GreenMail - Spring 2016

www.nsw.greens.org.au SEPTEMBER 2016 ‘of the members, for the members and by the members’FEDERAL ELECTION REFLECTIONSYoung Greens: a I voted for you, Beyond elections,phenomenal force I put you second! a world to winpage 9 pages 12 - 13 pages 4 - 5

Welcome to GreenMail ContentsGreenMail is the quarterly members-only publication of Editorial 3The Greens NSW. It is published for the members andby the members. Our other publication is GreenVoice, for Co-convenor’s viewpoint: 4–5campaigning and outreach. beyond elections, a world to winAlthough our values are clear, everyone doesn’t always The 2016 Election campaign and the 6–7agree on methods or priorities. A great aspect of our party NSW Greens voteis the clear process for expressing and working out anydifferences.This is informed by our safe meeting practice How to win preferences and 8guidelines. We can then all stand by and be proud of our influence peoplepolicies.The pages of GreenMail are a respectful place toput ideas out there and learn about what other people in Young Greens co-convenor viewpoint: 9the party are thinking. a phenomenal forceThere’s a lot of expertise among our members in many Doing politics differently 10areas. We’re now assigning a theme and calling for papersfor the next issue. We hope that this stimulates a wide A tale of two Sydneys 11range of members to contribute some of their ideas andexperience. Newer and younger members can also provide ‘I voted for you – I put you second!’ 12 – 13valuable fresh perspectives. The Richmond campaign 13But our issues aren’t restricted to theme content. So pleasebe encouraged to write articles (up to 650 words), letters, Forgotten behind the sandstone curtain 14reviews or poems on whatever’s on your mind. We alsowelcome photos, cartoons and other images. Discontent over immigration 15 and superannuation Email to: publications@nsw.greens.org.au Deadline for next issue: 1 November 2016 Beyond left and right 16 Theme: Environment and climate Can The Greens capture the Christian vote? 17DISCLAIMERGreenMail is published by The Greens NSW. The impact of incumbency 18a The Greens NSW, Proportional representation overdue 19 GPO Box 1220, Sydney 2001p (02) 9045 6999 Hubris in Australian politics 20e office@nsw.greens.org.auw www.nsw.greens.org.au Consensus decision making 21© Copyright remains with the authors, Data or die: the future of Greens 22illustrators, photographers. campaigning in a data driven worldOpinions expressed in GreenMail are not the opinion or Save our (greener) steel  23position of The Greens NSW, the editors, or even the author,unless specifically stated. Your letters24To enquire about writing for or contributing to Call for papers: next issue24GreenMail contact the Publications Committeepublications@nsw.greens.org.au READ GREENMAIL ONLINE.Authorised Helen Wilson GreenMail is posted on the members page of The GreensSuite D, Level 1, 275 Broadway, Glebe 2037. NSW website. To save our postage costs, please let the office know if you do not need a hard copy.Cover image Maddy Williams and Sarah Fernandes at work inGrayndler. Photo Maddy Williams. HAVE YOU MOVED?Graphic Design Yuki Schofield Please call the office on 9045 6999 or emailyukidesigns.com.au office@nsw.greens.org.au to update your address details.Printers BREAKOUT MEDIA COMMUNICATIONSTrades Hall, Suite 204, 4 Goulburn St, Sydney NSW 2000

Editorial SEPTEMBER 2016 l 03Helen Wilson lower house vote overall but a wor- Are we a party of opposition or doPublications Committee rying drop in the Senate vote. Per- we aspire to form coalition govern- haps the result is unremarkable over ment? If so how can we build betterThe Greens campaign with the longer term. Minor parties have relations with Labor given what Guypassion at elections but emerged in protest against the major Rundle calls their “pathetic, neuroticnot in circumstances of parties’ embrace of neoliberalism. and draining identity struggle againstour choosing. The voting Strong candidates including inde- the Greens”?1 Or are we becomingsystem, timing, major pendents affected us in key seats. a pragmatic party, with men in suitsparty tactics, number and The Liberals refused to preference trying to influence major party deci-quality of competitors and us before Labor. The new Senate sions wherever they can?what the media say are voting rules doing away with grouplargely out of our hands. tickets may have had an effect. There And are we a left wing party that was a series of damaging media re- should concentrate on issues where ports about supposed divisions in The the major parties agree? Then our Greens NSW. emphasis would be on reducing in- equality and racism, closing the de- tention centres or making TAFE and higher education accessible. Or could emphasising our values of fairness and preserving what we value gain us support from more conservative sections of the community? Rundle has a novel characterisation, calling us “political representatives of the culture-knowledge-policy producer class”. The party of ideas!The outcomes are always unpredict- Questions to ponder It’s the climate, stupid.able. Indeed the 2016 federal election There are perpetual dilemmas at the There are differences in our party’sresults, with a miniscule majority for level of grassroots organising. What rules and organisation betweenthe Coalition and a larger and more are the most effective methods for states. Evaluating this election hasdiverse cross bench, have surprised reaching people who might vote for raised comparisons with Victoria,many. We may have a strategy to lift us? How can we gain their trust? where electoral results are strongerthe Senate vote or target certain lower How do we find volunteers in elec- than in NSW. But we have a differ-house seats but it doesn’t always pay torates where we’re not strong? How ent history and remain closer to ouroff. Good results, such as we achieved effective is it to work on a polling activist roots. After the election Bobin the 2015 NSW election, are grati- booth in unfamiliar territory? How Brown dismayed many of us with hisfying and seem to repay all the hard can we best capture and store the negative assessment of our state’s re-work. But less spectacular results such contact details for people who might sults. The general response has beenas we’ve just seen may make us feel do this for us? How valuable is door to affirm our values and choices to ‘dolet down. This issue contributes to the knocking, and does it only work for politics differently’.discussion about what happened, why well-resourced campaigns?our results disappointed many and More helpful is Paddy Manning’swhat we should do about it. How do we persuade people that report on the campaign. He concludes their preferences matter, especially in that “there is one almighty driver for In NSW we got nowhere near relation to popular Labor candidates the Greens. It’s the climate, stupid” 2.having a second senator elected and or independents? Should we focus Others writing here agree. Our cli-our targeted lower house seats didn’t on the Senate, where we can point to mate change policies have delivereddo as well as expected. There was demonstrated influence? How much our greatest achievement in terms ofa small swing to The Greens in the money should we spend? influencing governments, the Clean Energy Act of the Gillard years. Our calls for climate action need to be stronger and more consistent. 1. thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/ topic/2016/07/09/the-new-political-reali- ty/14679864003467 2. themonthly.com.au/issue/2016/au- gust/1469973600/paddy-manning/good-hard- look-greens

04 Co-convenor’sl GreenMail viewpointBeyond elections, a world to winHall GreenlandPort Jackson GreensLike everyone else I amstill trying to make senseof the 2016 election result.The thoughts that are atplay for me are:We need a sense of proportion historical trend to date and arguably preferences from most of these micros.and history our major electoral problem. However it appears incontestable thatIt is only 16 months since our very The Greens have risen as an electoralsatisfactory state election results – Labor attacks force because Labor has moved so farthree lower house wins and two upper There appears to be little doubt that to the right. Our voters (and poten-house seats retained. That was a dis- the Labor offensive against us had tial voters) are either ex-Labor voterstinct improvement on our federal and a major impact. This offensive was or young people who in past decadeslocal government results in 2013 and ramped up in the past 12 months, be- would have voted Labor.2012 . In those elections our vote fell ginning with our agreement with theby more than 25 per cent compared federal Coalition over pension/super There is an intermediary group ofto 2010 and 2008 respectively. changes, proceeding through to the voters who oscillate between Greens Senate voting reforms and including and Labor – tending to vote Greens inMembership continues to even the company taxation reforms. local and state elections but Labor ingrow dramatically Most wounding of all was the final federal elections. These voters appearAt June 30 our membership was 50 phase that claimed we were in prefer- to me to be our major ‘bank’ for theper cent higher than three years pre- ence negotiations with the Liberals. immediate future. It is recognition ofviously. No other state party quite Our disavowals were neither prompt this fact that led Labor to concentratematches that growth.The age profile of nor definitive enough. In inner Syd- their attack on us around the accusa-the members continues to get younger ney there can be no doubt that this tion that we were playing preferenceand the gender balance remains posi- speculation put Labor activists on the footsies with the Liberals. By doingtive with women outnumbering men. front foot and enabled them to cast this Labor successfully protected itsMeanwhile donations (which are doubt on our trustworthiness with left flank and our vote (and reputa-strictly limited in amount in NSW) progressive voters. tion) suffered. One clear answer to thisare on the increase – $319,000 in the is to make our preference for Labor2015 state election, $401,000 for the Preferences abundantly clear at all times in orderrecent federal election. The preferencing on our How to to secure the trust and support of the Votes in many cases played into oscillating Greens/Labor voters. TheyThe upper house problem the hands of this Labor narrative are the main game. The major objec-Even among the good 2015 state about us flirting with the Libs. In tions to this position is that it may cutelection results the trend of a stalled Grayndler, for instance, we prefer- us off from non-Labor voters who areor falling upper house vote was enced five micro parties above Labor, part of the rise in ecological conscious-evident– we lost three percentage who thereby were given the number ness, and from the micros.points in comparison to the 2011 7. It did appear to the uninitiated thatstate poll (that three per cent, inci- we were only reluctantly giving Labor Labor’s progressive facedentally, was the total vote for the a preference and preferring complete It is difficult to see in Labor’s anae-new Animal Justice, Cyclists and unknowns (such as the Pirates) to mic left wing any figure that couldEuthanasia parties in 2015). In this Labor. The reasoning behind this mi- do a Sanders or a Corbyn. Never-federal election we performed mark- cros strategy is that in return we gained theless a Labor liberal left does existedly better in the House of Repre- Senate and House of Representatives and occasionally even Labor’s rightsentatives than the Senate. A trend wing adopts pale pink or green posi-appears to be developing where ourupper house vote lags behind thelower house. This is a reversal of the

