2017-12-23
Chilla Bulbeck and Matt Roberts
We could spend pages saying our 'Thank-yous'. Every one of the hundred or so guests at our end of year party in Bassendean, and then some, gave time, money, expertise or love to the Greens this year. Just one example: over 600 volunteers made phone calls or doorknocked in the State election campaign. Repeat: over 600 volunteers! Thats almost half our membership. In particular, the East Metro team ran a focused campaign in Maylands which increased the Greens vote from 12% to 17%. We doubled our representation in the upper house, but lost Lynn MacLaren and our seat in South Metro, saddened to miss out on a royal flush.
Thanks to everyone who came out for State17, and particularly the managers, co-ordinators and candidates across Western Australia.
The year ended on a high note when equal marriage was passed into law. That said, it was a cynical exercise that sought to make us all vote on the value of our friends, family and loved ones. Thankfully, the survey enrolled many voters and re-engaged young people in the political space. Come election time we will do our best to make the naysayers pay for this. Thanks to Elliot Sawers and the team, especially Patch Miller, Charlotte Glance and Ryan Quinn, for a fantastic issues-based campaign. We want to build better community engagement with fellow travellers and aligned community groups – this was a campaign to pave the way for us!
Other issues remain more stubborn to change: intergenerational theft, growing inequality and Constitutional recognition. The response to the Uluru 'From the Heart statement by our government is further evidence of the moral vacuum they inhabit. Thanks to the Greens Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Group convened by Alan Perkins and Arthur Rosenwald for their work in this challenging arena. Also to our political representatives Rachel Siewert and Robin Chapple for tireless advocacy.
Rachel Siewert is steadily increasing our visibility in CALD communities, with special thanks to Zia Hakimi and Rai Ismael for work in this area. Rachels women in leadership forums have been a great initiative in expanding womens recognition of our political power and passion.
Rachel Siewert is our longest continuously serving politician who is still with us. Rachel is a fierce defender of vulnerable Australians, in particular Indigenous communities, supporting parents, Centrelink recipients attacked with robo-debts or the threat of random drug tests. Hers are among the busiest and most thankless portfolios in the present harsh social climate.
Tim Cliffords office has worked with the senate offices around housing affordability this year. They also had great success in getting a lot of responses to their 'renters survey'. Watch this space.
At the Greater Bunbury workshop we were so impressed to hear of Diane Evers teams work: forests, mining, shark repellents, potable water, and even invidious government financial nomenclature that makes public transport sound like it runs at a loss and building highways sound like an investment! Every one of our politicians is doing too much to be fully acknowledged here.
Our most visible loss this year was Scott Ludlam. While we said farewell tearfully, Scotts departure provoked over 40 new applications or rejoins to the Party. We also gained an unexpected new senator Jordon Steele-John. Jordon has been preselected as our lead candidate for the federal election, probably next year. Special thanks to Kate Davis, Ian James and Ross Payne for putting their hands up for this gruelling party scrutiny!
Jordon embodies our inequality battles around disability, youth and class. The boy from Baldivis has captured the public imagination and will be a powerful voice. We know capitalism creates economic inequality as well as climate devastation. In 2015, the Australian Greens secured greater transparency of multinationals tax affairs. Since then, public awareness of corporate tax avoidance has grown as has community displeasure with the fossil fuel industry, the big banks and the old parties. Thanks to Graham Hanson and team for forming the Unions Working Group and Anne-Marie Ricciardi of the Young Greens, who is helping to organise the Young Greens national conference from January 12th to 14th (register your interest here: bit.ly/AYGConRegistration).
Lack of trust in politics as usual has hit the media as surveys reveal growing voter disillusionment as they seek comfort in PHON and other minor parties. The Greens are committed to open and honest government and refuse to take donations from corporations with bloody hands. Thanks to Alison Xamon for principled passion in this, and so many other areas.
Our Greens Futures workshops conducted across the state from Broome to Myalup, from Kalgoorlie to Midland and Atwell, revealed you want us to win a lower house seat. We are working towards building such a campaign, which will require the co-ordinated efforts of Policy Working Group to develop the right policies (thanks Mark Cooper for great facilitation of this group), Election Research Group to produce a research-driven strategy, Supporters Working Group to help raise the $100,000 to run a lower house campaign, ICT Working Group to keep the phones, work stations and other ICT infrastructure working (thanks Alan Perkins, Steven and Grahame Bowland), and Green Issues team to inform and rouse up our members (thanks Chris Johansen, Rob Delves, Julie Scanlon and Viv Glance).
