Australian Greens National Campaign Coordinator Ebony Bennett gives us the lowdown on the upcoming 2010 federal election campaign
Sometime this year Australians will go to the polls to vote in the federal election. It is an opportunity for every Australian to vote for the political party which shares their values and priorities on important issues like health, education, climate change, the economy and jobs, Indigenous rights, workers’ rights, refugees, housing and transport.
Three years after Kevin Rudd was elected Prime Minister, many of Labor’s election promises have proven to be just talk and the Coalition is ruled by John Howard’s old favourite, Tony Abbott. The Australian Greens are a forward-thinking and optimistic alternative to the old parties and we will be promoting our sensible policies to voters at every opportunity.
With 150 lower house and eight senate campaigns, planning and preparation is well underway. We are moving to an active campaign footing and supporters will be receiving regular campaign updates from the Senators, lead candidates and from me and other campaign staff. We will give members and supporters the inside scoop from the campaign and Parliament House, and we will give the community the opportunity to get involved by taking small actions on important issues - like the email I recently sent asking people to add their support to Senator Bob Brown’s bill to ban activities associated with whaling in Australia.
Our campaign staff and the National Election Campaign Committee are working well together with a young, dynamic creative communications agency, Make Believe, and web developers, Fuzion, to deliver a cutting-edge website that integrates with social media like Facebook and Twitter. We’ll release more details closer to the launch of the new website.
Unlike Labor and the Coalition, our Australian Greens campaign is funded by real people, not by large developers and lobbyists. Our supporters will own a piece of this campaign every time they volunteer their time, or talk to their friends about why they’re voting for the Greens in this federal election, or when they make a donation - whether that is $5, $50 or $500.
Close to two thousand supporters made individual contributions to our December appeal - that’s the kind of individual support from the public lobbyists can only dream about.
Together with Make Believe, the campaign team is developing a fresh, targeted communication and advertising strategy. But we won’t be relying solely on traditional advertising and social media to reach new voters; we will also harness the Greens strong grassroots support. We will need people on the streets: doorknocking, letterboxing leaflets and talking to friends and neighbours. If you have some time and feel passionately about making the world a better place, then contact us today at www.greens.org.au/volunteer.
If we work together, we can increase the Greens vote and put ourselves in the best position to get a Senator elected in every State.