2014-06-24
Tejopala Rawls
Are you a Kiwi living here in Australia? Did you know you can vote back home without leaving Australia? This September 20th is election day in what is shaping up to be a very tight race and your help is needed getting Greens in government.
If you've been home in the last three years that means you are entitled to vote. And this year voting from overseas will be easier than ever before. You can simply upload your voting papers to the New Zealand electoral commission website.
The most important thing to do in the meantime is make sure you are registered.
The overseas vote has historically been very important in New Zealand. Kiwis overseas are disproportionately likely to vote Green. On two occasions, this has been enough to bring an additional Green MP into parliament - once in 2008 when Kiwis overseas voted in Kennedy Graham and again in 2011 when overseas Greens brought in enough votes to elect Mojo Mathers. In an election as close as this one, that could make all the difference.
The New Zealand Green Party has been working with the Australian Greens to learn from their recent success in Scott Ludlam's senatorial campaigns. The Greens in Aotearoa have learned a lot about being more targeted in their efforts and understanding the huge value of a face-to-face campaign.
This includes a project to identify and target prospective voters living overseas. We have identified roughly 1000 prospective Green voters in Melbourne alone.
We need volunteers to help us reach out to these supporters. This means phoning, door knocking and leafleting the places Kiwi voters overseas live, work and play. We want to tell them how important it is to vote Green and protect the home we know and love.
We will be rolling out our overseas campaign over the next few weeks.
Love New Zealand? Don't let them do what Abbott is doing here.
The current National government in New Zealand has recently opened up huge areas of the marine environment for risky deep-sea oil exploration. Some of this is in the very marine sanctuary that is supposed to protect the last 55 remaining Maui's dolphins. The agenda of mining and drilling has never been stronger. In the meantime, we are missing out on the chance to build a smarter green economy through investment in renewables, energy efficiency and innovative technology. This is Tony Abbott's vision being brought right to our beautiful shores. You can help.
With a strong Green presence in parliament we could not only stop this madness in its tracks but could also end up with Green cabinet ministers for the first time ever. We are better organised and stronger than we've ever been before. It really is all up for grabs.
If you'd like to help you can volunteer by signing up at our website, or email election2014@greens.org.nz. You can also like the Kiwis Greens Australia Facebook page for regular updates.