2015-04-24
Grahame Bowland (WA Co-Convenor)
Most people join the Greens with a purpose — perhaps to campaign in elections, or to realise a policy idea, or to get active in the community on an issue they care about. If you ask a new member — or someone whos been around for years — theyll have a story to tell explaining why they took the plunge and joined the party.
Weve noticed that many new members look for a hierarchy that isnt there. They assume that as theyve only been a member for a few weeks they havent yet “earned” the right to participate in decision making.
To break that artificial barrier down, and help people realise that theyre very welcome to muck in on whatever area they feel passionate about, new member events are attended by representatives of all WA Greens working groups. At this months event we tried working group “speed dating”, with small groups of new members spending five minutes talking to a group rep — say policy, election campaigns, or the Young Greens — having a chat, perhaps signing up for the group, and then at the ding of a wine glass moving on to the next working group.
New crew had a chance to meet our four Greens representatives in Parliament — Rachel Siewert, Lynn MacLaren, Robin Chapple and Scott Ludlam. Our thanks to them for popping along and for participating in a pollie Q&A — and for sharing some great things few of us knew about them!
The event was a great success — I dont think I saw a single person leaving without a massive smile on their face. Its a huge amount of work making an event happen, so thanks to the organising team, and in particular to Katrina House, Natasha Annan and David Letham.
Moving on to other things — yes, its been a busy month — a couple of weeks ago we submitted our suggestions on the redistribution of WAs federal electorates.
We were extremely pleased to call for the creation of a new Division of Vallentine, to be Western Australias 16th seat. We can think of nobody more deserving of this honour than former senator Jo Vallentine, the first Greens representative in Federal parliament, and a truly inspirational West Australian.
Five hundred and thirty seven people supported our suggestion by signing our petition. Submissions in support were also made by the Conservation Council, People for Nuclear Disarmament (WA), the WA Civil Society Climate Roundtable, the Hon Peter Garrett AM, and several others. Weve got our fingers crossed that our suggestion will be taken up by the Redistribution Committee.
Like nearly everything in the Greens, our submission happened because a team of volunteers made it happen. Particular thanks to Chilla Bulbeck, Anthony Pink (Qld) and David Letham, without whose efforts this submission couldnt have happened.
The Greens (WA) have signed a joint statement against the Barnett Governments “Prevention of Lawful Activity” bill. Lynn MacLaren and Robin Chapple — joined by many party members — attended a protest at State Parliament against this bill, which seeks to criminalise peaceful protest. Well be sharing updates on the campaign via our social media spaces, so please watch out for updates and join with us in standing up for the right to protest.
Regional Group updates
Here are some quick updates from the Greens WAs regional groups. In another State, regional groups might be called branches. The WA Greens organises itself loosely along federal electorate boundaries, hence the names of our groups.
Fremantle — 'Rethink The Link' Campaign
Our Fremantle Tangney Regional Group was growing with new members each month (thanks to Tony) who were ready for activism but with no immediate election in sight in WA were being under-utilised. So after contemplating so many issues from Climate Change, Refugees, Aboriginal justice, RET and many other important issues we decided upon getting deeply involved with a local campaign that had both strong environmental and social justice issues.
The 'Rethink The Link' Campaign was born from the announcement made on Christmas eve (dont you love the timing!) showing that the State and Federal governments had every intention, despite huge environmental impacts to the important Beeliar regional wetlands, of building the Perth Freight Link costing $1.6 billion, carving a six-lane truck freeway through communities without a cost-benefit analysis, community consultation or research into viable alternatives. This would be WAs first toll road as well.
The campaign is demonstrating the strength of a local Greens group to campaign effectively in close alliance with other groups, who have been fighting parts of this for more than 20 years, and work with their membership and connections. The outcome we are striving for is not only halting this freeway but also building the skills of our members to campaign effectively and the respect of the organisations and the community we are working with.
Canning — Guest Speaker
At our March regional Greens meeting the Canning Regional Group hosted a guest speaker, Ms Pat Hart, Chairperson of South East Regional Centre for Urban Landcare (SERCUL). Pat discussed with the group current land management projects and issues in the Canning River region.