Greens MP Lee Rhiannon will today join the nine Greens candidates from the Hunter region on an extensive bus tour of the worst affected coal communities in the Hunter, including the site of the proposed Anvil Hill coalmine.

The candidates will meet up with local coal community campaigners to inspect the ongoing and planned mining projects destroying the communities, rivers and land of the Hunter Valley.

“The Greens Hunter candidates will be eye-balling the major parties leading up to the election and challenging them to explain how they can support coal while pretending to be concerned about climate change, Ms Rhiannon said.

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GREENS candidate for Port Stephens, Charmian Eckersley fare welled Stardust
Circus from Raymond Terrace today with a call for an end to animal circuses.

“The NSW Government must immediately take steps to bring an end to the
exploitation currently endured by circus animals,” Ms Eckersley said.

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Today the Greens candidate for Newcastle Michael Osborne called for an overhaul of the mental health system in the Hunter, calling it a ‘shambles’, particularly pointing to a lack of emergency mental health services.

“Due to chronic under funding of mental health resources in the Hunter, we are seeing wide ranging problems such as a severe shortage of beds in psychiatric hospitals, a lack of emergency services, a lack of ongoing rehabilitation and treatment, misdiagnosis, staff shortages and the absence of services for the treatment of drug and alcohol abuse.

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