https://www.jimcasey.online/about daily 0.75 2021-11-14 https://www.jimcasey.online/jim-in-media daily 0.75 2021-11-01 https://www.jimcasey.online/climatechangeactivist daily 0.75 2021-11-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/615816d771bb830629007063/1634715907364-M3IWN6CYVF8WW9H47GRB/IMG_20190822_153421.jpg Climate Change Activist It’s been said so many times it is almost losing it’s meaning, but climate change is an existential challenge for us all. Over the past decade I have worked as a climate change activist in my union and through various campaigns. My personal story revolves around the changes I have seen in my job, and what that means for me as a firefighter. A warming world creates changes to weather, and extreme changes at that. The devastating fires of 2019/2020 were a terrible example. A warm winter, drought, a run of extremely hot weather and dry lightning strikes gave us the most devastating fires in our history. I worked those fires, and many others over the past twenty years. Fire behaviour is changing, and for me that is foremost a workplace safety issue. The kind of bushfires we face now are too big to be dealt with on the end of a hose. We have to address the root causes, and that means decarbonising our economy to stop the warming of the planet. But there are very powerful vested interests determined to milk the status quo for every dollar they can. Taking them on requires more than just building parliamentary representation - it requires social movements capable of changing the facts on the ground. To build a force big enough to make decarbonising not only necessary, but possible, will require buy-in from millions of people. This is why the struggle against climate change must also address the struggle for a decent life. It’s not enough to stop a coal mine - although we must do that - we have to also be building the kind of secure long term employment in new industries that can build a social base for the shift away from fossil fuels. It’s been said there’s no jobs on a dead planet. That’s true. But without talking about jobs, without talking about social justice, we will not be able to marshal the forces required to stop the planet burning. I see climate activism and workplace activism and community organising as different parts of a whole. Building these movements together gives us a shot at not just saving the environment, but building a better world. The Greens, with our membership spread throughout both NSW and throughout the different movements, are well placed to contribute to this, and our parliamentarians are uniquely situated to give voice to these movements. https://www.jimcasey.online/unionist daily 0.75 2021-10-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/615816d771bb830629007063/1634716314924-LFWHX00QHMESMZB9CPJT/generic3.jpeg Unionist I have been an active union member all my working life. The union movement is a critical part of a genuinely democratic society, in that at its best it is a space for working people to directly influence their conditions of work. It is also, in many ways, the missing piece of the climate movement. As a firefighter I am a proud member of the Fire Brigade Employees’ Union. I have served as a station delegate, Vice President, and between 2009 and 2016 I was the State Secretary - the union’s leader. As State Secretary I was responsible for the day to day running of the union - it’s staff, it’s assets, and the strategic direction to be endorsed or otherwise by the membership. In my tenure as Secretary a lot was achieved, but there are four things in particular I am especially proud of. The 2012 Workers Compensation strike. This was the first general stoppage of firefighters since 1956. In defiance of the employer, the government, and the Industrial Relations Commission every fire engine in Sydney converged on NSW Parliament in defence of our workers compensation protections. It was this, alongside the work done by our parliamentarians in the Legislative Council, particularly John Kaye and David Shoebridge, that meant that firefighters and paramedics have kept decent workplace protections. The campaign against station closures, 2012 - 2014. Budget cuts to the Fire Brigade led to rolling closures of fire stations across NSW. Over an eighteen month period the FBEU raised this in the press, in local councils, and anywhere we could get a hearing. Our intervention in the Miranda By-election of 2013, where firefighters in uniform urged voters to “put the Liberals last” proved the final straw for the government. Station closures stopped shortly afterwards. 50/50 recruitment of women to the fire service. Firefighting has historically been seen as a male occupation. In the interests of shifting this, and of the service reflecting the society we serve, the FBEU worked with management to push for fifty percent of all recruits being women. This was a controversial and difficult position for the FBEU to take, but the right one. Climate Change. In 2010 the FBEU became the first firefighter’s union in Australia, and amongst the first of any union in the nation, to adopt a position on climate change recognising it as a workplace health and safety issue for our industry, as well as a social issue more broadly. Again, this was a difficult debate inside the FBEU, but one that was absolutely the right position to take. The union movement is still the biggest social movement in the country. The Greens have always prided ourselves on our commitment to and engagement with the movement, and if preselected I will bring to this work a skill set developed over twenty years of practice. https://www.jimcasey.online/firefighter