SEPTEMBER 2016 l 05tions, especially in opposition. Faced the global Greens and because of the ramatta groups (among others), thatwith a Coalition moving to the right, course they have taken. Twenty years climate change – and I would argueinformed voters are understand- ago the ‘realos’ took total control and a climate change revolution in societyably concerned to reinforce the pale embraced coalitions, neoliberalism – needs always to be front and centreLabor progressives like Anthony Al- and military interventions. Recent of our politics. Elections come and go,banese or Tanya Plibersek or encour- opinion polls (see the Der Spiegel our vote will oscillate, but the dangerage a more social democratic Labor international site) have Die Grünen to the conditions of life on this planetparty. Outside of a more widespread on 13 per cent – not very different continues to grow. In our post-electionradicalisation or spreading political to our polling. It is arguable that the introspections we cannot forget thatsophistication, it is hard to see how Germans’ greatest success has been in we have a world to win.we can counter the illusion that this spreading ecological consciousness,voting pattern will lead to a more re- which has resulted in the abandon- Richard Di Natale with NSW candidates at theformist and satisfactory Labor party. ment of nuclear power and the re- Break free from fossil fuels event in Newcastle, markable take-up of renewables inInternational comparisons that country. May 8. From left: Lee Rhiannon, Michael Osborne,These are tricky because conditions Jane Oakley, Richard Di Natale, Jim Casey, Philvary from place to place. But it is This final point does lead me to see Bradley and Peter Morris.worth looking at the German Greens the logic in the position coming out ofbecause they are the ‘mother’party for our Climate Change Working Group, as well as the Ryde-Epping and Par-

06 l GreenMailThe 2016 Election campaign and theNSW Greens voteJames Ryan Political history MoneyCessnock Greens and Campaign Since 1980 Victorians have voted There is a fundamental differenceCo-ordinator for the 2016 federal election for Labor more consistently and in between how The Greens in NSW larger numbers than any other state and the rest of Australia operate. InThere have been a lot of in Australia1. Further the Victorian NSW local groups run lower housequestions asked about the ALP has been the most ‘left’ (or pro- campaigns and keep the electoralresults of the 2016 Election gressive) of all ALP state branches funding from those campaigns. Infor The Greens NSW. The since the anti-communist split of Victoria (and other states) the statefirst thing we can say is 1955 created a new party, The Demo- party keeps the money and thereforethat The Greens lower cratic Labor Party (DLP). This split has more centralised funds avail-house vote in NSW, and meant that the most right wing (and able to focus on targeted campaignsacross Australia, increasedin 2016. This is good news!The Greens NSW voteincreased by one per centin keeping with mostAustralian states. This isdoubly good news as itoccurred at a time whenthe Labor Party increasedtheir vote Australia wide.The second thing we can say is that Catholic) elements left the Victorian A bilingual campaign team in Watson.in the Senate the trend in NSW ALP. Whilst the Victorian branchhas also echoed the trends Australia therefore became dominated by the like Melbourne or Batman. Victo-wide. However this news is more left, the NSW branch continued to rian Greens and other state Greensperplexing. There was a dip in the be run by the right2. parties accept large donations fromSenate vote for The Greens in NSW. organisations. For example the Vic-The dip of 0.38 per cent in our Sen- We know that many new Greens torian Greens accepted $360,000ate vote was less than the dip in the voters come from those who have from the Electrical Trades Union andTasmanian Senate vote of 0.50 per previously voted Labor, usually dis- $125,000 from the CMFEU in thecent. Looking at the trends since enchanted progressive Labor voters. 2013/14 financial year3.2007, with the exception of Tasma- On this basis Victoria is predisposednia, which has suffered sustained to having the highest Greens vote of Thanks to Greens campaign-losses in their Senate vote over that any Australian state (although few ing in NSW against donations totime, most of the Australian states would think this is the solitary factor political parties we now have thehave trended together. influencing voting for The Greens). toughest electoral laws in Australia. Those laws prohibit donations from Comparisons are often made be- property developers and entities as-tween NSW and Victoria as the sociated with tobacco, alcohol andtwo most populous states. The Vic- gambling. The Greens NSW do nottorian Senate vote stayed static in2016, however their House of Rep-resentatives vote increased by morethan NSW’s. So what’s going on inVictoria? In fact Victoria should al-ways have a higher Greens vote thanNSW. Here are some reasons why:

SEPTEMBER 2016 l 07accept any donations from corpora- and infrastructure, as well as tourism. tralian people and ask them to votetions and only accept donations up With the loss of campaign opportu- for us in the Senate.to $2500 to the party. The Victorian nities for NSW’s Senator Rhiannon,approach is effective for running an objective observer would expect Further criticisms have been thatcentralised campaigns with larger Victoria to perform better. (again) we had too many messagesbudgets, but possibly not so good and failed to focus on a few focusedfor vibrant local groups and local Number of Senate candidates messages that inspired voters. I thinkcampaigns. Such campaigns have re- in NSW this is a very valid criticism.sulted in having Greens councillors Although a minor point it is worthelected across NSW. noting that NSW had more parties A pragmatic major party? contesting the Senate election than The 2016 election saw a media strate-NEW SOUTH WALES 40 any other state. Our ballot paper was gy from the Australian Greens whichVICTORIA 37 longer and The Greens harder to find. portrayed leader Richard Di NataleQUEENSLAND 37 as a pragmatist and the party as pre-WESTERN AUSTRALIA 27 What could we have done better? pared to negotiate with governmentSOUTH AUSTRALIA 22 The 2016 election was originally and wanting to win lower houseTASMANIA 21 going to be a romp home for the then seats. If we portray ourselves like thisAUSTRALIAN CAPITAL popular Malcolm Turnbull. At that we should probably not be surprisedTERRITORY 10 time Greens prospects looked good that (like the two major parties) weNORTHERN TERRITORY because the best elections for The receive fewer votes in the Senate than 7 Greens are when the Labor Party is in the lower house. It’s important seen to have either no prospect of that we communicate how we areNo cabinet level portfolio winning or no prospect of losing (for different from the two major partiesIn October 2015 Richard Di Natale example 2010). The surprise for most – not how we are the same.announced that Lee Rhiannon would commentators during this electionno longer have the higher education was how competitive Labor became Notesportfolio. At the time NSW Greens within the space of a few months. 1. abc.net.au/news/federal-election-2016/were upset and formally noted at Suddenly 2016 became a hard elec- guide/preview-vic/the October State Delegates Coun- tion for The Greens as Labor’s star 2. Leigh, Andrew ‘Factions and Fractions’, Aus-cil that a successful higher educa- became ascendant. In these circum- tralian Journal of Political Science Vol 35 No. 3tion campaign had been run by Lee stances increasing our lower house 2000 citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?Rhiannon and in the context of the vote was a real achievement. doi=10.1.1.378.7441&rep=rep1&type=pdflooming Federal election “the deci- 3. theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/indus-sion to remove Senator Rhiannon During our debrief process there trial-relations/alp-anger-over-unions-greens-of her only cabinet level portfolio have been comments that the Sen- shift/news-story/70a3e88d7ca47b97d3b6d4fdiminishes media and campaign op- ate message was not strong enough. 3f8281499portunities in NSW”. In NSW all of our media events with visiting senators were focused on the With the exception of Lee Rhi- targeted seats of Grayndler, Sydneyannon in NSW every sitting Greens and Richmond. It was very rare thatsenator in Australia had a cabinet the message we took to the medialevel portfolio allocated to them dur- was “...and that is why you shoulding the 2016 election. In Victoria vote 1 Greens in the Senate”.Richard Di Natale has the Cabinetlevel portfolios of health, sport, Prime Some have characterised this asMinister and Cabinet and multicul- symptomatic of a party which is con-turalism. Senator Janet Rice had the fused. Are we an upper house partyCabinet level portfolios of transport or are we trying to win government via the lower house? This is a critical issue which The Greens have to re- solve. If we want to be a party which is strongly represented in the Senate we have to take our case to the Aus-

