there is too much at stake to give up hope 

Adam Bandt, Member for Melbourne & Leader of the Australian Greens.

 

As we head toward the summer break, with the much needed chance for a rest, reset and a reflection, there’s a lot to take in from the year that’s passed. 

Over the past year, it’s felt as though people have faced hit after hit, whether it’s from the sound of climate targets whooshing by our heads, the cost of living continuing to rise, bombs dropping on innocent civilians, or the political news out of the United States. 

Frankly, it’s been a lot. 

We live in a time of extremes. Extreme cruelty, violence and inequality. At times like these, where so few possess so much wealth and power, politics can feel impossible and unreal.

But the shift to right wing extremism, both here and in the US is sadly very real. We cannot hide from it.  Labor, and the so-called centre left, neo liberal parties around the world have shown they cannot stop it, they cannot keep us safe. 

Now, we can expect the right to push further to the right, to double down on backing more coal and gas, enriching billionaires and blaming immigrants for the impacts of their economic policies.

This approach will create danger to women, to people of colour, to members of the LGBTIA+ community. We can expect Labor, given their determination to be centrist, to be dragged along too. 

Personally on hearing the news that Trump had won, I did worry about the world we may leave the next generations. About so-called centre left parties like Labor and the Democrats’ ability to take on the rising extreme right, as we watch them constantly soft pedal and refuse to use the power of government when they have it to make peoples’ lives better. 

Here, at home, we also face profound challenges. Efforts to achieve justice for the impacts of colonisation on the First Nations people of this country are receding. 

The election of conservative governments in Queensland and in the NT in recent weeks and months have been accompanied by promises to lock up children from crimes whose root causes lie in colonisation and poverty.  

In the NT, all of the children in jail are indigenous. The promise in Queensland of so-called ‘adult time for adult crimes’ is an abomination. 

But we are now represented in every Parliament in every state and territory in this country. 

This year, we won our first seat in the NT Parliament. 

We also secured strong results in the ACT and QLD. 

In the ACT we faced the challenges of being in government with the Labor Party. But we only lost less than 1% of our vote, far less than Labor. In tough conditions, it’s a good result which sets us up for the future. 

In Queensland, despite the big disappointment of losing one of our two seats, our overall vote is up.  The wonderful, and hardworking Amy MacMahon, secured the highest primary vote, but Labor got home on Liberal preferences. We’re proud of you Amy. 

We faced a QLD Labor Party who gave up on winning government. They adopted a progressive agenda of 50c public transport fees, free school lunches, price caps on essentials and increasing the royalties on coal - all which have a familiar ring to it. 

They were Greens policies. And critically, 50c fares were implemented by election time. People could see what it meant to have transformative policies in practice. 

They were saving money and enjoying public services, travelling to the Gold Coast for 50c or saving $60 a week on their work commute. People rolled into the ballot box voting for policies we developed, not against us.

Now we must consider the Federal implications of these results and how we learn and grow. 

We can expect now that Labor will seek to both accuse us of being extreme and irrelevant, while also adopting our policies. 

We can also expect them to run a fear campaign on Peter Dutton. 

We have to be prepared for something similar this time. 

We can do that by making sure people understand that we will be the strongest possible opposition to Dutton’s right wing, pro-nuclear, anti-immigrant agenda.

We need the support of the group of people who are worried by Dutton, and see voting Green as an important way to keep him out of government. 

We did this extremely well at the last election, making it clear that we wanted to kick Morrison out. Unlike many independents, who have said they may back a Dutton government, we have made it clear we want to keep Dutton out. Now we need to amplify that message.

Of course, one of the best ways of actually keeping Dutton out doing that is to remove the conditions that give rise to right wing demagogues like Trump.

We need to learn the lessons of Trump’s election. 

The lessons are stark. 

As Bernie Sanders said, “it should come as no surprise that when the Democratic party abandons the working class, that the working class abandons them." 

“While the Democrats defend the status quo, the American people are angry and want change." 

“Today, while the very rich are doing phenomenally well, 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck and we have more wealth and income inequality than ever before." 

Another Trump presidency is a terrifying outcome. But let this drive you to action, because there is too much at stake to give up hope. 

Politics doesn’t start and end at the ballot box. Today we should ask ourselves what we’re willing to do for the change we need. 

There is too much at stake to give up hope.

Tomorrow we continue the fight.