2022-04-30
Conversations are the real Green deal in election campaigns and we have a range of possible responses to some of the tricky questions we keep getting asked in this campaign
By Rob Delves, Green Issue Co-editor
Me: Have you voted for The Greens before?
Him: Just once – the last federal election.
Me: Great news – I assume it was a positive and enjoyable experience?
Him: I guess so, nothing much happened – the ballot paper didn’t burst into flames or anything like that.
Me: You got off lightly. But be careful, voting Greens a second time can be very risky.
Him: Yeah – I reckon this time Dutton’s Border Force boys will have me out the door and into their van as soon as the number 1 hits the paper.
Me: Happens to me every time, but the food is good in the cells – prisons are about the only public service the Libs have been spending money on these last nine years.
Occasional outbursts of humour are just one of the many reasons I love doorknocking. Like so many people involved in this election campaign. I believe conversations on doorsteps (conversations anywhere, in fact!!) are the key Greens campaign strategy. Conversations fit perfectly with our Greens values of Participatory Democracy and our desire to do politics differently. They are the antithesis of big party, big spend advertising, “always stay on message”, leave it to the leader campaigning. Conversations are egalitarian, reciprocal, should involve listening as much as talking and therefore show that we value what the other person has to say and are happy to spend time with them.
They’re healthy too – the odd dog attack or heat exhaustion notwithstanding. And practice makes perfect – actually that would be a rather hefty exaggeration in my case, but extensive practice has limited the number of times I inflict damage with each passing campaign. My most memorable idiot brain fade was in the 2010 campaign and I haven’t come close since.
The scenario: Long driveway, big man polishing big car attached to even bigger boat.
His opening: Your Greens don’t know anything.
My commitment to myself: End this visit in less than two minutes and part on reasonable good terms.
The outcome: 20 minutes later we were still screaming at each other as I strode up the long driveway.
Conversations are all about being a good ambassador, leaving a positive impression of The Greens. Nothing else matters in my opinion – well, not quite, but if you stuff up on that basic principle, then it renders useless any amount of accurate, sharp messaging that came out of your mouth.
I’d like to share my experiences and ideas with regard to some common responses or questions our Fremantle and Tangney teams are getting on the doorsteps. From chatting with members in other electorates, these are fairly frequent challenges we face in nearly all campaign conversations.
Number One: “I’m not interested in politics” – sometimes comes with all politicians suck, sometimes with I’m too busy, or I haven’t thought about the election yet, or it doesn’t make any difference who you vote for. I think this is by far the most common – all our doorknockers agree that it comes up at least twice every session. This common response is also the most difficult starting point from which to get a conversation flowing. I sometimes try: “I agree but please don’t opt out, because decisions politicians make impact on your everyday life bigtime and only make things worse for you – it’s why we have expensive rents and mortgages, insecure low paid jobs.” I think that sort of answer is more suited to an opinion column. On the doorstep it’s better to try to converse about other things, maybe their garden, the street, their solar panels, their dog, their Dockers sticker on the front door… This builds a bit of a relationship that might even lead on to them having a look at the beautiful Green ideas on the flyer. But even if it doesn’t, you’ve done a great job, because – all together now – conversations are all about being a good ambassador, leaving a positive impression of The Greens.
Number Two: “How can The Greens afford all these things?” They often say they like the idea of free TAFE, free Uni, and Uni debt cancellation, free dental care on Medicare, free Childcare. But someone has to pay – who? how? Sometimes this is served up with “You Greens have no idea about money management.” There are some obvious things we can say here – in fact, two possible ways to go. First is our clearly publicised revenue raising policies such as the billionaire tax and the fossil fuel profits tax. I like Adam Bandt’s concise hard-hitting short version: “Make Clive Palmer pay his fair share of tax so the rest of us can get free dental care on Medicare.”
But there’s also an important second track: it’s all about Spending Choices. My favourite choice-pairings are Labor and Liberal have chosen tax cuts for the rich, we choose instead to spend those billions to make TAFE and University free and cancel student debts, OR Labor and Liberal have chosen to subsidise fossil fuels, we choose free childcare. There are others too – I love making up these pairs, as Lib-Lab have created so many unethical, unequal, planet-destroying spending choices for us to debate.