08 l GreenMailHow to win preferences andinfluence peopleEmma Bacon We might also point to the suc- pillars) that we loudly proclaim andInner Sydney Greens and Grayndler cess of MPs who’ve won seats from our vision for communities, cities andCampaign Co-ordinator Liberal preferences, including Adam the environment. Bandt in 2010 in Melbourne andThe initial discussions Jamie Parker in 2011 in Balmain. I have seen evidence that meetingaround preferences in Both of those MPs have continuous- Greens candidates is one of the mostGrayndler presumed that ly challenged the Coalition and won powerful and persuasive tools that wethe two major parties real outcomes for their communities have. We should be preselecting early,have an adversarial and others. As Greens they have ex- supporting candidates and invitingrelationship. There posed the cruel or corrupt policies of existing representatives to play an ac-was discussion that the the Coalition and showed up Labor’s tive role in campaigns.Coalition would prefer weakness as opposition for all to see.a Greens member for The strongest message I get fromGrayndler to disrupt Winning seats on Liberal prefer- our results this federal election isLabor, rather than to ences may not be a possibility in the that where we are the loud, consist-allow Labor to be one future. What does that mean for the ent and committed opposition toseat closer to forming way we campaign? Simply, it will re- conservative politics we win sup-majority government. As move one of the strategic and political port. In regional NSW this electionthe campaign progressed, conundrums of our electoral projects. we had a fantastic growth in supportit became obvious that We should be targeting communities that can be clearly connected to ournot only the Liberal party, and people, not other parties. campaigning against coal and CSGbut the mainstream over many years. In Grayndler wemedia, would be prepared During the campaign to win the got strong swings towards us in Stto support the Labor seat of Newtown in 2015 I remem- Peters and Haberfield where we’veParty to prevent The ber speaking to a 70 year old man in been campaigning against WestCon-Greens gaining a federal Erskineville who described himself nex. That was a key election issue asfoothold in Sydney. There as a “life long Liberal voter”. He and the Liberals continued to support thewas also the additional I spoke about some local issues, but mess and Labor flip-flopped weakly.factor of Anthony what really struck a chord was coal The meaningful interactions we hadAlbanese’s personal seam gas. His brother was a farmer through field campaigning also toldrelationships with Liberal who’d given him a yellow Lock the us that people voted Green becauseParty members and the Gate triangle to put out the front of our stance on asylum seekers andmainstream media. of his house. I explained how The commitment to serious action on cli- Greens have stood with regional mate change.Should it come as a surprise that the people and campaigned passionatelyLiberal and Labor parties would pre- from St Peters to Bentley to stop The difficult news is that supportfer one of their own to a Green in CSG. He committed to giving us his will always be unpredictable and willparliament? Their consensus on some second preference, which in New- depend on the broader political con-of the key policy issues of our time town meant his vote ended up help- text. There may not be a consistentsuggest that we shouldn’t be surprised ing Jenny Leong reach almost 60 per rate of growth in our vote. Howeverat all. From asylum seeker policy to cent of the final vote. we can choose to commit to a style ofsupporting coal mines across the campaigning that is brave, continuouscountry and from cuts to higher edu- I’ve been lucky enough to have and visible, and that will certainly re-cation funding to the bombing of spoken to thousands of people over sult in support and wins in the future.Syria, the major parties are in lock the last couple of years in the coursestep on many issues. of campaigning. It’s certainly true that some people criticise The Greens for not being ‘economically credible’ or having utopian policies. However I’ve seen little evidence that giving them the detail of our well thought through and costed policies can con- vince them. What is convincing is our commitment to community ac- tivism, the values (shaped by the four

Young Greens co-convenors’ SEPTEMBER 2016 l 09 perspectiveA phenomenal to both learn from and support each free higher education was minimised,force other during what was a long and with Senators Di Natale and Simms difficult campaign. Young candi- instead campaigning for a reductionVanamali Hermans Tweed Greens and dates saw positive gains, including a of HECS fees.Ishtiaq Rahman Blacktown Greens swing of 4.28 per cent in Farrer, 2.09 per cent in Page and 1.88 per cent More broadly, our choice of cam-This election we witnessed in Chifley, demonstrating a growing paign issues failed to push hard oncontinued contributions section of the community’s engage- industrial relations, an issue thatfrom young campaigners ment with Greens values. As co- should have been of monumentaland candidates across the convenors, we were proud to spend importance given the ABCC electionstate. Young candidates election day in Western Sydney, talk- trigger. We failed to engage voters onstood in a wide variety of ing to voters who in many cases had penalty rates and casualisation, es-electorates from the North never interacted with Greens cam- pecially young people who are moreCoast to the South, including paigners before. likely to have insecure employmentEliza James in Chifley, Ben and less able to engage with the unionMoroney in Macarthur, Swings and electoral gains wereKudra Falla-Ricketts in not the real measure of success in this movement. We need to challenge thePage, James Macdonald campaign, however. True progress is mentality that these traditional Laborin Kingsford Smith, Clara more likely to be found in the for- issues fail to appeal to Greens voters.Williams-Roldan in mation of grassroots campaigns and Likewise, issues like social housingWarringah, Philippa Clark strong social movements. It’s clear and indigenous affairs were neglectedin Banks, Tamara Ryan in that this was the real test, and was a in favour of much more white, nou-Eden-Monaro and Amanda test we failed to pass. We failed to set veau riche campaigns.Cohn in Farrer. ourselves apart as a clear alternative to the establishment. As a way forward, we need to re-Each worked with limited resources evaluate the ‘pragmatic’ and moder-and built local campaigns from the Nationally, under Richard Di Na- ate approach that prevents us fromground up. There were also historic tale’s leadership, the party has adopt- engaging with disenfranchised com-rates of young people registering to ed a more professionalised, centrist munities. Globally, anti-establish-vote, following far-reaching enrol-to- approach. This resulted in the delib- ment and class-based campaigns willvote campaigns run by The Greens, erate choice to abandon our more continue to grow, and it is incumbentcommunity groups and unions. It’s ‘radical’ policies; the very same poli- upon us to engage with and supportfair to say the NSW Young Greens cies that many of us joined for. Ulti- such grassroots campaigns. This iswere a phenomenal force. mately this meant we were unable to especially true if The Greens are to channel the dissatisfaction the elec- continue to grow among rural, stu- Bob Brown claimed it was time the torate had with the status quo, with dent, tenant, and culturally diverseparty “made room for new, younger voters perceiving The Greens as just communities. The grassroots mem-people more in tune with the Austral- another suit and tie cog in the politi- bership needs to be empowered, andian public in 2016”1. We couldn’t disa- cal machine. we believe that this can only occurgree more. Young Greens participated with real ownership of the campaign,at every level and accounted for many One such example was the higher instead of centralisation through theof the volunteers, temporary staff and education platform we took to the leader’s office.campaign coordinators that made up election. Young people in the partyour state-wide campaign. If Bob had were disappointed that our policy of 1. abc.net.au/7.30/content/2016/s4510186.htmcared to look a little further, he wouldhave realised we’re already here. Young campaigners were able toshare strategies and resources onlinethrough a Young Greens campaign-ers’ Facebook group. Such a spaceallowed our experienced and newercampaigners a unique opportunity

10 l GreenMailDoing politics differentlyJames Macdonald Headland national park or tutoring Our success in theRandwick Botany Greens and low-SES students. next election dependscandidate for Kingsford Smith on us winning back that Sure, those things are admirable in mantle, and it needsAs Greens we seek to do and of themselves, but they also rep- to be done by genuinepolitics differently. It’s easy resent concrete, collaborative efforts engagement and withenough to say, much less to make the community a better place. local efforts to better theso to explain. What does They are inherently political even if community. And that‘doing politics differently’ they’re not electoral in nature. It’s gets to the heart of ‘doinglook like in a federal why one of the most common ques- politics differently’.election, especially when tions to candidates is ‘Do you live inwe’re seeking to match the the area?’ This is not because these We’re commonly defined as themajor parties in tactics people have any particular affinity to political wing of a global movementand saturation? electoral boundaries as determined by for justice and sustainability. Our the Australian Electoral Commission, relationship to that movement isUsing our experience in Kingsford but because their test for social change the essence of our identity and alsoSmith I’d argue that doing politics is community involvement. the essence of our appeal. It’s not adifferently is more than just better hat we get to wear once every threepolicies or even internal accountabil- Indeed, if our vote in Kingsford years, it’s a commitment to grass-ity. It’s a fundamentally different view Smith lagged, it was due to local roots social change.of what our democracy is and how we issues that had no relevance to themake change happen. federal election. We had feedback In that context, elections can be from dozens of voters saying they seen as a regular grade for how ef- One thing I would constantly point could never vote Green again for fective that project has been. It’s anout at candidate fora is how select our role in delivering a poorly- opportunity to score our performancemembers of our audience were. They designed light rail project. An ugly on campaigns that started long be-were always far more engaged and ac- spat around amalgamations further fore the writs were issued. As we de-tive than the rest of the community. cemented the divide between the construct our performance on 2 July,They had strong political opinions and Greens and those who could have any problems we may identify weren’twere aware of the key players in the been our strongest supporters. merely a feature of a six-week electioncurrent parliament.This excluded any- campaign. Let’s use this opportunityone working a night shift, anyone who Contrast this to a Labor campaign to interrogate just how well we’recouldn’t get a babysitter or anyone that attacked the Coalition over un- fulfilling on our commitment to awho just didn’t care enough to turn up. popular local and state issues, brand- greener Australia. ing itself as the conduit for community This exclusivity is systemic. There outrage and running on the record of ais a percentage of people each election highly visible and engaged local mem-who donkey vote, who deface their ber. Labor won over a lot of traditionalballot paper or get their name marked Greens supporters by taking on aoff and then leave. Another common grassroots image that had previouslyexpression is the protest vote, the anti- fallen to us by default.establishment push for smaller het-erodox parties. The dynamics around disengagedvoters are well-covered territory butthose voters are too often dismissedas uninformed, wilfully ignorant orunreachable. I personally found thatthese people would really light upwhen they saw you being a part oftheir community – things like ourweeding expeditions in the Malabar

