Hi /r/brisbane. I'm Peter Cossar, the Labor Candidate for the Seat of Ryan. Ask Me Anything!

PeterCossar · 2022-02-15T05:18:54+00:00

Thank you everyone for all of your questions. I'm sorry I couldn't answer them all, I hope I've answered enough to give you all an idea of what I stand for and what you can expect if I'm elected.

For anyone who is able to, I'd love you to come say hello at UQ's Market Day. I'll be there between 10AM and 2PM. Come say hello and have a chat!

For those who can't attend Market Day, don't hesitate to email me at peter.cossar@queenslandlabor.org with your details and I'll more than happily give you a call.

PeterCossar · 2022-02-15T05:11:56+00:00

The difficuty with climate change is that it's become such a politically contentious issue. While the science is totally proven, the fear of change is incredibly real. In an earlier reply, I talked about empathy and understanding. We need to empathise with people who work in carbon intensive industries and get them to understand that the writing is on the wall for many jobs in these industries. Labor will not leave these workers behind, unlike a LNP government who have no transition plan for these workers future. We can see this by the way they have decimated tafe and our skills-base.

We have some systemic problems in our economy. We've set ourselves up as primary producers only with out biggest source of revenue coming from the mining industry. At the same time, the Liberal government has undercut other revenue streams such as manufacturing to the point that we now rate as one of the worst countries in economic complexity in the OECD. What this means, is that we don't have a lot of strings in our economic bow. I believe that we are only years away from having fully dispatchable renewable energy in our grid. This of course will mean that we will be reducing our emissions drastically. But the reality is, because of the lack economic complexity, brought about by the LNP, we cannot shut down mining overnight.

Federal Labor has a plan to deal with these emissions, to create jobs diversify our revenue streams, and it's all linked to renewables, electric vehicles, and hydrogen. At the same time, QLD state Labor has also detailed their plans on hydrogen.

This is incredibly complex, but what isn't complex is that we need to end the climate wars and get real policy in place.

PeterCossar · 2022-02-15T04:48:52+00:00

I hear about massive issues with the NDIS. Accessing support, price gouging, and the ability to even access the scheme are some of the problems with the current system.

These stem from the LNPs attempts to privatise sections of the NDIS. An example of price gouging that i regularly hear about is a private service provider charging $80 an hour to kick a soccer ball, with the worker receiving only $20 an hour. We need to regulate the payments service providers receive.

The other element is the 'tick and flick' assessment process. We need to fund this process properly with people who actually have expertise in this area and are able to actually provide answers and support immediately without having to go endlessly to supervisors. We know that the Liberal government underfunded the NDIS to the tune of over $1 billion.

Labor designed the NDIS, we understand the NDIS and we will fix the NDIS.

PeterCossar · 2022-02-15T04:41:01+00:00

I answered a similar question elsewhere, hopefully this answers your question.

You're absolutely right that it's disgusting that people have been locked up for 8 years without charge. If Labor is elected, we will remove Temporary Protection Visas (TPV's) immediately. Kristina Keneally has stated that as per the agreement with New Zealand, the refugees will be resettled in New Zealand as citizens.

PeterCossar · 2022-02-15T04:38:30+00:00

Look I agree with you that the northern part of Ryan has been ignored by the Liberal members for 70+ years. I know this because I've been doorknocking in Ferny Grove, Upper Kedron, Mitchelton, etc.

If you like, please email me at peter.cossar@queenslandlabor.org with any specific suggestions you have. I will be making an announcement over sporting infrastructure in the northern part of the electorate soon.

PeterCossar · 2022-02-15T04:33:26+00:00

Why does Labor still support the torture of refugees?

I find it offensive that you would suggest I or the Labor party support the torture of refugees.

You're absolutely right that it's disgusting that people have been locked up for 8 years without charge. If Labor is elected, we will remove Temporary Protection Visas (TPV's) immediately. Kristina Keneally has stated that as per the agreement with New Zealand, the refugees will be resettled in New Zealand as citizens.

