2015-10-09
Giz Watson (Australian Greens Co-convenor)
With all the polling showing a huge swing against the Liberals — in what was considered a safe seat for them — they hit the emergency button and installed a fresh-face. It had the effect they were looking for and no doubt shifted the balance back to the Liberals.
Of course, one of the key targets for our Greens' campaign was to hasten the demise of Tony Abbott and all you can say about that is that we peaked a little early!
Canning is not an area which has produced a high vote for us historically and it presents additional logistical challenges in its rural areas. Nevertheless our vote was disappointing, actually dropping a little. But there were still some highlights worth celebrating and sharing.
As with all by-elections it was a short sharp campaign but in the four weeks we quickly located a fantastic candidate in Dr Vanessa Rauland, a passionate and articulate advocate for renewable energy, who leapt right into the fray! Initially we thought we would run a very modestly funded campaign but the level of support for ousting Abbott was impressive and we were generously supported with $25,000 being donated in record time.
The people power was good too with nearly 200 people out across 45 polling booths on the day and 95% coverage on pre-poll.
We also made more than 6000 phone calls to voters, once again utilising the shared expertise of our members in WA as well as in the ACT and Melbourne.
So by-elections are quirky things. There were 12 candidates and the addition of small parties like the Pirate Party, Sustainable Population and Animal Justice is likely to have drawn a few per cent of the vote from us. The perceived high stakes with the opportunity for the Labor party to take a seat from the Liberals also drew more swinging voter back to the two bigger parties. But we showed again that we can put together a very cost-effective, professional and enjoyable campaign at short notice. We used the opportunity to engage and train up more members and supporters for the looming Federal election and we used the campaign to have those all important conversations for a greener future!