Ian and his wife Tin at the Kendall-Kadaw Friendship School Project in Central Burma

Biography

  • Born 1948 at Valentine, Lake Macquarie, & raised at Belmont where there was a coal mine at the end of the street. Worked as a metallurgist for BHP, CRA Minerals Research & Bougainville Copper (TPNG) for a total of 7 years, so he has first hand experience of the dark side of heavy industry & mining.


  • After enlightening travels through Asia & North America, a career change followed into agricultural & rural development. This began with completion of a Bachelor of Agricultural Science (including agricultural economics) at Massey University, New Zealand, leading to various appointments as an agriculture advisor in PNG, Solomon Islands & Vietnam.


  • A stint owning & operating a plant nursery & landscaping business in USA gave Ian insight & deep empathy into the world of small & micro-business. He continues the belief that a truly free small & micro-business environment must be fostered, because this sector is the road to a sustainable future.


  • On return to Australia in 1989, a masters degree in development economics at the University of New England (UNE) was completed, followed by consulting & training in rural development, forestry & project management at The Australian National University & UNE.


  • With wife, Tin Hta Nu, they worked in Vietnam for four years training government officials in rural development & project management for AusAID, UNDP, World Bank & German bilateral aid.


  • Moved house from Armidale to Kendall in 2001 & now live on 5 hectares of river flats, “walking the talk”. Ian designed & had built their passive solar house with solar hot water, photovoltaics etc such that the house uses about one third of the NSW average household electricity usage. They have developed the property extensively with tree plantings & fruit orchards. Fruit & Asian vegetable sales are made at the weekly Kendall Vege Bazaar established by Ian & Tin. The Bazaar grew from the Kendall CSA (community supported agriculture) which Ian started in 2005.

Other roles

  • In 2007 Ian was selected for the Al Gore Climate Change Leadership program & has since made 15 presentations to various groups made, including a community radio debate recorded at http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&hl=en-GB&v=4xggkkxP45o

  • Also in 2007, initiated with wife, Tin, the Kendall- Kadaw Friendship School Project in Central Burma, raising over $40,000 from the local community- school is now completed & a scholarship program now underway for medical students in the same region

  • Foundation committee member of Climate Change Australia Hastings branch.

  • Secretary of Queens Lake Sailing Club for the past 8 years.

  • Member of Alternate Technology Association- promotes renewable energy & small scale technology

Policy priorities

The Greens in Lyne Electorate are the party for the future


Climate change

  • We need to stop burning fossil fuels as soon as possible & the strategies for this are energy efficiency measures & adoption of renewable energy,

  • Energy efficient passive solar & naturally ventilated homes must become the norm, through retro-fitting & appropriate guidelines for new construction. Housing allotments in new land developments should be designed to facilitate these low energy houses

  • By merely replacing all household off-peak hot water systems in NSW with solar or heat pumps, one coal fired power station could be closed

  • All renewable energy sources for the coast should be explored & developed if viable; expand proven technologies such as rooftop photovoltaics & microturbines; establish pilot projects in microhydro & wave energy. The Dorrigo Plateau has been identified as a significant microhydro producer (see http://www.pelena.com.au/)

Transport

  • Investment in rail should take precedence over roads for long distance freight as it requires just 10% of the fuel used by trucks, in addition to the safety benefits for other road users

  • Public transport & purpose-built off-road cycleways should be given high priority in local planning, NOT just more roads

  • We have passed Peak Oil so must find renewable energy sources for future transport

  • We should be improving east-west transport links to enhance the coast as a recreational zone for the inland population & to promote the “foodshed” concept- by this we mean trade in food between the inland & coast allowing each area to optimise it’s comparative advantage

Education & Youth

  • A well funded public education sector with opportunities for all

  • Youth allowance availability should not predjudice rural & regional youth when they wish to advance their education through study in urban centres

  • The younger members of our community are those who will suffer the most by inaction on climate change & other environmental issues, we therefore take seriously any suggestions & inputs put forward by youth.


The economy & sustainable jobs

  • We need to embrace sustainable local food production, taking advantage of our comparative advantage in a mild climate & fertile soils.

  • Land planning should place high priority on preserving this valuable natural resource; housing development must not be allowed on prime agricultural land

  • Food processing, such as Mentges Master Meats in Taree & local artisan cheese & yoghurt makers create local employment & give customers a fresh & healthy food

  • Food marketing with low key shopping centres similar to Belconnen Town Market (www.belconnenmarkets.com.au) in Canberra where family owned small scale outlets provide the bulk of food retailing. This will complement the number of farmers markets in our area which are not always accessible or convenient for householders

  • Tourism favouring small-scale locally owned facilities is a sustainable activity for employment & wealth creation. Local high quality food will enhance tourism.

  • The forest industry needs to run in a sustainable fashion involving community input; including small scale value adding to forest products to provide local employment.

  • Fishing policy needs to provide a balance between the competing interests of recreational fishers who advance tourism; professional fisherman who need adequate incomes & provide the public with fish; along with the environmental challenge of maintaining viable fish stocks.

Democracy

  • We support proportional representation in the House of Representatives for all states and local government so that the structure of parliament reflects the true wishes of the voters (see http://lesslie.com.au/ for a possible model).

  • Wards are supported in local government to improve representation & a simplified transparent vote counting procedure which people can understand.

  • No corporate or organistional donations to political parties, similar to Canada (see http://canadaonline.about.com/od/federalelections/a/contributions.htm & http://www.democracy4sale.org/

Health & aged care

  • Increased aged care facilties to relieve hospital ;

  • improved & decentralised primary health care to reduce pressure on hospitals;

  • promotion of healthy eating & exercise

Recent Announcements

  • Greens announce Lyne candidate Three Rivers Greens today announced their candidate for the upcoming Federal election. Ian Oxenford, a resident of Kendall was the successful candidate, and will be representing Three River’s Greens ...
    Posted Jun 17, 2010, 1:31 AM by Unknown user
  • Off-road cycle way for Camden-haven Greens candidate for Lyne, Ian Oxenford, along with the proprietor of Laurieton Cycles, Tony Rowe, has called for the development of a purpose-built off-road cycle way from Laurieton ...
    Posted Jun 17, 2010, 1:32 AM by Unknown user
  • Nationals frenzy proved a furphy The National’s awareness of the current agenda of the State Government is being questioned by the Green’s candidate for Lyne, Ian Oxenford. “The Nationals started an online survey ...
    Posted Jun 17, 2010, 1:26 AM by Unknown user
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