Number Three: “How can The Greens help with the Cost of Living?” Often this comes with the person’s specific situation. Example One: “I’m a single mum, how will the Greens help me?” Example Two: “We’ve got a huge mortgage, two car loans, two kids with private school fees to pay, plus private health insurance, how will The Greens help us?” Big drum roll and vote of thanks for the recent flyer Tackling the Cost of Living. It lists the Big Five, each leading out with a strong verb: Make dental and mental health free under Medicare, Wipe student debt, Scrap fees for childcare, Build a million new affordable homes and cap rents, Increase the minimum wage and raise all income support to $88/day. Plus on the back, lots of yummy big dollar savings that are directed at specific groups.
There’s not a lot I could think of to say to the big spending family, apart from scrapping university fees. However, in this campaign I’ve had two goes at answering single mums and there’s plenty we have on offer here. It needs some quick thinking about what to make the number one priority and what to include/exclude. It works best for me to make it a conversation, rather than just rattling off policies. So: “Do you have a very young child? We would make childcare free and I think that’s probably the most important thing immediately to help you.” Housing expense is often the biggest headache and also the hardest to address. Our policy of building lots of affordable homes is excellent but takes years, though putting a cap on rents could work immediately. I recall my parents appreciated the rent cap that stretched for several years after 1945 and by 1960 they’d saved enough to put a deposit on a modest home. The patient, frugal generation.
Number Four: “Even though I like some of your policies, isn’t voting for The Greens a wasted vote?” This is sometimes expressed as “The Greens have no chance of winning this seat” or at other times in terms of “I want to make sure that my vote will help to get rid of this government, so I will vote Labor 1, because they are the only party that can replace the Coalition in government.” This obviously calls for an explanation of how our preferential voting system works. It seems so easy and obvious to us, but we all know how baffling it is for many voters. Most doorknockers agree that the first line of response is the Senate: Dorinda Cox is already in the Senate and has a very good chance of winning that seat again. Depending on the feeling I’m getting, I like to continue to talk about Dorinda and the importance of having Greens voices in the Senate. I usually try to craft a 30 second answer, as in my experience that’s about the right time – the right balance between enough time for a clear explanation without dominating the conversation, allowing roughly equal time for each turn taking in conversation, maybe even trying to make sure I spend more time listening than talking.
That’s probably enough – stress voting Greens 1 in the Senate as the one clear strong idea and ask what they think about it. However, if I’m reading that the person is happy to chat a bit more, I like to explain lower house preferences, as I’m convinced there’s a strong commonsense case to make here. My script is as follows for Fremantle:
“Would you consider voting Greens 1 and Labor 2 instead? Even though this is a safe Labor seat, they only win because of Greens preferences. The vast majority of Greens voters preference Labor ahead of Liberals. So, when the Green candidate is eliminated, all those preferences go across as full votes and Labor wins comfortably. The advantage of this way of voting is your vote works twice – first, you help get rid of this Liberal government and elect Labor, but second, you send a strong message to Labor to lift their game on climate change, putting dental care onto Medicare, etc…, because Labor is far too timid on these things. If you vote Labor 1 that obviously also helps elect Labor but the message it sends is that you agree with all Labor’s timid policies.”
I rarely give that full version, as it’s a bit long and I like to pause in the middle for their feedback. This script works for me and often gets a response such as “thanks for that, I haven’t heard the system made clear like that before.” OK, I also occasionally get blank stares, which are obviously flashing red signs saying RESET. And I know several doorknockers who feel it’s too preachy and too complicated to go down this road – just stick with the Senate answer.
I see conversations as a dance between getting the correct message across and doing your own thing – letting rip with your own personality, preferred way of talking, your story, finding what works for you with different types of people. This enchanting mix is why I love doorknocking – in fact I think I’ll go and have one now.
Header photo: Briefing for a doorknock in Tangney electorate on 10th April, with Senator Dorinda Cox centre background and NSW Senator Mehreen Faruqi to her right and Greens Tangney candidate Adam Abdul Razak to her left. Photo by Shannan Ely
[Opinions expressed are those of the author and not official policy of Greens WA]