2016-10-10
Dawn Walker
The Greens are on the march in northern NSW. As the Greens candidate for Richmond, my team and I scored a 5% swing at the 2016 federal election, building on the 1.5% swing we achieved during the tough 2013 poll. The seat is now shaping up as a three cornered contest between the Greens, Nationals and Labor.
Just last month Simon Richardson, the Green mayor of Byron was re-elected with 49% of the primary vote, with a progressive majority on council to support him. The Greens also doubled their presence on Lismore City Council.
This builds on the fantastic state election in 2015 where, boosted by opposition to coal seam gas, the Greens won the seat of Ballina off the National Party and came within a whisker of winning the seat of Lismore.
Meanwhile the recent Tweed Council election saw a similar Green surge, with the Greens winning the highest primary vote of any group (beating the Labor, Liberal and National parties) and comfortably returning outgoing Mayor, Katie Milne.
While the final Tweed Shire results are yet to be declared, it's clear that the Greens are a major force even in the more conservative parts of the Northern Rivers, including in Clarence Valley Council, which elected their first Greens councillor at the recent council election.
About that gas
While those statistics and extra seats are very pleasing, what is really remarkable is the impact these results have on the political system. The shock of the National Party losing seats to the Greens cemented the notion that opposition to coal seam gas was a potent electoral threat to governments.
Since then we've seen the NSW Government buy-back and cancel a large number of coal seam gas exploration licences and many companies pull out of coal seam gas. Arguably the potency of this issue spread across the border where the Victorian Government has banned fracking and unconventional gas.
This demonstrates that a Green vote is powerful in achieving results, beyond its immediate electoral impact.
The electorate is 100 kilometres long and very diverse in its communities – from tradies and retirees in the suburbs of Tweed Heads, to hippies living in the lush hills, to surfers loving the beautiful beaches, to traditional farmers growing cane or dairying. I drove over 7,000 kilometres during the campaign and still couldn't get everywhere!
We reached out to tens of thousands of people and engaged the Northern Rivers community in a meaningful way.
They responded with enthusiasm.
Our trained volunteers knocked on almost 4,000 doors and made more than 20,000 phone calls to voters. On election day alone we had more than 300 people on polling booths.
The campaign was grounded in 'relational based campaigning'. This refers to the one on one conversations with voters that is proven to grow the Green vote and has been employed successfully by Adam Bandt and other successful Green campaigns.
These conversations are our advantage over the larger budgets of older parties. With trained volunteers we are able to personalise the campaign and engage in a meaningful way with the electorate on a one by one basis.
After weeks of building up our volunteer base with events and training, we implemented a door-knocking and phone banking strategy that didn't sell Greens policies but simply asked voters what was important to them? Our community responded with stories of their hopes, their fears and struggles and their love for the region, its rivers, its mountains, its community life. And our volunteers held these stories with respect. They listened. It was very powerful.
Ultimately it was a vote winner and moved the Greens closer to winning the seat of Richmond.
Dawn Walker has been the Greens' candidate for Richmond in the last two federal elections.