MY NUMBER ONE PRIORITY
I was raised in the string of suburbs from Frankston to Ferntree Gully – the politically-sensitive mortgage belt of outer Melbourne. We weren’t a political household, but we were concerned about the quality of the local school… and the cost of the weekly groceries… and the latest unemployment figures on the front page of the Herald… and the long queue at the doctors.
We liked the local shopping strips and the people who worked there. It was sad when a small business closed, unable to compete with a big name store. We loved the clean air and the trees in our neighbourhood and felt for the folks a few streets away, where it wasn’t as nice to live. We wanted things to be better for them.
Occasionally, we’d talk about some big event happening overseas, like the famine in Ethiopia, or the war between Iraq and Iran. We wanted to help – we just weren’t sure what we could do. Thankfully, Midnight Oil always had something important to say and the 1985 ‘Live Aid’ concert gave us hope.
Why am I telling you all this? Well, when I think back to the things that my super-suburban family valued – the things that influenced how they would vote – these are the same things that we collectively value as Greens: a healthy environment; a quality education system; a sustainable local economy; a strong community; and a fair go for everyone.
The thing is, there are millions of Victorians and Australians just like my family – people with little interest in the day-to-day workings of Parliament, but with a strong of sense of how things should be. While they may share many of our values, concerns and ideals, they don’t vote Green.
I want to change this.
I have great confidence in our policies. They’re compassionate, practical, optimistic and evidence-based. They’re grounded in a political philosophy perfectly designed for the challenges of the 21st century. They make sense to me.
As a political party, we know what we want to say.
The problem - as I see it - is how we say it.
I’ve spent my working life as a professional communicator, taking complex and challenging ideas to the broadest possible audience. Over the past decade, I’ve trained hundreds of Greens candidates to do this too. I feel we’re getting better at it, but we’ve still got a fair way to go until we can convince the millions of outer-suburban, regional and rural Australians who don’t vote Green - but should - to get behind us.
If preselected as your Lead Senate Candidate, I will make this my number one priority – to break through the communication barrier and inspire these people to become first-time Greens voters.
We know what we want to say. It’s how we say it that matters.
