2019-03-06
By Chilla Bulbeck, Co-convenor Supporters Working Group: chillabulbeck@gmail.com
The top line is the bottom line: dig deep and give!
Jordon Steele-John is a unique voice in the Senate – absolutely, even though the word is over-used.
- He is the youngest person ever to sit in the Australian senate.
- He is the first senator with cerebral palsy, and to use a wheelchair for mobility.
- He’s been a Greens campaigner for years; he loves elections and is spearheading our boldest election campaign yet.
In his short time in the Senate, Jordon has made an impact. He’s sticking it to the major parties & the political establishment. He’s bringing the voices of the young, the disabled, those struggling, and those who want a planet for our grandkids to live on right into the Senate. So many Western Australians, when they meet or hear about Jordon, are excited and supportive to see their experiences reflected in the Senate chamber.
Twenty people with a range of disabilities, some in wheelchairs, flew at very short notice from all over Australia. They were in the chamber on 15 February when the House of Representatives voted to establish a Royal Commission into the treatment of people with a disability. Although passionate Jordon supporters, they have little disposable income.
If WA is going to keep Jordon in the senate, and not let the sixth seat fall to a hard-right conservative, we have to reach thousands more voters. It’s up to us who have the financial ability to support Jordon and share Jordon’s fresh political voice.
What your money will buy: some examples
- If you donate $75,000 it will pay for our ‘digital first’ social media strategy
- If you donate $50,000 you will pay for our billboards.
- If you donate $13,000 you will pay for cinema screen ads for one week
- If you donate $6,000 you will pay the rent on our booth kit packing room
- If you donate $2,000 you will pay for the election day insurance and travel costs to cover our polling booth volunteers
- If you donate $1,000 you will pay for the leaflets in your local lower house federal electorate that our volunteers are handing out to residents
- If you donate $500 you will pay for us to courier the prepolling booth materials to a regional prepolling booth
- Even $10 will make a difference – it will pay for a t-shirt for one of our hundreds of volunteers.
No matter what you give, it will help us raise the $250,000 we need in donations.
https://contact-wa.greens.org.au/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id…
Our campaign strategy: what’s new
In this election, we are focusing on two inter-related strategies:
- Digital first
- A statewide volunteer driven campaign
Digital first
Greens voters are disproportionately young and well-educated. They get their news from online sources. Our ‘digital first’ campaign meets voters where they are at – and when they are forming their views about an issue. We will be part of the conversation as they make up their minds, and before the conservative media gets to them. We have budgeted $75,000 to respond quickly to breaking news, to create and disseminate targeted media messages, to share good news about our policies and candidates. We will follow up comments people make with ‘digital doorknocking’, engaging in persuasive conversations with our audience. We have appointed an experienced and talented digital communications co-ordinator, Georgia Blackburn, to make this messaging happen.
The young Greens vote will not be sufficient on its own to re-elect Jordon. We must amplify our message on billboards, in cinema advertising, on radio and streaming television. Traditional advertising channels are the largest element of our budget, costing several hundred thousand dollars. Experience tells us that we must expend this effort to clinch that 1 to 2% of the vote that will spell the difference between Jordon winning the 6th senate seat or One Nation taking it.
Help us fund our digital first campaign
Or if you have print version of Green Issue:
A volunteer driven statewide campaign
The Western Australian senate vote is more consistent across the state than in other states, where the Greens vote tends to be more concentrated. This means we need a presence and an effort everywhere: from Broome to Busselton, from Exmouth to Eucla.
We are supporting candidates and their campaign teams to develop and implement on-the-ground campaigns tailored to each electorate. Our Lead Organiser, Lily Newbury-Freeman, works with candidates and their teams to roll out their campaigns. Lily’s work is universally applauded by our candidates: her advice, her training, her physical presence co-ordinating and attending events. Lily has recruited and manages a growing team of volunteers providing additional office support for our campaign teams.
Sophie Greer, our state director, is working overtime to manage our campaign team, securing the advertising which will spread our visibility, and ensuring we make the most of opportunities as they arise, from Broome to Albany and everywhere in between.
Our paid campaign staff are the key to unlocking the thousands of hours of passionate positive volunteer energy that makes Greens campaigns distinct from other political parties.
THE GREENS ARE PROUD TO CAMPAIGN ON REMOVING CORPORATE INFLUENCE FROM OUR DEMOCRACY.
We don’t take donations from fossil fuel companies, the gambling or financial industries, or any business seeking to buy political influence. Instead we rely on you. Donate now.
Why some of us have a problem with money
Radical feminists in the 1970s were often leery of fundraising. In our minds money = patriarchal capitalism = the root of all evil. Many Greens feel the same way. We want everyone to have enough to live comfortably but we rail against the obscene excesses of consumption multimillionaires inflict on the struggling planet. We believe that it is connection with nature, community, peace and social justice that make humans contented, that self-seeking ambition and accumulation of things only makes people unhappy. Social research suggests we are correct. For example, see research in The Spirit Level
So we come to the problem of raising funds for election campaigns with lead in our saddle bags. Ideally the Greens we would like all campaigns to be publicly funded so that there was no corporate influence in politics from this source. During this election campaign we are telling voters why Labor and the Liberals cannot kick the coal habit: their funders, both corporate and union, benefit financially from fossil fuel production. We are explaining why they have only pale policies on environmental protection, renewable energy and multinational corporations paying their fair share of taxes: because their political voice is captive to their donors.
We rely on donors who are not in it for themselves, but in it for our shared big bold vision of a kinder fairer world; for your children and all young people; for the creatures who journey with us.
Why are we asking for campaign funding when Greens WA received the largest individual donation in 2017-2018?
Greens WA have three different budgets.
This article asks you to donate to our election campaign fund, the purpose of which is to elect Jordon Steele-John. Every campaign we devise a campaign budget which calculates what we need to do to elect our upper house candidate or candidates, including the amount of donations required.
We also have an operational budget which raises and allocates money to undertake our normal activities: keep our office open, our membership engaged, our outreach in stalls and events encouraging more members and supporters.
Thirdly, member generosity has established a Future Fund to ensure our long-term sustainability. The Future Fund cannot be used for normal operations or election campaigning costs. Two significant bequests have built the fund to $1million and we are now seeking to purchase an office (which will reduce our annual operational costs by an estimated $30,000 per annum, thereby reducing our deficit somewhat).