SEPTEMBER 2016 l 11A tale of two SydneysBruce Knobloch metropolitan Blacktown area. Black- responding to confusion about thePetersham Newtown Greens town is one of the most multicultural voting system. Some people asked places in Australia, with a high mi- what we were doing with ‘our’ pref-I live in Newtown, just grant population. Its average income erences, so it was a joy to be able toa few kilometres south is close to the Australian median, say to them they could do what theyof Sydney’s CBD, and on which makes it low by Sydney stand- wanted, but we indicated a preferenceelection day I usually ards. Millers Point is in the City of for Labor, not Liberal, which theyhand out around my Sydney, close to the Harbour Bridge liked. One older couple told me theyneighbourhood. But for a and formerly working wharves. Once thought it was wrong for non-heter-long time I have thought an area of mostly public housing ten- osexuals to get married, so we agreedwe need to pay a lot ants, it is now dominated by new to disagree while we talked about freemore attention to our high wealth residential apartments public education.Greens prospects in near and on the piers that push outWestern Sydney. into Walsh Bay. Social cleansing by With some people I summarised the Liberals mean very few old-tim- with “We’re the human rights party”Not only is it half the population of ers or their families can afford to live and that seemed to get a good re-the state, it is (in general) less well in the area now. sponse.Quite a few people were votingoff than other parts of Sydney. Our because they had to, took no pleasureSocial Justice pillar should be well The Greens don’t have many mem- from it and hadn’t decided who to votereceived where we get a chance to bers or supporters in Blacktown/Chif- for. I’m sure I convinced some that weexplain it to people who might be were the real deal for social justice.grumpy with Labor’s decades-long Queuing to vote at Rooty Hill Publicembrace of free market capitalism. School. Photo Bruce Knobloch. Fifty-five minutes on the train backSo on election day my partner Samu- to Wynyard and a walk to Millersel and I decided to split our joint ef- ley, but we’re growing.This election we Point may as well have been a journeyfort: Rooty Hill Public School in the polled 4.54 per cent but have polled to another country. Sydney is a strongmorning and Abraham Mott Hall at as high as 8 per cent. It was great to Labor seat, but I discovered from theMillers Point in the afternoon. Rooty help out Blacktown Greens with friendly but desperate ALP boothHill is in Chifley, a very safe (even their well-targeted local campaign. workers that Millers Point booth hassafer now) Labor seat in the outer There were long lines at the Rooty been Liberal for at least ten years. It’s Hill Public polling booth, but peo- the only booth that is Liberal in the ple were patient. Having The Greens electorate. It was immediately obvi- policy points on the back of our How ous that it would be dominated by the to Vote card made for a good way to ‘one per cent’ in their not-very-casual try to start a conversation, since people clothes. Samuel and I were quite lit- had plenty of time for reading. erally sneered at and spoken down to quite a few times as we tried to hand People were friendly and as I out to the new locals. There were no worked harder there were more ques- ‘persuasive conversations’ except when tions and more discussions, including Samuel suggested it was so quiet one of us could hand out while the other could go off and have a beer. We felt vindicated that they sneered at us rather than the ALP booth workers. I took it as an indi- cation that they knew we really do intend to tax them and redistribute a good part of their luxury for the ben- efit of others, like many of the people who live in Blacktown. The day was an affirmation that Sydney is a very divided city. It is divid- ed by class and its experience of limited choices versus luxury, and of cultural diversity versus bland privatised spaces. I know who I’d rather stand with. And not just next election day.

12 l GreenMail‘I voted for you – I put you second!’Mercurius GoldsteinNew England Greens and candidatefor New EnglandI want to shine a spotlight on a per- important agricultural region and Richard Di Natale and Mercurius (at back) withennial electoral headache: the allure koala habitat zone facing dual coal- locals on the Liverpool Plains. Photo Tony Grant.for voters (and, let’s be honest, for mining and CSG threats. The regionsome Greens supporters) who look to has been the subject of both intense In 2016 the Liverpool Plains wasindependents or community-based Greens campaigning activity, and the divided between two seats. Somecampaigns as a proxy for develop- Lock the Gate movement, on the booths were in Parkes (without aing long-term strategic support for coal/CSG front. high-profile independent running),Greens issues and ideas. some were in New England, which Today you can see Lock the Gate had the high-profile independent The strategy to leverage non- signs affixed to hundreds of rural Tony Windsor. The booths were inGreens branded community-based properties along every country road. neighbouring communities separatedcampaigns for electoral purposes is Lock the Gate has cost fossil fuel by a few tens of kilometres at most.plausible and carries intuitive appeal. companies their social licence to op- That counts as next-door in the coun-Simply put, by fostering grassroots erate on private land in the regions, try.Tables 1 and 2 contrast the Greenscommunity movements whose spe- and that is a huge achievement. But performance. There were swingscific platforms are in alignment with when the state and federal govern- against us of up to six per cent in Newoutcomes sought by specific Greens ments continue to allow fossil fuelNSW policies, we can hope to reach projects on public land right next Table 1into constituencies that are anything door to farms and on the same water Greens vote (%) in Parkes booths inbut traditional Greens voters, and tables, it shows also the limitations of Liverpool Plains (no independent)shift the overall policy orientation of what community movements, alone,the electorate in a Greens-friendly can achieve. 2013 2016direction. Under this strategy, evenif these movements don’t convert di- Since 2008, an illustrious list of 32.2rectly into Greens votes, they can still high-profile Greens MPs have re-achieve positive outcomes on specific peatedly visited the region to demon- 1.1 10.5sites or issues, and force government strate consistent Greens support for 0.0and opposition parties into adopting farming communities beset by fossil 3.0more Greens-like positions. fuel projects: Lee Rhiannon, Chris- Breeza tine Milne, Cate Faehrmann, Jeremy Carroll But no strategy is perfect, and I am Buckingham, David Shoebridge, theseeking here to highlight and so hope- late Dr John Kaye, Mehreen Faruqi,fully avoid one potential pitfall that and Richard Di Natale. Yet, comethis strategy engenders, so as to bet- elections, if there is a rural independ-ter harmonise our long-term region- ent or other anti-fossil fuel candidateally-based community campaigns and available, they continue to attract theshort-term electoral campaigns, and #1 votes ahead of Greens.to make them less prone to operatingat cross-purposes than presently. How concerned should we be ifpeople who participate in grassrootscommunity movements that getgood outcomes (eg Lock the Gate),put their votes elsewhere comeelections? As a candidate and cam-paigner, I’m not satisfied with suchelectoral disappointments. The 2016 election gave us one ofthose rare, almost ‘control experi-ments’ that life rarely throws up, onthe Liverpool Plains in the NewEngland region. It is an immensely

SEPTEMBER 2016 l 13Table 2Blackville The poor internet and I often found myselfGreens vote (%) in New England Booths ing (otne3i2g.h2b%ourGirneCgeanrBrvoeooteezn)aaRichmond having to campaign on 3G from myLiverpool Plains (high profile independent campaign phone. We also faced a boundary shiftTony Windsor) Currabubula where we lost the positive vote area of Quirindi Dawn Walker Nimbin. We did gain Ballina in the re- 2013 2016 Tweed Greens and candidate distribution which had recently voted Wallabadah for Richmond in a Greens state member and we were 6.1 Willow Tree able to further strengthen the vote I’m writing this on the plane return- there for the next state election. 5.0 ing home to the Northern Rivers 4.6 from a weekend election campaign The campaign was grounded in ‘re- debrief meeting at NSW state office. lational based campaigning’.This refers 2.4 2.4 The flight has given me the chance to the one on one conversations with 2.1 to reflect on what was a high energy voters that is proven to grow the Green 1.7 1.8 campaign resulting in our community vote and has been employed successful- returning a solid five per cent swing ly by Adam Bandt and other successful 1.4 to The Greens, the largest swing in Green campaigns. These conversations 1.2 NSW. In fact, every single booth are our advantage over the larger budg- across the Richmond electorate regis- ets of older parties. With trained vol- 0.0 0.0 tered a positive swing to The Greens, unteers we are able to personalise the coupled with a strong Senate vote of campaign and engage in a meaningfulEngland compared to major increases 19 per cent against a NSW state aver- way with the electorate on a one by onein Parkes, including a staggering 31 age of 7.37 per cent. basis. Our capacity to harness peopleper cent swing in one booth, Breeza, power is a proven vote winner.site of the proposed Shenhua mine. The campaign reflected all the qualities our region is known for; it After weeks of building up our vol- This phenomenon is not limited to was positive, inclusive, warm, and un- unteer base with events and training,a single election or seat. Many region- dertaken with passion. We reached out we implemented a door-knocking andal Greens groups can speak to past ex- to tens of thousands of people and en- phone banking strategy that didn’t sellperiences where their Greens friends gaged the Northern Rivers community Greens policies but simply asked vot-and supporters have drifted off come in a meaningful way. They responded ers what was important to them. Ourelection times to support other candi- with enthusiasm. Our trained volun- community responded with stories ofdates or campaigns. teers knocked on almost 4,000 doors their hopes, their fears and struggles and made more than 20,000 phone and their love for the region, its riv- We now have some breathing space calls to voters. On election day alone ers, its mountains, its community life.before the next round of state and fed- we had more than 300 people on poll- And our volunteers held these storieseral elections. In the months and years ing booths. with respect. They listened. It was veryahead I hope we can concentrate on powerful. It made me very proud of ourensuring that those who support and This success was achieved despite Greens legacy in this region and howrally for Greens causes between elec- the challenges regional areas pose each and every Green elected repre-tions will put their vote where their compared to the city. The electorate is sentative, member and supporter hadmouth is come polling day. 100 kilometres long and very diverse built community trust and receptivity in its communities. I drove over 7,000 for the Greens. It enabled me to speak I believe this can be achieved kilometres during the campaign and with authenticity and conviction onthrough linking such movements to a still couldn’t get everywhere! There is local issues.broader issues base that includes cli-mate action, sustainable agriculture, We will be building on the suc-traditional owners’ rights, and stronger cess of the federal campaign by re-public services. And by persuading re- maining active in the community. Asgional campaigners that voting Greens a party spokesperson I am called onsecond or supporting another candi- by the media to comment on local is-date ‘for the movement’ is not nearly sues and offer a Greens perspective.as helpful as they might like to believe. I’ll also continue to work closely with our MPs to ensure my community canAuthor’s note: thanks to Paul Hannah for charts navigate the political process and getbased on AEC electoral data. a voice in parliament. The Richmond campaign was successful but it doesn’t stop after the election. For me this is a long term commitment to The Greens and my community.