Overseeing it all are the Election Campaign Committee who have had a busy two years, with no let-up in sight (thanks to Trish Cowcher, Troy Treeby, Nina Jurak, Annabelle Newbury, Niamh Moran).
We ran a strong local government campaign built on Dan Lodens strategic planning. Congratulations to Sarah Quinton, Giorgia Johnson, Jonathan Hallett, and Naomi Godden for their victories; and Mary OByrne and Liam Carter for coming so close. Liam did a micro-Melbourne, his team knocking on every door in Fremantles South Ward at least twice! And Mary knocked day and night in her very large ward in Joondalup.
Another key finding from our Greens Futures workshops was the desire for a stronger culture of participation and trust. The new Conflict Resolution and Grievance procedures have been passed after great work from the breakout group appointed by Reps. Thanks to Giz Watson and Luke Edmonds for becoming our Grievance Co-ordinators. Giz Watson is working up some initiatives for better conflict resolution, facilitation and grassroots participation, as are Sophie Greer and the Administration Working Group team. Send us your ideas for creating a more cohesive culture where robust and respectful debate flourishes.
Sophie Greer has kept up her pressure for us to understand our legal obligations in the Occupational Health and Safety arena. We are in the process of developing a risk register so we prevent avoidable accidents amongst our wonderful supporters.
This year we streamlined our membership application and approval processes with an increase in membership rates and a range of financially sustaining membership options. We aim to provide electronic face-to-face opportunity for new members in a Google hangout and to ring all our lapsed members to keep them with us. Particular thanks to Jean le Quesne, our senior volunteer Membership Officer in William Street for co-ordinating this process, and our keen bunch of new Regional group membership officers.
We thank 2016-2017 Office Bearers team: Giorgia Johnson, Hannah Milligan and Grahame Bowland as the outgoing Office Bearers, and Ryan Quinn for staying on.
Breaking with all tradition, we decided to single out Grahame Bowland for a special thanks from the party for all the work he does/has done. Grahame has just completed three years as co-convenor, working with Giz Watson, Nicole Harvey, Sarah Nielsen-Harvey and Hannah Milligan. Seeing out the full term in this position cannot have been easy – we are only beginning to understand the time and wisdom it takes to be a co-convenor!
In his role as co-convenor of Election Research Group, Grahame is responsible for our amazing electoral maps which determined where our 600 volunteers made phone calls and knocked on doors in the state election.
Every time the offices internet crashed or the volunteers couldnt get on the phones, Grahame was regularly in or out of the office fixing our raspberry pis, blackberry whatnots or other less yummy ICT paraphernalia.
Grahame shepherded through the Constitutional revisions needed to make us comply with the Corporations Act while also keeping an eagle eye on National Greens doings.
Indeed, Grahame is now National Working Group Convenor and National Delegate. Thanks to Shaun Newman for his years shepherding WAs position on National Proposals, and to Viv Glance for being our State Delegate to national WG, in particular her work on the Australian Greens Strategic Plan. Thanks to Kate Davis for taking on this role and Tom Boyle for stepping into the Deputy Delegate role.
Our special thanks to Grahame Bowland and Hannah Milligan for their thoughtful handover and to Hannah for continuing to offer her expertise as a member of Administration WG.
At our end of year party we invited guests to make a wish for 2018. These will be displayed on the Greens WA office wall to inspire us next year. If you didnt make a wish at the party, please come into the office and add your wish to the wall.
And while youre there, feel free to offer some volunteer hours to keep our office humming along. The office volunteers co-ordinated by our 'key to all knowledge office manager, Rowena Skinner, are a happy hard-working team, each of whom donates thousands of dollars of time to the Greens WA. This year we lost our longest serving office volunteer, friend and great supporter of the Greens, Jay Birnbrauer (Peace, love and chocolate Jay, wherever you are!).
If you havent got any spare time, please consider an end of year donation.
We believe there will be a federal election in 2018. And whatever else is happening, every week our fantastic staff need to be paid and our office lights kept on. Just go here https://greens.org.au/wa and click on 'donate today
Thank you to all our members and supporters for making us a truly grassroots party building a future we can all share in. We look forward to next year when we will keep growing and engaging with our membership. There's also an election coming up sooner or later (or really sooner). Australia is starting to realise that the Greens are the way of the future and all of us in WA will keep building this movement and speaking up for what matters!
Header photo: Liberty Cramer, Elliot Sawers, Matt Roberts, Trish Cowcher and Chilla Bulbeck at the GWA end-of-year party at Bassendean on 9th December. Chilla Bulbeck