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Landini wants Riverina to have authority over region’s natural resources
Independent candidate for Murray David Landini will once again be calling for a separate Riverina state this election, a move he says will protect the jobs and the livelihoods of people.
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Having lived most of his life in Wakool and worked most of his career in the wool industry, Mr Landini has a strong grasp of politics in the Murray electorate.
He previously ran as an independent in 2019 and stood for pre-selection with the Nationals before that.
He is in the process of registering a party called the Riverina State Party, with the primary objective of forming a Riverina state.
Mr Landini said separating politically from NSW would give people in the Riverina authority over all the natural resources from the region.
“These resources will be used much more responsibly, effectively and beneficially for the people in the Riverina, instead of industries such as the timber industry and the irrigation industry being shut down entirely,” Mr Landini said.
“A Riverina state would ensure these industries flourish, while creating wealth, jobs and a secure future.”
The proposal would see the eight electorates west of the Great Dividing Range, including along the Murray River and the Hume Weir, being self-governed on a state level.
“I'm very aware of the economic devastation caused by NSW Government actions such as participation in the ultra-destructive basin plan and the proliferation of national parks and national parks jobs, most obvious with the Millewa Forest at Mathoura,” Mr Landini said.
“When they closed that timber industry down and turned it into a national park, back then it was a $100 million a year industry, $100 million worth of jobs, and that's just up the road from Mathoura and Moama.
“That is an absolute disaster.”
Mr Landini said the Murray-Darling Basin Plan had a cataclysmic impact on jobs, wealth production and farmers.
When asked if he thought the environmental and agricultural sectors should be working together to create better outcomes for both sectors, Mr Landini said it was not possible.
He said it all came down to a large percentage of the NSW population voting for green-leaning parties which had green policies, not limited to The Greens but also to Labor, Liberal and the Nationals.
“Those sectors can't work better together because the environmental agencies are driven by a green ideology that is contrary to the use of natural resources that our livelihoods are based on,” he said.
“It's not a consultative interaction. It's a command and order interaction. It doesn't matter what the timber industry represents or what the irrigation industry represents, the government acts under green ideology.”
Three quarters, or about 76 per cent, of the NSW population and politicians live in Newcastle, Sydney and Wollongong, a statistic Mr Landini said was very concerning.
“Electorates are based on equal population and the population growth occurs more in cities like Newcastle, Sydney and Wollongong. The country areas of NSW, on average, lose one electorate and one member of parliament every five years,” he said.
“(A total of) 435,400 people, mostly from those three cities, voted for the Greens, who are officially opposed to all the natural resource-based industries that our livelihoods depend on.
“There are only 398,000 voters in total west of the Great Dividing Range where most, if not close to all, these natural resource industries are located.
“We are losing our representation and if we continue on this trajectory, then in 40 to 60 years, there will only be one electorate and one member of parliament in NSW.”
As to whether he has garnered much support for the proposed Riverina state, Mr Landini said he had a significant amount of people from northern Victoria expressing their interest.
For the state to be considered, he has to be able to show that he has the numbers and the support behind the proposal.
He said 99 per cent of people responded positively to the idea of state separation, but there was a small percentage that thought it couldn’t be accomplished.
“Some people say it can't be accomplished because Australia's always had Victoria, NSW, Queensland and so on, but in actual fact, all of Australia was part of NSW originally, except for the west of Australia,” he said.
“It can be done. All that is required is the consent of the parliament of the existing state.”
Like his fellow independent candidate Greg Adamson, Mr Landini is a former member of the Nationals.
One of his pivotal reasons for separating from the party and becoming an independent was because of its stance on the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
“They used to be a party that represented country people. They aren't any more,” Mr Landini said of the Nationals.
“The Nationals are a socialist, feminist, green-oriented party.
“They support the disastrous basin plan. They always have, and that is the proof they're not on our side any more. That is the worst legislation we've ever suffered under.”
Even if elected as an independent, Mr Landini said it was legally possible to switch to a party mid-term, such as the Riverina State Party, which he is in the process of forming.
If elected the member for Murray, Mr Landini’s key focus area will be the welfare of the people, with his top priority being employment, followed by natural resource management.
He said natural resource management and jobs were interlinked because a large portion of employment in the Riverina was through natural resources.
In terms of healthcare and education, Mr Landini said while they were both important issues, they were secondary compared to employment because people first needed to be able to provide for their families.
One issue that he is particularly concerned with is that staff in healthcare and education are still not being permitted to work because they did not consent to COVID-19 vaccinations.
“At the moment, there is a shortage of staff and we’ve got all these other staff that still are not allowed to work for no practical reason,” he said.
“This is disgraceful.
“I demand these medical staff be reinstated and compensated for unfair dismissal.”
The key message Mr Landini wants to get across is that a Riverina state is needed to protect livelihoods and prosperity from the “destructive domination of green-oriented metropolitan NSW”.