Community activist Jess Moore to contest Cunningham

MEDIA RELEASE, Wed May 12 -

Jess Moore, well known community activist and part-time worker, will contest the seat of Cunningham in the coming federal elections. Moore, a member of Socialist Alliance, is a leading climate and renewable energy campaigner in Wollongong. She is active in the struggle for marriage equality and helped found the local Illawarra Aboriginal Rights Group, set up in response to the racist Northern Territory intervention. Moore was the president of the Wollongong Undergraduate Students' Association (WUSA) in 2006 and is the current national co-ordinator of Resistance, socialist youth organisation.

"Climate change is the greatest threat to ever face humanity. Yet Rudd and Labor have abandoned any action to reduce carbon emissions. They are totally tied to the interests of big polluters and refuse to put people and the planet before profits.

"The technology exists to move Australia to 100% renewable energy within ten years. We need leaders with the courage and political will to make the changes that the planet needs. We can't let current government inaction destroy our future."

Moore is also calling for society's wealth to be redistributed to ensure real rights for all, not just the rich: "Health, education and welfare are human rights. We need to pay pensioners, students and the unemployed a liveable wage; increase funding to our public schools, hospitals and higher education providers; and stop the sell off of our public assets.

"Through this election the human impact of the racist Northern Territory intervention must be brought to light. Out of sight cannot be out of mind. Aboriginal people are living in Third World conditions in wealthy Australia. We must put an end to this!

"We must also reject the demonisation of and racism directed at asylum seekers. We should welcome refugees with open arms, not turn back their boats or lock them up in detention. All people have the right to seek asylum and to live their lives free from war and crushing poverty.

"It's outrageous that the marriage act still discriminates against lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex people. It classes their relationships as different and unnatural. This is blatant discrimination. We must work to convince more people to actively support the struggle of the queer community to achieve real change.

"We need to build an Australia and a world that puts human need ahead of corporate greed. Ordinary people have the power to make change if we act together, to build radical movements for justice, equality, participatory democracy and sustainability. The world can't wait!