14 l GreenMailForgotten behind the sandstone curtainIan Brothers What was the final problem for us in for our remoteness, where most com-Burrinjuck Greens the Weddin shire which has five vot- modities and services are more expen- ing booths? No How to Vote hand- sive or non-existent. A strong GreensThe recent electoral outs reached our co-ordinator. That presence is needed here where mostboundary change has is unacceptable. My partner, a friend of the Australian land mass is, withtaken our Weddin shire and I usually spend the day at the degraded land caused by generationsfrom Hume to Riverina. Grenfell booth handing out voting of mismanagement. Greens voicesI didn’t seek to know literature. A friend says that Cowra are needed to point out ways this cananything about the with four times the population of change for the better. While there areGreens candidate for my our entire shire scratches to get vol- many advantages of our chosen life-electorate, waiting to see if unteers to hand out How to Votes. style, we are rather politically lonely.he made his presence felt More must be done to have membersvia the normal means, ie at the booths, no matter how small The sitting member of this rurallocal meet the candidate the voter turnout, at least to show we electorate is a National and the seatfunctions, letterbox drop are a force. is considered safe for them. But let’sor items in our local paper not overlook the disaffection manyThe Grenfell Record. Our Our local paper had advice on how farmers have with the Nationals, statepaper only comes out twice to find out more about candidates and federal, over land sovereigntya week, and the editions online, but many people in rural elec- and mining, fracking in particu-have inserts which reach torates are aged and don’t use such lar. The Greens have elevated theirother shires’ local papers. resources. There are vast distances to profile among rural voters despiteSurely The Greens could cover in such electorates and they’re the vitriol from the duopoly. It is ahave afforded some paid generally held by conservative parties. source of consternation for me thatadvertising in the final The lack of Greens resources put into Labor has such a negative attitudeweek at least before the them is however unfair to supporters. towards The Greens when our pref-election. Before that There is growing realisation that the erences could see them win closelyarticles from the candidate Greens are passionate about all land contested marginal seats. We maysubmitted to the network areas being protected for future gen- not at the moment win many seats,of local papers could have erations of people and the biosphere. state or federal, but our presence isseen some in print. Food is made in these areas (though felt and our voice gets media atten-But zilch. not sustainably at present) and pri- tion, as once did the DLP. We have mary producers are also seeing the to wave the Green flag in every seat, sense in protecting the land. no matter the chances of winning, at least to be loyal to our supporters, no As a nation rural areas are gener- matter how small the number. Even ally given a raw deal. We refer to the if we do not have a chance of a win ‘sandstone curtain’. To the east all the in the House of Representatives we spoils go, and in return we get second can still be a cumulative force for the rate treatment for education, health, Senate in federal elections. policing and legal services. We pay the same taxes yet get no allowances

SEPTEMBER 2016 l 15Discontent over immigrationand superannuationSherrie Cross Recently we saw upper house losses There is a strong case that, whileBlue Mountains Greens in all states except Queensland, and a maintaining our call for an in- slight lower house increase, averaged creased refugee intake and our em-We make a mistake in our over the nation. With NSW as one of brace of multiculturalism, we shouldassessments of the 2016 many state losers in the Senate, Bob also call for reduced immigration.election results when we Brown’s singling out of Lee Rhian- In recent years the net immigrationbase them on comparisons non for blame is driven by preoccu- rate (immigration less emigration)with the 2010 federal pations other than the facts. has stood at around 170,000. Someelection results, or make Greens accept the proposition (putunfounded comparisons We might do better to consider also for different reasons, by thebetween state Senate some of our policies. I have done advocates of continuous economicresults. The 2010 results booth work for over a decade, both growth) that this is not too much.were anomalously good; before and on election days (mostly I suggest that it is, given Austral-while the recent results sit in the upper north shore and the ian consumption rates, which willmore within a gradually north-west of Sydney). Incidental- not change in time to alleviate the(if not evenly) increasing ly, I do not recall any commentary negative sustainability effects of in-Greens voting trend. against Senator Rhiannon. Rather, creasing population pressure. my overall experience over the years highlights two particular and much- If we do call for a repeated criticisms. The first is a per- reduced immigration ennial and the second is specific to intake, we must support this last election. our call for an increased refugee intake with some The first objection concerns our public education on the failure to make a clear stand on relative numbers. reducing Australia’s immigration intake. It is usually couched in con- The other issue is, in some re- cern about urban pressure, but often spects, of minor importance, but I in association with a wildly out- suggest that it possibly contributed of-scale conflation of immigration to the lower Senate result. When rates (around 250,000 pa for many Richard Di Natale agreed with the years) with the refugee intake (gen- then PM Tony Abbott to include an erally about 5 per cent of the com- increased proportion of public service bined figure). superannuation in the test for a part age pension, he disadvantaged a sub- stantial number of lower and middle income superannuants. In my experi- ence of local group work, retired mid- dle-income public servants are a large proportion of members, supporters and election volunteers. Many of them became disenchanted over this move. On election day I encountered further anger about superannuation.

16 l GreenMail Paul Spencer working in Cunningham. Photo Stephen Young.Beyond left I want to argue for The Greens to re- swinging voters who switch betweenand right consider where we should sit in the them. This is hardly a recipe for policy electoral spectrum. I want us to be- stability, let alone one that helps fringeIan Bowie come seen as a party of moderation issues to become core ones. WhenSouthern Highlands Greens whose core principles are remark- corporate parties win government by ably in line with what appear to be drawing in the swinging voters whileI really don’t feel ‘left’ or Australian values, as defined recent- allowing their own ideologues to‘right’. I’m a bit liberal ly by the Australian Unity survey dominate party agendas, voters in the(not Liberal), a bit of wellbeing1. middle rightly feel that they are notconservative, a bit radical, faithfully or constantly represented.a bit communitarian, a bit I’m concerned that the way the That can lead voters to lend supportrepublican, a bit capitalist. ideologues and apparatchiks are posi- to fringe parties – or simply give upPeople like me don’t fit tioning their corporate parties is about on politics.on the traditional linear to produce all manner of class andspectrums of left-centre- sectional warfare (of the kind we’ve Fringe parties are important in theright or reactionary- seen in recent years) which is opposed political process because they promotemoderate-radical. to the more considered way in which discussion of fringe and radical issues, the parliaments of multiparty democ- but it’s rare for them to have any direct racies handle their affairs. It is alien or significant influence over legislative to constructive debates on matters of outcomes for the issues they repre- concern to us all. sent, or to survive when their issues become mainstream. For many voters, In this election the Liberals have The Greens are seen as a fringe party as usual had to get parliamentary because we espouse specific issues that support from a minor party (the Na- are not mainstream. LGBTI issues are tionals) to win government. Minor- a case in point. But, while we do draw ity government in this sense has been fringe issues – marriage equality for more common than not in Australia example – into the mainstream, do we since 1901 and over nearly half of the want to be defined by fringe issues? last two decades. The Greens need to be agreed on how we should fit into Our core principles with respect to multiparty spectrums that lead to the environment, people-oriented eco- these ‘minority’ governments. nomics and common decency in socie- ty and politics are surely as mainstream On the simplistic spectrum of left as any party can get. Perhaps it’s time and right, do we wish to be seen as for us to become recognised as provid- being rusted on to one end of a spec- ing constant representation for voters trum that reflected eighteenth centu- in the centre of politics? By occupying ry sectional interests, as the Nationals the centre, the Greens should be bet- have become, or do we wish to be ter able to work with governments of seen as a party - perhaps the party - more extreme persuasions to moder- of the centre? ate their policies so as to become more mainstream, while still enabling fringe In the absence of a centre party now, and even radical issues to simmer their elections are won in our democracy by way to the surface. whichever major party captures the In my view The Greens as a party of the centre would give us clear purpose on major issues while also allowing us to remain progressive. We may never actually form govern- ments but we can give a voice to the centre in the forums of parliament. 1. australianunity.com.au/about-us/wellbeing/ auwbi