daily 0.75 2021-11-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/615816d771bb830629007063/1634716463944-Z1EEZLMOJVK9FDXUN80A/union1.jpeg Fire Fighter I am have been a professional firefighter since 1997. It is a rewarding job, and one I count myself very lucky to have. In my time on the trucks I have seen a lot of funny things, worked with some of the finest people I have ever met, and have had the privilege of trying to help people when they are experiencing some of the worst events life can throw at you. It is a job that gives you insights into our society. Sydney is a city of extremes. In a suburb like Balmain, where I currently work, there are the homes of CEOs and politicians two streets away from public housing. Across the city as a whole the contrast is even more stark. Some of the most sought after real estate in the world surrounds our harbour, but in the outer suburbs thousands are left behind. The story is the same across NSW, and indeed the country. We’re a wealthy country, but an unequal one. And one where our natural environment is taken as being just another commodity to be parcelled up and sold. On a fire engine you see all of this. The inequality, but also the tremendous wealth. The incredible environment we are a part of, but that our society brutalises through mining and irresponsible farming practices. But you also see the best of people. In a crisis most of us show generosity, and courage. The challenge for the Greens, and for everyone who wants our society to be for the many, not the few, is how we can harness that. https://www.jimcasey.online/whyvote daily 0.75 2021-11-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/615816d771bb830629007063/1634716650423-B0CR9KSG6GGFCO71JTRM/greens2.jpeg Why Vote For Me I have been a part of direct action activism all of my adult life, and have been heavily involved at various points in the following campaigns: Public education; Refugee rights; Against the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; The movement against corporate globalisation, particularly the M1 actions of the early 2000s. Climate change. I have always worked to be an ally to those organising in their own communities, and have been a committed supporter of campaigns including: for women’s reproductive rights; marriage equality; in defense of trans rights; against Black deaths in custody. Solidarity, looking out for one another, and standing alongside those having a go to make things better - these are my values. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/615816d771bb830629007063/1634716735713-US1AFJH26ESIGP6YN0J7/generic1.jpeg Why Vote For Me Politics should be about creating the best possible world for every living thing in it. Instead, it's about maintaining the status quo. Corporate profits are booming, but real wages haven’t risen. Housing is ludicrously expensive. After year on year of record-breaking weather events and what are supposed to be once-in-a-lifetime natural disasters, the need for real action on climate change couldn’t be clearer. And we are living through a pandemic that exposes and exacerbates so many of the inequalities that lie in the heart of our society. It doesn’t have to be like this. We have the wealth and resources to end poverty, to de-carbonise our economy, to give dignity and security for all. But transformation like that needs a change to politics as usual - a change to the system itself. For many the prospects of real change, or indeed any change, have never felt so distant. The major parties refuse meaningful action on climate. We work harder for less. Our social services are hollowed out, our communities fragment under pressure. Systemic racism is experienced by First Nations people everyday - over policing, poverty, and new stolen generations. Violence against women and children is endemic. I am a firefighter, a unionist, a climate change activist, and a proud member of the Greens NSW. I led the Fire Brigade Employees’ Union for seven years. In that time the FBEU was one of the first Australian unions to take a position on climate change, and one of the only NSW unions to engage in successful mass industrial action. Since standing down as a union official I have continued working inside the climate change movement through the Firefighters Climate Alliance, including a range of both written and spoken media work, as well as speaking at various events including some of the School Strikes for Climate. I have spent my adult life fighting for the kind of meaningful change for both people and the environment that is so desperately needed. The connection between social change and environmental action is at the heart of my world view. We cannot build the kind of movement capable of de-carbonising our economy unless that movement also addresses the needs of ordinary people. I am a socialist because unless we unite people to fight for both their society, and their environment, we can fix neither. We are a broad party, representing a range of progressive thought and experience, but not yet big enough or broad enough. To create the world we want we have to build new connections, and reach new supporters. Parliament is a stacked deck against ordinary people, but it is also a platform from which we can amplify, and help build, the kind of movements that can remake our world. If preselected I will work to do just that. I hope I have your support. https://www.jimcasey.online/contact daily 0.75 2021-11-25 https://www.jimcasey.online/home daily 1.0 2022-02-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/615816d771bb830629007063/1633163672711-CO8GXQR8U08FLJ6YJPEA/jim+at+parli.jpg Home