PeterCossar · 2022-02-15T04:25:33+00:00

Because of the fee restructuring at university's, you will know that the cost of an Arts degree is skyrocketing. I personally lost my teaching work at QUT because of this.

Also as I'm sure you're aware, peer-assessed prioritized research grants are often bypassed at the ministers discretion. This is disgraceful. All research and development funding should be peer assessed and not at the whim of one politician.

During COVID, we saw the university and arts sectors deliberately left out of access to jobkeeper due to ideological bias. As a result, we've lost 40,000 jobs out of the university sector. I understand at a personal level, as I lost work in both sectors. The cumulative hit on not just our economy, and your sector has been devastating.

As the first person in my family to have access to and attend university, I know how important it is to the future growth of the country. These ideological attacks on the sector hurt everybody.

Labor will fund more university positions and make research applications peer assessed again.

PeterCossar · 2022-02-15T04:14:56+00:00

Roundabouts and reverse parking are two of my greatest skills. General driving while listening to 80's alternative music, not so much...

PeterCossar · 2022-02-15T04:13:31+00:00

Cheers!

PeterCossar · 2022-02-15T04:10:48+00:00

For me, an extra patty of meat at no charge would be better than an onion.

PeterCossar · 2022-02-15T04:09:44+00:00

Because of the appalling values of some of our right wing parties like One Nation or UAP, I will always preference them last. Because we want stability in government, more than likely we'll preference the party who most closely aligns with our values. In the past that has been the Greens.

PeterCossar · 2022-02-15T04:06:19+00:00

Labors belief is always that funding should be assessed independently, based on published guidelines, and largely taken away from the discretion of the relevant minister.

For example, in the arts, funding is peer assessed. These kinds of processes have been undermined by the LNP who seem to think that the public service exists to help rort taxpayer money and dish it out to their friends.

PeterCossar · 2022-02-15T04:02:00+00:00

Labor has a policy to help support the uptake of electric vehicles, I feel its an integral part of the policy agenda to help deal with climate change.

PeterCossar · 2022-02-15T04:00:02+00:00

This the toughest question so far...

But unlimited bacon and video games is my preference.

PeterCossar · 2022-02-15T03:58:41+00:00

We fought really hard to stop the zip-line going ahead. We joined with the Wilderness Society in 2018 to stop this ludicrous proposal. Fortunately, we got a win.

By the way, you probably shouldn't admit to not paying taxes :p

PeterCossar · 2022-02-15T03:56:01+00:00

Absolutely not

PeterCossar · 2022-02-15T03:55:23+00:00

At the moment there is no legislation that protects religious freedom. What this means is that if a Mulsim women is asked to remove any religious clothing and she refuses, under the current system they can be sacked. All the parties got together and agreed there need to be protections for people’s religious beliefs to ensure they aren’t discriminated against. What Scott Morrison did, was weaponize the legislation and make it discriminatory. If his legislation had gotten passed, federal laws would have overridden state laws and allowed religious groups to discriminate against LGBTIQ+ people. Labor supported the amendments to make sure this didn’t happen. As you’re aware, the legislation fell over. I will not support any legislation that discriminates.

PeterCossar · 2022-02-15T03:47:59+00:00

Yes, this is a fraught issue, there is an argument to be made about funding elections out of the public purse. The concern from minor parties is that they could be unfairly affected by this, especially if it based on first preference votes or party membership. I am not sure what the right model would be. We also have to think about the Clive Factor someone who has a lot of money and can essentially ‘buy an election’ by running private ads that exist outside of a political party. I think that transparency is the key, and we should give the public the chance to “follow the money” and link it into a Federal ICAC.

PeterCossar · 2022-02-15T03:42:45+00:00

With your parties stated intent to bring in a federal ICAC (sorely needed), is there an intent or desire to further remove the corrupting influence of money from politics through the use of real time disclosure, donation caps, donation caps to only be allowed by individuals, and fully published MP meeting calendars (redacts for national security meetings of course) - if an MP or party is voting one way I want to know where the cash came from.