SEPTEMBER 2016 l 17Can The Greens capture the Christian vote?Robyn Hannah the marginalised and The Greens children included, creating futureBallina Greens party does that best.  mental illness and psychiatric problems for already traumatisedThere is a perception of • Some who have reservations will people fleeing wars, persecution ora big gap between The tell you that for them, issues of natural disasters.Greens and the Christian social justice and care for the envi- Many Christians who think onChurch, particularly the ronment are much more impor- these things will decide to voteprotestant, evangelical, tant than issues like gay marriage, Green. It is all about priorities. Otherfundamentalist flavour. euthanasia, and other personal Christians vote Green because of theThe main issues used moral issues.  policies on same sex marriage andto create anti-Green the like. They believe these are thesentiment among • Many Christians cannot live with right approach.Christians are same unjust wars, abuse towards refu- In summary, there is a great oppor-sex marriage, abortion, gees, materialism, environmental tunity to present The Greens policiesChristian schools, destruction, species being made to the Christian churches where thereeuthanasia and possibly extinct, greed, political deceit, is already much support. The compet-border control. indifference to climate change, ing Values document is very conserv- indifference towards the world’s ative and can be shown to be moreBridging this gap is not unrealistic. poor, and more. about protecting a privileged groupThink back a couple of years to when than advancing society as Jesus saw it.The Greens and the rural sector were • Christians will also argue The question is how can Thenot comfortable together. Yet now, par- that every party has problem areas Greens do better?ticularly around the CSG issue, farming for Christians. No party fully re-and rural communities find themselves flects all that we believe personally Notes: this article references a paper postedvery much on the same page as The (not even the Christian parties). by Rev Dr Rowland Croucher (Baptist minister,Greens and this has been significant, director of John Mark Ministries and long termespecially in the Northern Rivers region. • Christians will argue that how campaigner for LGBT equality in churches and money is shared in a community society) who in turn took much of his material Difficult though it may appear, it is a moral issue too. It is one that from an article written by Jim Reiher (Christianis possible to find common ground affects the whole community. If Greens candidate in Australian Victorian elec-with the church community and even the government forgoes $40 bil- tions, most recently in 2013). In the lead up tostart working on common projects. lion a year because of the tax lurks the recent election his Facebook page promotedChurch political thought is largely built into the superannuation The Greens.dominated by the conservative Aus- structures of the nation, that istralian Christian Lobby, Christian $40 billion that is not going into www.rowlandcroucher.org.au/socio-political-Democratic Party and the Austral- hospitals, schools, prisons, work issues/the-greens-a-christians-response/)ian Christian Values Institute, which with the indigenous and more. christianvalues.org.au/index.php/checklists/distributed an Australian Christian If $2 billion is given away each current-electionsValues checklist before the federal year to people with private healthelection. This document was aimed at insurance, as incentive for them to‘empowering voting decisions’ among be privately insured so as to propchurch attendees. However, there are up the private health industry, thatmany progressive Christians within is $2 billion less that can be spentthe churches who do not accept that on public hospitals that care forthese groups speak for them and there the poor and less well off in theis a real opportunity for The Greens community. For some Christians,to present alternative policies. perpetuating these social injustices is seen as wrong. Many Christian Greens support-ers see the convergence between The • The Christians who vote GreenGreens policies and the fundamentals will add that the Coalition is quiteof the Christian faith: ruthless and cruel towards asylum• Christ stood with the poor and seekers and our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population. “Turn the boats back!” Really? Those frail shipping boats that are already leaking and look like a heavy storm will overturn them? Or keep them locked up offshore for years on end, women and

18 l GreenMailThe impact of incumbencyJoel Pringle someone recognised as being a leader building their own incumbency. TheSouth Sydney Greens and in the community. Greens vote increased more in theBen Spies-Butcher booths we hold at the state level. InPetersham Newtown Greens It is also likely that incumbency other words, the Greens in Sydney, is a bigger issue for The Greens. This Richmond and Grayndler performedAnalysing lower house is because most voters are still com- better where we held incumbency inresults in Greens’ contests mitted to a ‘side’ in politics. They care the form of sitting state members.around Australia, the who forms government. That stops We also know from the 2015 stateimpact of incumbency progressive voters voting for a con- election that representation in localstands out. The Greens servative candidate, even a strong government serves as a forerunner toNSW will need to plan incumbent, and vice versa. But, on success in state lower house seats.for this if we are to have some estimates, where two candi-further success in lower dates are on the same side (Greens As part of ‘doing politics differ-house seats in the future. vs Labor, Independent vs National), ently’,The Greens NSW have policies incumbency may count for over 10 that deliberately provide challenges inLower house campaigns will be criti- per cent of the vote. This applies to electoral politics not faced by othercal to the growth of the The Greens’ popular incumbents like Anthony parties, and in some cases not faced byparliamentary representation. The Albanese, Tanya Plibersek or in The Greens in other states. This includesquota for a single senator in a normal Greens case, Adam Bandt. The effect decentralised funding and decision-half-senate (ie non-double dissolu- can run both ways. making, only accepting donationstion) election is around 14 per cent, from individuals and up to a limit ofand even relying on preferences we Most Greens lower house success- $2500 per year, and limited tenure re-would need at least 20 per cent to es have come whilst running against quirements imposed at various levelselect a second NSW senator. In the weak or absent incumbents. Adam and by local groups. The challenge offederal election The Greens NSW Bandt won the federal seat of Mel- incumbency should not see us walkachieved 7.41 per cent in the Senate bourne after the retirement of Lind- away from a commitment to doingand nine per cent in the lower house say Tanner, and Don Page retired politics differently. We do, however,after a one per cent positive swing. prior to Tamara Smith’s success in need to address the challenges of the NSW state seat of Ballina. Cun- lower house campaigning, including Once the first Greens Senate spot ningham and Fremantle were won at overcoming incumbency, in ways thatis secured, there is a ceiling on our by-elections and Newtown was a new are consistent with our political ideals.NSW Senate gains unless our vote seat without a member. In the statemore than doubles. Whilst state- seat of Melbourne the incumbent There are many options to explore,wide and individual seat swings make had only been in office for a couple including creative use of our upperbad comparisons, we can say that be- of years after a by-election. Balmain house senators and lower house MPs,fore The Greens can break through and Prahran remain the only seats in resourcing continuous campaign-that ceiling we will have achieved which The Greens have defeated es- ing in targeted seats we hope to win,electoral success in a number of our tablished incumbents. planning across multiple electionstrongest lower house seats, possibly cycles and identifying councillors inbeyond the big three of Grayndler, Can Greens candidates and cam- target seats for training and mentor-Richmond and Sydney. paigns build up some form of in- ing. Whatever the particular respons- cumbency of their own prior to an es that are appropriate for The Greens Lower house campaigns provide election? Adam Bandt had previ- NSW, they suggest greater coordi-different challenges to Senate fo- ously run for the seat of Melbourne nation and long term planning bycused campaigns. Research suggests and as Lord Mayor of the City of both local groups and the state party.a strong local member gains an extra Melbourne prior to his breakthrough2-3 per cent in Australian elections. success in 2010. Jamie Parker was a Further reading:This is due to a number of advantages councillor and former Mayor ofbeyond name recognition, for exam- Leichhardt Council before his suc- blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/mumble/ple having staff and communications cess. Alex Bhathal has built up for-budgets to engage directly with the midable recognition running in index.php/theaustralian/comments/come_the_community, being invited to commu- federal elections in the seat of Bat-nity events as an official guest, and man and in other elections since hour_come_the_strategiststhe general status of already being 2001. Samantha Ratnam in Wills was the first Greens Mayor of Mo- Subscription required: reland City Council in 2015. psx.sagepub.com/content/38/2/253.short Examining booth results in Syd- ney, Richmond and Grayndler tell tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10361146.2 a similar story about the Greens 012.677006 tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10361146.20 13.873770#.V6K6GiN95z8

SEPTEMBER 2016 l 19Proportional representation overdueMichelle Lopert and Ian Oxenford the mathematics of the ‘winner takes a List member system that accountsThree Rivers Greens all’ system ends up giving them 60 for the disproportionality that can be or 70 per cent of the seats in parlia- produced in single member elector-The people of Australia ment, thus perpetuating the unjusti- ates. The second is a quota system,are disillusioned with the fied mandate mantra. The unfolding where a party must achieve a certaintwo major parties. In the Brexit calamity in the UK is a classic percentage of the vote in order to berecent federal election example of the failure of the ‘winner represented in Parliament, currentlythe minor parties won takes all’ approach where a change of five per cent in New Zealand.almost 25 per cent of the mind by just two per cent of votersvote. But do they get 25 would have meant the UK remaining Under our current system just fiveper cent of representation in the EU. seats are held by minor party and in-in parliament with our dependent representatives in the 2016current electoral system? Mixed-Member Proportional (MMP) elected House of Representatives. Choosing a system of proportional Under MMP we could expect thatAustralia currently suffers from a representation can be problematic number to increase to over thirty, in-political system that results in serial due to the complexity of various cluding fifteen Greens representatives.dictatorship, whereby the ‘red’ team models. The MMP system used inruns the show for six to ten years or New Zealand since 1996 is based on Adoption of MMP in New Zea-so, followed by the ‘blue’ team. This the German model and works well. land was not an easy process due tostructure does not truly reflect the The leader of the Australian Greens, the resistance of the older entrenchedwishes of the voters. Richard Di Natale, spoke highly of parties who benefited the most from the New Zealand model at his ad- the status quo. Between 1984 and Minor parties such as The Greens dress to the National Press Club dur- 1996 they held a Royal Commissionand the Nick Xenophon Party should ing the election campaign. and two national referenda. Australiacollaborate to remedy this situa- would be no different but, despite thetion by promoting a fairer electoral In New Zealand, voters get two hurdles, it would be worth pursuing.system known as proportional rep- votes, both on one ballot paper. One The recent election has shown anresentation. The Greens list propor- is the electorate vote where the voter increasing preference by Australiantional representation as one of their chooses the candidate to be their voters for smaller parties and inde-policies but it needs to be promoted local representative. The second vote pendents. This indicates the time isand fleshed out with details on how it is a nationwide party vote, cast for the ripe, but it will take a long and tacti-should function. party a voter wishes to represent their cal campaign with strong resistance interests in parliament. If we tran- from the Coalition and Labor. One After an election, we consistently scribed this to Australia, one could sweetener could be to offer to tradeface the victors making outrageous vote for an independent candidate off the Senate, which currently isclaims of landslides and mandates as the local representative and vote the only proportional representativewhen they receive just 51 per cent of Green for the party vote. This way, house in Federal Parliament.the vote after preferences (the other local representation is not lost and at49 per cent of voters remain unrepre- the same time, true party representa- Proportional representation is notsented). And to make matters worse, tion is achieved. the panacea to our political stagnation but at least it would increase the di- There are additional checks and versity of opinion on the floor of par- balances in the MMP system that liament. It would also stimulate the address various anomalies. The first is political interest of young people who may be disenchanted with the status quo. Australians, by their conserva- tive nature, shy away from anything radical. But proportional representa- tion is not radical. It has been adopt- ed by western democracies around the world precisely because it is a better and more democratic system. For more details on how MMP works see Antony Green’s analysis at www.abc.net.au/ news/2008-11-07/how-mmp-works/197954

