2015-05-25
Alex Schlotzer (National Secretary)
Over the weekend of May 15 to 17, the new Australian Greens National Council sat for the first time in the large meeting space at the back of the Victorian Greens State office.
With 16 National Council members and a swathe of observers, the room stared down the intimidating agenda and the next three days with some trepidation.
Day one was scheduled to be a handover from the three committees the new Council is replacing. Day two was work that might normally be dealt with at the old Council meetings while day three was campaigning and planning for 2016.
As members around the room spoke of their hopes and fears for this new group, the word 'daunting' was used more than once. Thankfully, so was the word 'nimble'.
A CHANGE IS AS GOOD AS A HOLIDAY
The first order of business was to hear from outgoing Australian Greens Leader Senator Christine Milne and then from incoming Australian Greens Leader Senator Richard Di Natale. With both tired from a hectic few weeks (launching straight from a leadership swap to Budget Week would take it out of anyone), their passion and honesty was inspiring.
Both paid tribute to the other and both received sustained rounds of applause from the room. Everyone had a chuckle about the annoyance from the press being mainly that we'd had too smooth a transition and no leaks.
BACKGROUND FOR BEGINNERS
New to the Greens? Or switch off when people start talking about policy reviews and constitutions? You're not alone. Here's the catch-up:
Following last year's constitutional review, National Conference made a decision in November 2014 to change the way the Australian Greens governance system works.
Before this, there were three different bodies that managed the day-to-day and political affairs of the Australian Greens: the Australian Greens Coordinating Group (AGCG) which consisted of elected office-bearers, three ordinary members and the National Manager dealt with the day-to-day administrative issues including finance and staffing; the National Campaign Committee which consisted of State representatives and Party Room representatives dealt with election campaigning and had access to a budget to implement those plans; while National Council which met quarterly (if you count the annual National Conference) dealt with overarching governance issues and approved policy.
The new body is an amalgamation of the three: it has representatives from each state, the office bearers and the National Manager. Then a decision was made to have the first scheduled National Council of 2015 to be the first meeting of the new body. It will now meet 10 times a year and from 2016, National Conference will occur twice a year.
It was the pep talk everyone needed to knuckle down and get on with making history.
Item after item was discussed, agreed, sent back to States or Party Room for further input, or held over for next meeting while wording is finessed. Again and again, the idea that the group would meet again in just one month came up, such a difference from the old Council where anything held over was delayed for quite a while. Again and again, there was frank and open discussion about important issues — from the political to questions of governance — that felt like creating a new landscape together.
BRASS TACKS
In any large-scale change management process, there's discussion of how the restructure will look and there's a bedding-in period. In this case, the list of tasks to be handled ranged from who will handle compliance with electoral legislation through to how the next election will be managed, from staffing and HR to where the next National Conferences will be held (there was quite a lot of support for a suggestion that WA host one in 2016 in Margaret River).
The new Council is somewhat like a Board would be for a corporation — but with less hierarchy and more consensus decision-making. It needs to be able to think big thoughts and set the strategy, approve the budgets and nut out the serious issues. With that in mind, Council set about identifying sub-groups to implement the strategies and handle the minutiae — at the same time trying not to just recreate the old format either.
It's too early to tell exactly what that new structure will look like — the current approach includes the office bearers looking after administrative issues, finance and compliance, somewhat like the Australian Greens Coordinating Group used to and an interim Campaign Management Team to drive the next election forward. What other groups arise is an open question.
NEXT STEPS
By Sunday, everyone was invigorated but weary. An effort was made to finish up before heading down to the State Library to hear Senator Milne speak at the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia rally. We didn't quite make it — some went to the rally while others stayed back to workshop words on a Terms of Reference for one of the proposed groups.
When the meeting finally wound up around 4pm, there was a sense of pride that was palpable (we won't name names, but there were delegates who cried). Everybody commented on the new sense of solidarity: across States, between party and Party Room, between States and office bearers. Everyone was there to help make Australia a kinder place to live, to change the society we live in for the better, to represent not their personal fiefdom, but rather the Australian Greens.
Nimble? You won't be able to stop us.
The next National Council will take place in Sydney over June 27–28 and is open to member observers.