http://www.bbc.co.uk/jersey/content/articles/2005/10/04/election05_geoff_southern_feature.shtmlRead a transcript of the interview with Geoff Southern below or listen to it using Real Player.
Why are you standing for an island mandate?
Because I have been working on behalf of islander’s all over the island in every parish, they seem to understand that they can come to me with their difficulties and that I will act and try and help them to produce solutions with government.
I certainly take an interest in island wide issues, on taxation, on foreign policy even in my previous four years.
So what will be your main planks of election campaign? Why vote Geoff Southern?
Why vote Geoff Southern in particular? Because obviously I think I am developing a reputation for somebody who does his research properly, who can present to the States properly, to be able to lead now that I have chaired a Scrutiny panel, and I think as a scientist I am rational and logical person, so I can see the way forward.
Certainly the work that we have out into our manifesto so far I think is coherent, well strung together, costed in many places, it is not a wish list, it can practically be taken forward very shortly.
People know that I’m a fighter, perhaps I ought to remind them about the successes I’ve had; saving school milk, saving language assistants in schools, bringing down taxes for a period of a year, unfortunately it wasn’t continued under this current regime, and abandoning an industrial project next to a residential site.
On the basis that you’re back in the States in two or three months time, what do you think are the main problems the States are going to be facing?
Well the first one is taxation, we have to resend Goods and Services tax, grossly unfair and 20 means 20, again another unfair tax, and replace them with more fair and more practical ways of raising tax.
Then we’ve got the Waterfront issue, which has to be resolved, now we’ve got one solution to that; we believe that that should be made into a green area, a gardening area that will be a tourist attraction, and could stimulate horticulture on the island.
We don’t believe that the massive development once and for all on the Waterfront, giving away the Waterfront to the interests of big business is the way forward; that’s certainly an issue.
We’ve got to get diversity back into the islands economy, we are too dependant on the finance sector. That’s not to say that there is anything wrong with the finance sector, but it is dominant.
I believe In order to do that, certainly for tourism, we have to get landing costs down, landing charges down and bring down the cost of getting here.
When we can get people here cheaply event-led tourism can take off again, we can invest in our tourism facilities, in the infrastructure of the island, and we believe that we should be doing that, and that spending should be coming from interest on the rainy day fund.
Now that’s been talked about before, even Frank Walker talks about that, but nobody has actually acted – we are saying that we can do that, we can invest in our infrastructure, we can invest in tourism and get our tourism industry back on it’s feet.
There are three projects that we have in mind. Firstly the TWIG project for the gardening centre on the Waterfront, make the Waterfront green.
Secondly the issue of Fort Regent, we need access to Fort Regent from town, we could put lifts in there on the town side and that would increase access, and then whatever you want do up there, whether it is sport or conference can be done and can be viable.
And then finally, at long last we are going to put the money behind the Batterick scheme for land infill in St Aubin, and that will solve St. Aubin, a beautiful tourist attraction not enough parking, will solve their problems.
I’ve asked other candidates what would your priorities be but you’ve just answered that question so I won’t ask it again.
None the less I think one question that I should just clarify is that you have been saying ‘we’ the whole time, you are talking about the party of which you are chairman?
Yes, party. It’s very important I think as we go into ministerial government that we have some accountability.
The best way of getting that accountability is through a manifesto in a party, if we get sufficient numbers in there to push through that manifesto people will know what they are getting. If they vote for us, they will get our manifesto, or large parts of it.
On the basis you run this party will you be putting yourself forward for Chief Minister, if not who will you be voting for?
We’ll be voting for the Chief Minister who offers us most of our policies, I can assure you that that is very unlikely to be Senator Walker.
