2015-09-14
Grahame Bowland (WA Co-Convenor)
Canny campaigning in Canning
By any measure its been an exciting couple of months. As I write this were just setting up at our Perth office for a session calling voters in Canning. Members and supporters in the ACT and Victoria will also be speaking with voters — once again, the Australian Greens are pulling together to support a fantastic candidate in a crucial by-election.
The echoes of the 2014 West Australian Senate by-election are strong — theres a unique national focus on the poll. Its rare for a couple of hours to pass without another article coming out in the media speculating on how the election will determine the future (or lack of one) for the Liberal government.
Vanessa Rauland, the Greens candidate for Canning (pictured here with Robin Chapple MP and Senator Scott Ludlam at the Canning launch), has done a terrific job using that national focus to put crucial green issues on the agenda — particularly household solar. The people of Canning have been some of our countrys most enthusiastic adopters of household solar panels and solar hot water — and the Abbott governments unthinking attacks on renewable energy have definitely been noted by the electorate.
Clever collaboration at Conference
Just last weekend we ran a terrific state conference. Our state conference isnt really about decision making — everything from campaigning, to policy, to party administration is driven month to month by the membership. That freedom from the need of the old parties to have a tokenistic annual consultation with party members gives us a unique chance to gather, share and learn.
Senator Rachel Siewert — Greens Senator for Western Australia, and lead senate candidate in the coming federal election — kicked off the conference with a keynote on her 10 years representing West Australians in the Senate.
Rachel shared a number of stories — from key wins, including some achieved through the Senate committee system, through to her experience of some of the worst of the Howard and Abbott governments. I know I came out of that keynote energised and committed to the campaign for Rachels re-election in the coming federal election!
We were extremely pleased to welcome Senator Larissa Waters, who travelled from Queensland to be a keynote speaker. Larissa gave a terrific speech on gender matters — the Greens have a proud history of female representation in parliament, but we always need to check that were doing enough to attract women as candidates, leaders and key thinkers. Later in the conference, Larissa spoke on Campaigning Beyond the Resource Boom — a challenge shared by progressive campaigners in both Queensland and Western Australia.
There were too many excellent sessions to mention them all. Some sessions had a standout impact demonstrated by the excited conversation they generated in the breaks, with everyone whod attended keen to continue the session. The Green Economic Forum was clearly in that category — members stepping up to build a credible transition plan to a Green economy.
The conference finished with an Aboriginal Campaigners Panel, with panellists Clayton Lewis, Mitch Torres, Howard Riley, Vickie and Joe speaking on their work campaigning to protect country, fight the closure of communities and to prevent fracking. They were joined by Stephen Bennetts, a wadjila working with the Aboriginal community to protect the Aboriginal Heritage Act. I found this panel to be a personal highlight of the conference — learning from Aboriginal leaders, and hearing how and why they are campaigning.
A special thanks to the group who took on organising the conference, and everyone who took the time to attend. It was a great success!
The next couple of months in West Australian and national politics hold a lot of the unknown. One thing Im sure of — #yeswecanning!