2014-09-18
Adam Duncan
In Western Australia weve had a busy and exciting month. Preparations for our upcoming State Conference are being finalised in what promises to be a massive three days of lively discussion and entertainment with the theme of “Looking back, looking forward” to celebrate 30 years since Jo Vallentine was elected as a senator for Western Australia.
With three simultaneous streams of fora and an open day including keynote addresses by our WA politicians and guest speakers we hope to see a wider engagement in green ideas from the general public. We would like to thank everyone involved in the organisation of the State Conference, especially Katrina Bercov for her enormous amount of hard work and dedication.
The state AGM will also be held as part of conference this year and we would like to thank the outgoing office bearers — in particular, Chilla Bulbeck and Leonie Lundy — for their commitment and wish the incoming ones the best of luck!
We also have the excitement of a pending by-election for the lower house seat of Vasse following the resignation from the parliament of former treasurer Troy Buswell. As we write, the election has not yet been called but GWA is well advanced in preparations with pre-selection open and our election committee having a budget approved by the state Representatives Council. We are looking forward to a strong result in Vasse which incorporates the wine-growing region of Margaret River and the coastal cities of Dunsborough and Busselton. As you may have heard, we have had a bit of experience with successful by-elections recently…
The GWA office has been reconfigured to enable phone banking to commence for the run of state election campaigns scheduled to begin with the Victorian State election this November. We have been trialling our systems with a successful “Greenscheme” drive over the last few weeks and are very much looking forward to contributing to Green successes across the nation.
Administratively we have finalised both our new member handbook and member application forms as well as updating our membership application processes. We have added a new section on becoming engaged and we look forward to seeing new members become involved in working groups and the administration of the party for many years to come.