20 l GreenMailHubris in Australian politicsMatthew Schelle and tax file number registration, low- sage is lost in animal cruelty arguments,Maitland Greens ering the voting age. It’s no wonder no matter how important they may be. people feel disconnected when theyThis was my first time are currently taxed without decent If our policies are rammed downhanding out How to representation. with a social agenda that conflictsVotes and it gave me the with personal values it will not be ac-opportunity to talk with I decided to join The Greens be- cepted.The Greens need to find a newvoters and gain a few cause of environmental and economic way of promoting civil rights such asinsights. I reflected on unsustainability. I think that message marriage equality without losing thean older member of The got lost in this election. I like compe- broader argument of environmentalGreens’ question: “Why tition. I want to see The Greens and and economic reform. That messagedon’t more people vote Labor battle it out for who has the gets lost whenever a Greens memberfor us?” best ideas. If there’s a way forward for or politician brings up a progressive our party the model is in the grass- social reform in an unrelated debate.It seems The Greens are focused on roots approach of American presi- It simply undoes any chance of crossthe inner city. I live in a regional area dential nominee Bernie Sanders. The party support.and I don’t think we can just apply future of humanity and this planetthat urban agenda here. There are has been sold out for short term profit It’s not enough to be simply thethousands of unemployed workers by a handful of elites. party of ethical practice. Like thein my area whom the mining indus- old parties we too are vulnerable totry has abandoned. The reason why Australia might have a wealthythey don’t vote Green is because re- middle class but it is built on a fragile Image thanks to www.abc.net.autrenched 50 year old workers have investment in property, spiralling debtnever seen a single solar plant or wind and government deficit, which no thinking we’ve got all the answers. Iffarm built here. There’s no point in party has adequately addressed. We we keep up a dogmatic approach we’llpushing the message of a renewable need to make difficult choices about just alienate others and never be moreeconomy if we give people no evi- both revenue and spending regardless than what we are now. We’ve got todence to believe it. of the political cost. Voters are tired of drop some of the dogma to ensure welfare for politicians, lobbyists and that our policies actually help those We must ask why so many Austral- endless spin. who are most in need.ians today feel disenfranchised andwhether our policies actually address The ideas of protecting agricultural If there’s a lesson to be learned fromtheir legitimate concerns. People who land over mining, banking regulation, the 2016 election it is that politicalare displaced in a globalised society corporate accountability, and limits on parties are destroyed from within. Thefeel marginalised and want someone foreign investment all resonate across arrogance of the major parties clearlyto blame. It is naive to assume that all the political compass. Many National got them into trouble. We must takeof these voters are racists. Some are Party supporters feel abandoned by care that hubris and narcissism don’t(one voter informed me that all Mus- the Liberal corporate interest that have destroy us too. If we seek moral victo-lims should be forcibly removed), but failed to protect their dairies and al- ries that offer no tangible benefits andmany simply feel lost and latch onto lows banks to seize farms. There’s also merely feed our own vanity, then weconspiracy theories which readily pin a strong economic case against live too will descend into irrelevancy.their problems on easy and innocent breeding cattle exports which will cre-targets. We have failed to empathise ate a rival foreign industry,but the mes-with their concerns or offer them tan-gible opportunities. Instead of simply rallying againstbusiness tax cuts, why not reworkthem fit for purpose? Why not agreater tax cut for businesses who hirethe long-term unemployed? To over-come youth disengagement, link voter

SEPTEMBER 2016 l 21Consensus decision makingMithra Cox come from a place of shared values and ing principles, we should always seekIllawarra Greens mutual respect, it is possible to have an to involve as many people as possible in open mind and be swayed in the course our debates, and to specifically welcomeConsensus decision of the conversation. Through this pro- and seek out the dissenting voices.making is one of our cess of talking and listening, it is possi-greatest strengths and our ble to find creative solutions that weave I have witnessed a worrying trend ingreatest weaknesses. It is in many diverse voices and concerns. our party where debate around ideas isdemocratic, inclusive and not welcomed or respected. If you posenon-hierarchical. Sadly, I have also witnessed mem- a different argument you risk being bers of our party abuse the consensus stereotyped as ‘right wing’. This is theIt means that our policies genuinely re- model; by bullying through proposals worst kind of insult you can have inflect the core values of our members. It and refusing to listen to others, by using a party like ours, where all of us haveis satisfying to be a member of a party processes like Quick Decision Mak- joined and given our time freely in pur-where every one of us is truly able to ing structures to avoid negotiating with suit of our progressive vision for society.contribute to our collective future. members who they know may disagree, That’s why I joined The Greens back in However, consensus decision mak- and by forcing decisions to a vote when 2001. I believe in a post-capitalist so-ing is difficult. It doesn’t come natu- only six members out of a usual 25 are ciety where all people are treated withrally when we have been raised and present. These situations arise when respect, and where we live within theeducated in hierarchical structures. there is a breakdown of trust and re- means of our little blue planet. I loveJust because it is by nature non-hi- spect. I believe that a Quick Decision the tussle over ideas, and to have peo-erachical, it is still subject to pre-ex- Making Group should seek out the dis- ple challenge mine. I want to be in aisting power relations, and privileged senting views within their group, over party where we can throw around crazy,voices often speak the loudest. It also the phone or in person (email is the creative and interesting ideas, even ifrequires significant goodwill, mutual worst tool for consensus!), even if they they turn to be a bad idea. Our robusttrust and respect – and if those ele- are not formally required to do so. consensus model will weed them outments are missing, it can break down if that’s the case. I want to be able tocompletely. It is extremely difficult Admittedly, the time it takes to change my mind over the course of theto navigate to consensus with some- reach consensus can be frustrating. I discussion. I want debates where allone you don’t like or respect. It is my would argue that as our party grows, we sides of an issue can be raised withoutstrong view that to do consensus well, need to adjust our processes to stream- people fearing that they will be givenwe need to bring unconditional posi- line some of our decision making. This a label for voicing an opinion that istive regard to each and every person does not mean that we centralise our different. Let’s celebrate the dissentingin that room with us. decisions. We can decentralise by giv- voices, because they make our debates ing delegated groups authority to make stronger, and force us to examine our In our party I have witnessed fine administrative and organising decisions. own prejudices and preconceptions.examples of consensus decision making It is not necessary for a group of 30 peo-where a group of people with different ple to spend half an hour debating the If you have a different opinion, Iviews takes time to discuss a difficult venue for our next meeting! On mat- would love to hear it.issue. Through the course of the dis- ters of principle, and especially wherecussion, we are able to listen to other we need to weigh up several compet-points of view, and to change our mind.These discussions are often difficultand complex, and require us balancingone set of principles against another.Issues like our campaign to save thesteel industry balance the environ-mental damage done by that industryagainst the huge social, industrial andeconomic impacts that come from out-sourcing our steel production to a thirdworld country with no protection forworkers or the environment. But thesedebates can be exhilarating. Where we