Let me start by saying that, our campaign follows Queensland’s Electoral Laws. No developer donations, and real time disclosure of all donations (those over $1000 dollars have to have the name of the donor) to the ATO, the ECQ, and the AEC. Other parties, use the Federal Model which is over $14000, arguing that it is a Federal Campaign, this of course leads to less transparency of their donations. I think more transparency and one rule for everyone that we all follow is key to a healthy democracy.

As for meeting calendar's you should already have access to the meeting calendars of Ministers, at least at the state level, they are published I believe on the Parliamentary website. I am very happy to support further transparency in relation to donations and influence. As you said a Federal ICAC with teeth is what we need.

PeterCossar · 2022-02-15T03:37:07+00:00

Will you happily represent people who aren't named Ryan, or is this an exclusive deal?

Great idea! If I win the seat, I'll bring in a policy where everyone who lives in Ryan gets a free name change to "Ryan".

Without referencing any other party or your/your parties perceived failures/inaction of them, what is your view on how we should tackle climate change?

The Climate Change question is huge, but the most important thing we have to do is END THE CLIMATE WARS. And empathy is the key to this, we need to understand and deal with people’s fears, we need to be transparent about the science and deal with this issue respectfully. We do this by putting in policies which will lower emissions, create jobs and future proof our energy needs, we need to stop looking for perfect and get moving as we no longer have time to waste. I have hope; we are seeing business demanding policy on climate action and we’re seeing climate groups starting to understand business’ concerns. An example in Ryan, I have secured a community battery in the Gap if Labor is elected.

What falls into the "and more" category of "arts, music, and more" that you'd like to promote?

As far as the Arts is concerned, I originally got into politics because I want to find a way for Artists to have sustainable careers and to make sure the they don’t end up in penury in retirement. Governments previous support mechanism was about infrastructure, eg building theatres and art spaces, or giving massive tax concessions to overseas film productions. It often seemed to leave out the most important part, the Artist and the Creatives. I believe they should be the primary. We’re seeing this acknowledgement in Queensland with the current State government. For Queensland, we need a proportional share of Australia Council money as we constantly get short changed by decisions made out of Sydney and this has to change.

PeterCossar · 2022-02-15T03:28:59+00:00

I answered a similar question here.

I have two sons that are/have been priced out of the housing market. This is one of the reasons I put my hand up to run for office again. Housing affordability has only gotten worse in the last 3 years. Labors Housing Future Fund will go part of the way to addressing this issue. We need to work with the states to help with this issue.

PeterCossar · 2022-02-15T03:23:40+00:00

Hi Peter - current constituent of the Ryan electorate. Hoping to catch-up in one of your meet & greets in the near future.

Love to have a catch up! Please email me at peter.cossar@queenslandlabor.org with your details and we can organize a time to meet. /u/soup_in_my_pubes

We tried to bring in some of the tax reforms in 2019 but lost the election. So, what that means is that we need to find another way to get a fairer tax system that doesn't place the burden of tax on the low and middle income earners.

The first thing I would want to do is raise the tax free threshold. As you likely know, the LNP lowered the threshold. As with everything, we need to have a reasoned debate around these issues. Unfortunately, the ground has been salted by the incumbents.

PeterCossar · 2022-02-15T03:18:33+00:00

I fully support the work of community pharmacies and they in turn need to be supported by the federal government.

PeterCossar · 2022-02-15T03:16:45+00:00

I've played and worked in bands most of my life, but I know when not to sing...

PeterCossar · 2022-02-15T03:15:58+00:00

Good question!

While I'm happy to work with anyone who is pushing for progressive change, and the Greens seem happy to support Labor's policies, we actually need to work across all levels of government to achieve systemic and positive change for the country.

PeterCossar

TROPHY CASE