Vote Nick [1]

Nick had a great time at the Meet the Candidates meeting in Mt Barker!  Oh, okay, Nick says, Not a great time, more A Valuable Lesson in Practical Politics. (Nick said it as though each word were important enough to be capitalised.) It was a small meeting, Nick tells me, perhaps twenty electors. The organisers were a bit disappointed. Nick thinks that there is not much interest in this election because the result has already been decided. (I think that he means that the results are a foregone conclusion.) Names -- of candidates at the meeting, that is -- were drawn from a hat to decide who sat where. Then each candidate answered each question in order of where they were sitting. Seat number one was Terry Redman, the sitting candidate. I mean, they were all sitting but Terry is already sitting in parliament. Not that night, of course, he was sitting in the Council Offices in Mt Barker. Terry, Nick tells me, is very smooth. Right from the word go he was a politician: he appeared, he shoo

Hi Electors! Gosh, I do feel silly. Nick said, Have you mentioned the party yet? No, I hadn't, well not in a full post :-( So now: Nick is running in the Warren-Blackwood district as a member of the Legalise Cannabis Western Australia Party. Nick is not a cannabis user and never has been. (Nor me!) He supports the party policy because Nick believes in freedom of choice. Nick supports that central policy -- that cannabis should be legal. How it's done, he may have different ideas. The LCWA Party policy is: To get cannabis legalised for all its uses. That's straight from the website, nice and simple, easy for me to type in. Oh, the website is at  Party Policy – Legalise Cannabis Western Australia Party (lcwaparty.org.au) . That's the policy page, there's lots more. (Including a page for candidates. There's a picture of Nick, quite a nice picture. No picture of me though :-( The LCWA policy is simple -- but then there's lots and lots of detailed points! Well, e

When Nick and I read the AMR list of issues, we saw some environmental concerns. Concerns with the impacts of climate change on the environment, for example. And lack of funding for environmental protection. This, Nick says, is a huge problem :-( For lots of reasons, the environment is under threat. People love the natural environment (I know that I do, so does Nick!) and lots of people visit the Warren-Blackwood district just to enjoy being in -- or even near -- the bush and the ocean. (I prefer the countryside, so does Nick -- but Nick does enjoy building sandcastles :-) I grew up near a city then spent most of my time in the country. There were some horrible disasters and you know what? Once a beautiful forest is gone, it's almost impossible to bring it back :-( What Nick says is (and I think he's right), Funding for the environment is only part of the solution. We also need (says Nick) the will and the attitude to take action and -- sometimes -- to not take action. Nick say

Hi there Electors! Nick really loved the effort that the Shire of Augusta Margaret River has gone to, to develop a four year strategic plan. Well done, Nick says -- and thank you for letting us know about it ! What Nick saw was a series of specific needs for resources. Fair enough, Nick said, when I'm elected I'll have somewhere definite to start. These are things that people in this shire want -- and I bet (that's Nick, I don't bet) -- I bet that other shires will have similar issues. The very first point -- says Nick -- must be a huge problem: the need for Bushfire Risk Planning. And this shire is losing funding for its coordinator :-( Worse than that, if the funding goes then the expertise may be lost. Do other shires in the district have a similar need (asks Nick)? Getting bushfire risk planning expertise throughout the district is (Nick says) essential. Bushfires cause enormous damage -- not just to the bush.  Nick wants to look at the situation -- to find ways to

Nick was born in Bridgetown, in the Warren-Blackwood District. Then his family moved away. He has visited the district -- and enjoyed each visit -- but he is not familiar with current issues. How can he find out what really matters? Normally, Nick says, he reads. And listens. And here is a shire doing just the right thing to help political candidates: The Shire of Augusta Margaret River has sent him a list of issues. What an excellent effort :-) Nick reads it and is impressed. He is also, he admits, troubled. There is so much -- and he knows so little. Are these great ideas, or just good? Do they apply across the district? The focus is on the shire but several ideas seem to be very general issues. Do other shires have similar strategic plans? As a political candidate Nick could promise anything. This is what he will really do: Nick will read the issues. He will, if he can, meet with the people preparing the plan. When he is elected, this will become more definite. Good work deserves a

Nick Lethbridge supports the aims of the Legalise Cannabis WA party, though he is not and has never been a cannabis user. He believes in giving individuals the freedom to choose. Nick also has other ideas, ideas which he wants to put up for general debate. He believes that politics should be about ideas and the search for the best ideas for the future of the people of WA. Nick is a West Australian, having been born in Bridgetown, in the District of Warren-Blackwood. He has spent all of his life in WA except for visits of between a month and a year to other countries. Nick is well-travelled yet always prefers his home in WA. Nick's career has often revolved around computers. First, he developed computer systems. Later, he supported the people who used new information systems. He is currently developing an app which will encourage people to visit the interesting places in any district. All of Nick's employment has been in WA. He has worked with organ