22 l GreenMailData or die: the future of Greens campaigningin a data driven worldHayden Williams There’s been a serious lack of time and One example of how weak the da-Central Coast Greens effort put into growing the data pool tabase is is the common problem ofData organiser and trainer for the of supporters. The Greens NSW sup- ensuring that all voting booths are2016 Federal election porter database suffers from a history staffed on election day. Each elector- of lack of organisation and direction, ate needs a pool of hundreds of peopleIn 2012 in an article the result of having no dedicated to call on. We had 4460 people standtitled ‘Popular Culture, membership officer for a prolonged on booths for The Greens in NSW onDigital Archives, and period. There’s no meaningful way to election day, beating the 2015 recordthe New Social Life of build the size of the supporter base of 4055, even with drops in boothData’, sociologist David without alienating weak support- coverage in Sydney’s inner west.Beer posited that “data ers by sending them too many fun- However this growth is not even.has a social life”. That draising emails, a crucial tactic foris to say, data is not an organisation that does not accept In the Western Sydney elector-simply the passive result corporate donations. ates of Fowler, Werriwa and Lind-of making records of say, there are 220 members andpeople’s personal details, There’s no ongoing plan to en- supporters in our database. As manytrends, habits, systems, sure that local groups across the state of these can’t be contacted, someand other information, know how to use the systems, in spite are genuinely unable to help outbut is increasingly the of the fact that we have an entirely or have low levels of commitment,active catalyst for the decentralised structure. There’s no that left around forty people spreadre-configuration of our plan to integrate the databases of our over three local groups. With up tosocial world. In 2016, data state MPs into the system. Above all, forty booths in each electorate openis everywhere and is being the size of this database needs to be for ten hours, they simply couldn’tused by everyone. massively increased if The Greens be covered from this database. But are going to be the continuing voice there are people in Western SydneyWhen this data is being used by cor- for left wing politics in NSW. I’d who support The Greens.porate interests, like Facebook for argue that we need at least 100,000advertising, Menulog to track your supporters by the elections in 2019, However because they’re not oneating habits, or Pokemon Go to track roughly a 60 percent increase. Other- our database we don’t know whoyour GPS locations, our social world wise we’re failing the people our poli- they are and we have no way of uti-is being configured in their model. For cies seek to benefit. lising their passion. This problemleft wing politics there is a real need is easily fixed as we know there areto ensure that we’re campaigning seri- many people who would stand onously to change people’s minds and in booths for The Greens in these elec-the twenty-first century that needs to torates if we asked them to. Someinvolve data. Whether that be being of them were standing on a boothable to mobilise people through mass for GetUp and some for the Laborand targeted emails or text messages, Party. Too many times have I heardusing people’s email address to ad- the story of a Labor volunteer say-vertise to them individually on social ing “I voted for the Greens but ammedia or attaching voter data taken handing out for Labor”, or “I likefrom the electoral role when door- your refugee policy but I’m handingknocking, data-driven campaigning is out for Labor”. This is a symptom ofonly becoming more relevant. our failing database. Good help ex- ists for The Greens in Western Syd- In my role as NSW data organ- ney but we must build our supporteriser and trainer for the 2016 Federal database by first gathering contactelection, it was clear to me that The details through campaigns, petitionsGreens are falling behind in this area. and events, so we can contact them before the next election.

SEPTEMBER 2016 l 23Save our(greener) steelBrian MasonIllawarra GreensThree thousand people are freeze in their enterprise agreement ne- mining for coking coal (and anythingcurrently employed at the gotiations for the 2500 remaining staff. else) under the water catchment areas.Port Kembla steel making BlueScope were seeking $200 millionfacility that opened in 1931. in savings by November 2015.This was Our parliamentarians and the Illa-Thousands more jobs in a difficult decision for steel workers and warra Greens kept up momentum.the Illawarra region rely their unions, but it revealed a maturity We joined the union rallies, wrote aon the steel plant. High and commitment to the industry in submission to the Senate inquiry andunemployment and a the long term. The NSW Government maintained a public profile throughstruggling manufacturing granted BlueScope a three year defer- traditional and new media. Cathbase already plague the ral of payroll tax. BlueScope pocketed Blakey became associated with thecommunity in the Illawarra. these concessions and made none in issue as strongly as Lee and David. return. They continued to reduce em- The union leaders publicly acclaimedAs Helen Wilson explained in ‘Steel ployee numbers. the work of The Greens in the coursecity forever?’ GreenMail Summer of the federal election campaign.2015, steel making is an integral As The Greens were taking a lead In both Illawarra seats, Cunning-part of the region and the threat by on these issues the ALP kept a low ham and Whitlam, our candidatesBlueScope in June 2015 to close the profile on the substantial points. Local increased their primary vote. Newplant would be a blow to the econo- ALP MPs, state and federal, made relationships have been built and per-my and identity of the region. Steel sympathetic statements and looked ceptions of our social and economicunions and the South Coast Labour appropriately troubled, but made no justice policies reinforced.Council (SCLC) called for Austral- significant commitments. Decades ofian steel procurement policies for devotion to neoliberal economics by The pressure of our public cam-government projects. They argued the ALP had removed all of the tools paigning combined with skilful ne-that dysfunctional world steel mar- they could use for this job from the gotiation by David Shoebridge led tokets were leading to the dumping of back of the ute. a breakthrough in the NSW upper(often substandard) steel at uneco- house. In May 2016 agreement wasnomic prices. A public forum on the future of reached with the minor parties and the steel industry in the region at- the ALP to support the Steel Indus- The late John Kaye took up the tracted TV and print media coverage. try Protection Bill 2016. On Augustcampaign with the SCLC. John visited The forum, organised by the Illawarra 25 the bill was passed. The gallery wasthe Port Kembla plant with steel work- Greens in March 2016, brought to- packed with Illawarra Greens mem-ers and union officials and began work gether engineering students, steel bers and unionists.on a bill to require the NSW govern- workers and environmentalists in ament to use Australian made steel in its respectful discussion on the shape of The size of this political step shouldprojects.This would provide Australian a regional economic plan. Lee Rhian- not be underestimated. In the samebased steel makers with a stream of de- non, David Shoebridge and Arthur fortnight that Bill Shorten, at themand sufficient to keep the industry vi- Rorris (Secretary of the SCLC) spoke hands of the Murdoch empire, signedable. Senator Lee Rhiannon developed at the forum. Cath Blakey, Greens a pledge to make no deal with Thethe initiatives in the Senate with an in- candidate for Cunningham and the Greens, the NSW ALP made a dealquiry into the future of steel making in daughter of a steelworker, facilitated with The Greens on a policy positionAustralia and proposals to strengthen the event. The outcome of the forum that begins to challenge years of eco-anti-dumping practices. was to build support for a solid link nomic orthodoxy. Ryan Park, mem- between support for steel making and ber for the Illawarra seat of Keira and The threat to steel making at Port investment in the most environmen- Shadow Treasurer, led the negotiationsKembla led steel workers to accept a tally sound practices, moving rapidly for the ALP. What happens next willloss of 500 jobs and a three-year wage toward steel making technologies that depend largely on the federal ALP and do not use coal. The meeting opposed the strength of public sentiment that has been moving away from simplistic notions of international free trade.

Your letters24 l GreenMailI have recently formed the opinion super fund. We thought at the time could easily stabilise our populationthat instead of moaning about hous- what a brilliant solution, but didn’t over the next 20 years by decreas-ing affordability The Greens should think our state or federal govern- ing our net immigration to 100,000show some initiative and start seek- ments would have either the imagi- per annum (which could include aing solutions. We have members who nation or be game enough to embark doubling or tripling of our currentare trained in specialisations such as on such a scheme. refugee intake) instead of the currentecological housing design. Why aren’t 250,000 per annum.we seeking to harness their skills? Over the years there have been sev- eral attempts to provide cheap afforda- Population growth is the el- I can see no reason why The Greens ble housing, mostly on an ad hoc basis. ephant in the room that we havecouldn’t form or purchase farmland The development of group housing of to start talking about. Much hasand develop it for the benefit of the the hippie colonies in the vicinity of been made of our GDP growth foroccupiers. There is a lot of area in the Lismore comes to mind. We need to the past year. It was 3 per cent, butstate which would welcome refugees come up with more solutions. when you take into account popu-from Sydney, Newcastle and Wollon- lation growth of 1.4 per cent ourgong who could with their own input Laurie Barry GDP   growth was only 1.6 perdevelop it according to ecological Southern Highlands Greens cent. Japan is regarded as an econ-principles. Of course principles would omy in trouble but its annualisedhave to be established and enforced. As a new proud member of The growth   rate at the end of the first Greens I have just enjoyed my first quarter 2016 was 1.7 per cent. So On a visit to Singapore some years edition of GreenMail. As much as I what does immigration contribute?ago we were told by our guide that enjoyed it, I was disappointed to findthe major construction authority of no mention of population growth. Alan Smithflats for Singapore was their govern- Surely, problems for housing and Lake Macquarie Greensment. They mandated that everyone transport are only exacerbated andhad to pay superannuation and the compounded by population growth.money was then loaned to a hous-ing authority for the construction of Australia can’t become sustainablehigh rise flats. These were then sold until we have a stable population. Weto people needing accommodationand the money earned topped up theCall for papers: next issueEnvironment and climate More specific questions • Why is there so much opposition could include: to marine parks?Some commentators have said that • How can we replace the GillardThe Greens’ primary role is to fight • What are the prospects for green-for action against climate change and government’s landmark Clean ing our ever expanding cities?perhaps this message wasn’t strong Energy Act?enough in the 2016 election cam- • How do we work with the ‘non-paign. Didn’t we used to get accused • What are the prospects for our political’ NGOs and communityof being a one-issue environmentalist 100% Renewable campaign? groups active on climate changeparty? Haven’t we realised that global and other environmental issues?warming changes everything? • What have we achieved with our campaigns against allowing CSG Deadline for contributions of The December issue will look at exploration and mining, opening 650 words on these or other issuespresent challenges in the broad area new coal mines, expanding exist- is November 1. Photos, drawings,of climate and the environment. We ing ones and mining under cartoons, poems and reviewsinvite articles that address how cli- water catchments? are welcome.mate change (our Ecological Sus-tainability pillar) might impact our • What transition plans are there Contact Helen Wilson:Grassroots Democracy, Social Justice, for coal communities? publications@nsw.greens.org.auand Peace and Non-Violence pillars. • What will the Baird government’s biodiversity legislation mean? • What sort of recreational use is consistent with conservation of our national parks?