2018-11-23
Incoming Co-Convenor Willisa Hogarth shares her hopes and ambitions for her term alongside fellow Co-Convenor Catherine Garner – one in which there will be no band-aid solutions used.
By Willisa Hogarth
This weekend while at National Conference, I met NSW MP Justin Field for the first time. Like many of my Greens friends and comrades, I met him while squashed among fellow members, holding a sign which took a government to task about an issue.
Eloquently, he explained to the crowd exactly what we were protesting about: the NSW state government plans to raise the height of the Warragamba dam, which would lead to flooding in heritage listed parts of the Blue Mountains and risk culturally significant sites in the area. The plan to add a 14 metre extension to the dam wall is at best a band-aid solution to a complicated problem. Clearly, they hope to lock in a quick win before the oncoming election in March.
I’ve spent some time reflecting on this action. This whole ‘band-aid solution’ is all too common across politics today, no doubt worsened by the seemingly endless election cycle the political landscape has evolved into. No government seems all that keen on creating a legacy when they can seemingly just add 14 metres to a wall more than 50 years old to redirect water to a place where fewer people will see it.
This led me to reflect upon the raising flood waters the Australian Greens have faced in the past few years, and how those waters continue to rise and fall as we work our way through what solution we want to put in place to deal with these internal conflicts across multiple member bodies. Because at the end of the day, one of our first instincts has always been to move that water to somewhere fewer people will see it. To protect our broader membership, to protect our supporters and to protect our party’s credibility.
But we know that redirection isn’t the answer. It’s a band-aid solution to a much bigger problem.
This past weekend, Catherine Garner and I were honoured to be offered the opportunity to take on the National Co-Convenorship of the Australian Greens. Together, we are the youngest team to take this role. We were touched at the offers of support from across the party, and appreciated the encouraging smiles and excited exclamations.
That’s especially when those sentiments continued when Catherine and I met them with self-deprivation and admissions of terror. Any office bearer role in the party is a big job, and whilst we might have a fear of doing them poorly (#classicimpostersyndrome), ultimately neither Catherine nor myself are afraid of doing the work itself.
We are not interested in redirection or scapegoating. We’re here to facilitate solutions, drive party reviews and improvement, and support our member bodies to continue the amazing work our movement does. Our predecessors have made some incredible headway on some very important projects for our party, including how we chose our leadership, how we deal with complaints and disputes, and how we protect our members and our support community from poor behaviour.
This past weekend, National Conference facilitated workshops on better diversity inclusion, online safety, and evolved our budget creation process. We launched our election manifesto, held Nobel Peace Prizes and made important policy decisions. Catherine and I are committed to continuing this work, with the inclusion of our National Council and the member bodies.
Our members work hard, our MPs work hard and we promise to work hard for you, too.
We promise there will be no band-aid used in our term.
Willisa Hogarth, with Catherine Garner, is the incoming Co-Convenor of the Australian Greens.