2014-06-01
Christine Cunningham
Congratulations to the national staff and Green Magazine Working Group for getting us to this next level of regular, digital communication with our party members and supporters.
This is Christine Cunningham, one of your two co-conveners for the Australian Greens at the national level. It is my honour and duty to share the elected leadership position of our political party alongside Penny Allman-Payne. Together we will use this magazine to communicate with you regularly during the rest of our tenure as your co-conveners. We know it is important for the health and growth of our political party to keep you well informed about what is happening in the party.
The next few months will certainly be very busy as we see our elected representatives come to grips with an austere federal budget. The Abbott and Hockey government want to take our society in a direction that is an anathema to our Green principles. Our fellow Australians have elected a Liberal/National coalition that holds such mean-spirited and conservative values which stand in the way of real action on climate change, stand in stark opposition to welcoming and helping vulnerable people in our communities and who willfully refuse to create the training, meaningful work and infrastructure necessary for a rapid, transformation to a renewable energy economy.
Our federal and state parliamentarians are working so hard to stand up for what matters against what Senator Ludlam terms the “casual bastardry” of this neo-liberal government in a parliamentary setting run by “opposing teams of privileged, middle-aged, predominantly white people.” Thank goodness we are about to have our new Green senator, the wonderful Janet Rice, step into the Red Chamber on Victoria's behalf. Too slowly, but certainly surely, our representative numbers are increasing and we must remember another gem from Scott who reminds all of us as Green members and supporters that in the intensity that is Canberra's beltway, “to be any good at it, we will need your help.”
So while our MPs continue to fight on our behalf, we must also step up our participation as members of the party. We are, and need to keep, actively campaigning against the draconian measures in the budget. A number of states are ramping up their election campaign preparations in readiness for winning more seats in the upcoming Victorian, NSW and Queensland state elections. And I am here urging all of us to get focused and involved into the final months of our major constitutional review process. The Australian Greens is the truly progressive party in Australia and our party operations need to be updated so that we can enact more closely the ideals of our charter: to increase opportunities for public participation in political decision-making and to breakdown the inequalities of wealth and power which inhibit participatory democracy. Please contribute to the change and help us make our constitution so modern, effective and involving that many more Australians will want to join up and contribute meaningfully and continually as active, influential party members.
Finally, I close here with a tribute to Chris Harris who has been our national campaign coordinator for the last three and a half years but who has recently announced his resignation from this tireless and demanding role. On behalf of the party, I offer our deep thanks and sincere appreciation for all your excellent work and efforts, Chris, and I hope your three month sabbatical ends up being an amazing life adventure.
Please take the time to peruse our first edition and read from a great range of articles online. My best wishes to you all,
Christine
convenor@greens.org.au