 10, 2019

Or the infamous pie stunt.

We have one day left on the campaign trail before voting day and will almost certainly see the leaders out in front of the cameras again.

Could we see a Coe Love, Actually moment? In 2020, we can’t rule anything out.

Chic on the charge for electric cars

The Belco Party will support the uptake of electric vehicles and fight to bring Formula E racing to Canberra if they manage to snag a seat in the Legislative Assembly on Saturday, candidate and Summernats founder Chic Henry said.

Formula E is run with electric vehicles and it has the potential to generate hundreds of millions worth of tourism dollars, according to Mr Henry.

“We need to do everything possible to attract more people to Canberra in this post-COVID world. Formula E has not entered Australia yet, and this is our chance to put Canberra on the global map,” he said.

The party will also put a charging station at every town and group centre across Canberra, have a 50 per cent discount for electric vehicle registration and a 25 per cent discount for hybrid vehicle registration and put in place one-hour free parking permits for electric vehicles.

A fairer distribution of electoral funding

Independent candidates and political parties who get more than 4 per cent of first preference votes at this election will receive $8.62 per vote from the ACT Electoral Commission.

The Sustainable Australia Party has called for this threshold to be removed, allowing all candidates to be eligible for the same public funding per vote.

“The three parliamentary parties effectively have their campaign spending refunded by the taxpayer while minor parties and independents get nothing,” Sustainable Australia Party ACT president and candidate for Kurrajong John Haydon said.

“It’s time to properly fund election campaigns so that minor parties and independents can effectively compete and offer alternatives to the tired ACT triopoly. We face an impossibly steep uphill climb to even be seen and heard by most voters and need a more level playing field.

“This would properly respect the views of people who vote for minor parties and independents. A citizen’s vote for a minor party or independent should not have less value than a vote for a party in power.”