2016-06-19
Sarah George
The Greens WAs 2016 federal election campaign has been our biggest and most innovative yet – with six Senate candidates, sixteen electorate teams, a central group of staff, and introducing the Green Guerillas!
The Greens WAs 2016 federal election campaign has been a big one, with six inspiring Senate candidates including our hardworking Senators Scott and Rachel up for re-election, sixteen dedicated electorate teams running weekly events, a central group of staff with professional backgrounds in organising and campaigning, and an energetic volunteer visibility squad known as the "Green Guerillas". Staff have been hard at work training electorate teams in messaging and communications, community mapping and outreach, and stalls and polling booths.
This election campaign has also been an innovative one, as weve dramatically increased the number of events held in each electorate, and have introduced initiatives inspired by hugely successful campaigns elsewhere. For starters, weve employed a storytelling style similar to the one used in Obamas 2008 campaign, and drawn inspiration from Amnesty International and World Vision campaigns for our community outreach and stalls, resulting in stallholders actively engaging visitors through tactile opinion polls.
Also new is Isabellas Green Guerillas - a volunteer visibility squad that makes up the wild side of the campaign. Of course well never know for sure what they get up to, but its rumoured that this mysterious group of young people have sacrificed many an early morning and late night to hand more than one thousand nightclub-goers condoms (“No Regrets - Vote Greens”) and stickers (“Love is Love”), display posters and flyers in shops, leave chalk messages overnight, and dress our stiff local celebrities Bon Scott, Eliza, and the kangaroo family in our fabulous Green T-shirts.
Meanwhile, candidates and their teams have been hard at work engaging their electorates and securing plenty of positive media attention. Dawn for Brand has been particularly effective in getting local newspaper coverage, Viv for Curtin has employed a bold letter-writing squad, and Sarah for Swan delivered a terrific interview on public transport - contrasting with Steve Irons' gaffe that high speed (i.e. high frequency) buses would be "dangerous in a 40km/hr zone".
Markets and festivals have been a fantastic way for many Greens candidates to meet members of the community, and Kate for Fremantle, Lee-Anne for Pearce, Pat for Hasluck, and Thor for Tangney particularly took advantage of these. Kate also ventured into dining with constituents – with meet and greets over lunch and coffee held in Fremantle and Cockburn.
Western Australia is the largest electorate in the world, which makes it all the more impressive that candidates have met with their constituents throughout the state. Down South, Giz for OConnor held events in Denmark and Albany, and Jill for Forrest traveled to meet people across the wine region. Closer to Perth, Tom for Stirling cycled from place to place with his mobile stall, and up in Durack, Ian held a sundowner session in beautiful Broome.
Continuing the nature theme were Daniel for Moore and Sheridan for Cowan, who worked together to hold an incredible picnic in Neil Hawkins Park on World Environment Day. As a happy coincidence, there was a children's birthday party nearby, so the Greens' facepainting fairy was kept very busy!
Viv for Curtin was cheered on by motorists in mid June, with fifteen "Green Grannies" displaying a "Greens for Our Grandkids" banner over Stirling Highway, beautifully painted by Judy Blyth. This was part of Curtins Day of Action which drew a record-breaking fifty participants.
Meanwhile, Kate for Freo, Sarah for Swan, Tim for Perth, and Viv for Curtin seem to be everywhere at once – continuously doorknocking and meeting with constituents, while maintaining an impressive social media presence. If there is a rally, you can bet Sarah will be there with a massive smile – even if its the third one shes been to that day.
Candidates have also made an impression with their continuous kindness, despite the stressful and competitive nature of election campaigning. Aeron for Canning prioritised thanking his supporters with custom candles, and Muhammad for Burt took time out to encourage a shopping centre cleaner, who responded, “You know, that's all it takes to save a life, thank you”.
Then theres the kindness evident every day in the Greens WA office – whether its Rowena offering everyone cups of tea throughout the day, Sophie setting up a "warm fuzzies wall", or Elliot baking daily treats to share, you see the type of people who inspire the Greens policies of placing value on human life.
Its people like these that emphasise why we are the Greens. We dont campaign because theres an election on, but because Australia desperately needs more heart. It needs more people with dedication like Tom's as he rides his bicycle from place to place, passion like Sarah's as she supports rally after rally, and compassion like Muhammad's as he tells a hard worker, "Thank you so much. I see you."
Australia, we see you. And were here to make your world that little bit better.
Photo: Campaigning in the southern suburbs Photographer unknown