ld50 vs ssri
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2004
- Messages
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Still plenty of hippy puff in Page
By D.D. McNicoll
September 28, 2004
IF Ian Causley, the local National Party member for the northern NSW seat of Page, walked up the main street of Nimbin in his trademark dark suit, he would look as out of place as most of the town's inhabitants would look anywhere else in the sprawling 16,600sqkm rural electorate.
Not out of puff ... Mr Kavasilas says he represents the biggest criminal group in Australia.
But to suggest that the ageing hippies who live in and around Nimbin are not political would be naive. The town is home to the Hemp Party which, while it isn't running any candidates for the House of Representatives, has Senate candidates in NSW and Queensland.
Hemp's chief organiser, or "branch head" as he prefers to be known, Andrew Kavasilas, runs a coffee shop in Nimbin and is also head of the local Chamber of Commerce.
"I represent the largest criminal group in Australia, the adult cannabis users," Mr Kavasilas said as he puffed on a mid-morning joint yesterday.
"Our objectives are serious. We don't want legalisation of cannabis, but we do want decriminalisation and regulation.
"We don't like the way cannabis use has gone. There are more kids smoking at a younger age and that worries us. We also want serious trials on the medical use of cannabis."
Nimbin sits uneasily in the generally rural spread of Page. The nearby towns of Casino and Kyogle are typical country centres with retailers selling tractors, superphosphate and barbed wire alongside those selling baby clothes, groceries or meat.
Covering a large hunk of northern NSW, Page also takes in the big towns of Grafton and Lismore, and touches the coast for the holiday towns of Evans Head and Ballina. Much of its northern boundary is defined by the NSW-Queensland border.
One of the more marginal rural seats in the country, Page is largely agricultural, with dairy and beef cattle, grain crops, sugar and bananas, timber mills, fishing, prawning and oyster farming bringing in more income than the local tourism industry.
Mr Causley has held the seat for the National Party since 1996 and was deputy speaker of the House of Representatives in the last parliament.
Before switching to federal politics, he was the NSW MLA for Clarence from 1984 to 1996. He held several ministerial portfolios including natural resources, agriculture and fisheries and mines in the Greiner and Fahey governments.
Mr Causley retained Page with a 2.8 per cent margin in 2001 and is confident of winning again on October 9.
Relaxing from the rigours of the campaign at the Lismore Cup race meeting earlier this week, Mr Causley said unemployment in the area had fallen from more than 15 per cent to 7.9 per cent and light industry, along with tourism, was growing.
While the Green vote is significant in Page (the party won almost 8 per cent of the primary vote in 2001), Mr Causley's main opponent will be Labor's Kevin Bell.
A graduate of Duntroon military college who spent 13 years in the army and who is now a schoolteacher, Mr Bell believes he has the conservative background a Labor candidate needs to win in a rural electorate.
"I need three people in every hundred to change their vote," he said yesterday. "With all the doorknocking I've done over the past months, I think I've got a real chance.
"The demographics in the electorate are changing, with a lot of people moving in who have never voted for the National Party. I've done a preferences deal with the Greens - and that might just be enough to get me over the line."
The Australian
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,10900325%5E37101,00.html
By D.D. McNicoll
September 28, 2004
IF Ian Causley, the local National Party member for the northern NSW seat of Page, walked up the main street of Nimbin in his trademark dark suit, he would look as out of place as most of the town's inhabitants would look anywhere else in the sprawling 16,600sqkm rural electorate.
Not out of puff ... Mr Kavasilas says he represents the biggest criminal group in Australia.
But to suggest that the ageing hippies who live in and around Nimbin are not political would be naive. The town is home to the Hemp Party which, while it isn't running any candidates for the House of Representatives, has Senate candidates in NSW and Queensland.
Hemp's chief organiser, or "branch head" as he prefers to be known, Andrew Kavasilas, runs a coffee shop in Nimbin and is also head of the local Chamber of Commerce.
"I represent the largest criminal group in Australia, the adult cannabis users," Mr Kavasilas said as he puffed on a mid-morning joint yesterday.
"Our objectives are serious. We don't want legalisation of cannabis, but we do want decriminalisation and regulation.
"We don't like the way cannabis use has gone. There are more kids smoking at a younger age and that worries us. We also want serious trials on the medical use of cannabis."
Nimbin sits uneasily in the generally rural spread of Page. The nearby towns of Casino and Kyogle are typical country centres with retailers selling tractors, superphosphate and barbed wire alongside those selling baby clothes, groceries or meat.
Covering a large hunk of northern NSW, Page also takes in the big towns of Grafton and Lismore, and touches the coast for the holiday towns of Evans Head and Ballina. Much of its northern boundary is defined by the NSW-Queensland border.
One of the more marginal rural seats in the country, Page is largely agricultural, with dairy and beef cattle, grain crops, sugar and bananas, timber mills, fishing, prawning and oyster farming bringing in more income than the local tourism industry.
Mr Causley has held the seat for the National Party since 1996 and was deputy speaker of the House of Representatives in the last parliament.
Before switching to federal politics, he was the NSW MLA for Clarence from 1984 to 1996. He held several ministerial portfolios including natural resources, agriculture and fisheries and mines in the Greiner and Fahey governments.
Mr Causley retained Page with a 2.8 per cent margin in 2001 and is confident of winning again on October 9.
Relaxing from the rigours of the campaign at the Lismore Cup race meeting earlier this week, Mr Causley said unemployment in the area had fallen from more than 15 per cent to 7.9 per cent and light industry, along with tourism, was growing.
While the Green vote is significant in Page (the party won almost 8 per cent of the primary vote in 2001), Mr Causley's main opponent will be Labor's Kevin Bell.
A graduate of Duntroon military college who spent 13 years in the army and who is now a schoolteacher, Mr Bell believes he has the conservative background a Labor candidate needs to win in a rural electorate.
"I need three people in every hundred to change their vote," he said yesterday. "With all the doorknocking I've done over the past months, I think I've got a real chance.
"The demographics in the electorate are changing, with a lot of people moving in who have never voted for the National Party. I've done a preferences deal with the Greens - and that might just be enough to get me over the line."
The Australian
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,10900325%5E37101,00.html
probably shaped my drug use these days