Greens candidate Niels Glahn-Bertelsen discusses main priorities for North West Central by-election

Educator, environmentalist, and Exmouth local Niels Glahn-Bertelsen has been named the Greens candidate for the North West Central by-election, focusing his agenda on the environmental crisis at Ningaloo Reef. Passionate about social justice and the environment, Mr Glahn-Bertelsen is a teacher and geologist based in Exmouth and proud to be running for the Greens in the September 17 by-election triggered by the resignation of Nationals MP Vince Catania. Carnarvon midwifery services, wage rises, the housing crisis, juveniles in jail and Kalbarri cyclone recovery are all issues on his radar. Mr Glahn-Bertelsen said tackling the climate crisis was a start to solving those issues. “It’s no surprise that our essential services like midwifery are suffering,” he said. “We need to see real wages growth here in Western Australia,” he said. “I’ve seen the real-world impacts of the climate crisis not just threatening our environment but driving up the cost of insurance, while power bills skyrocket.” Mr Glahn-Bertelsen said 18 months after cyclone Seroja, the Kalbarri community was still living under tarps while the Government sat on their disaster relief funding. “It’s shocking that Kalbarri is still waiting for real help to arrive. The impacts felt by the community last a lot longer than the headlines. Hundreds of grants for support have been submitted, but to date less than 1 per cent of the $104.5 million funding has been paid out,” he said. Mr Glahn-Bertelsen said the debacle at Banksia Hill and Casuarina was proof that jailing children was not a solution to improving safety needs in the community. “We need to invest in trauma informed models of care that keep kids close to home, with their families, and on country in their communities. We need to fund the health and mental health supports they need, and we need to get them to kids early. The system is broken,” he said.