Pre Poll started Tuesday….

Here we are 2 weeks from a Federal election, the candidates are known, the policies are being sprouted and the lies and stories being told…so from here what next.

Pre Poll is becoming a big factor in the selecting of a government. Nearly 30% of voters now vote in the weeks leading up to the election, long before all the policies and advertising have kicked in. So what to do?

There are lots of people standing outside polling places from the two old parties, and one or two from the Greens and/or other parties, all will kindly offer a piece of paper with their ideas, sadly some will foist themselves on you and walk you all the way to the door, pushy, possibly illegal and certainly inappropriate but it happens. You can resist but sadly if you happen to present as a person who may not be confident in English they have been known in the past to badger and bully…again you can resist and you should. It is disappointing however there are some who will tell you anything they think might sway your vote, even if it’s not quite true or a fair representation of their policies. This is why I urge you to look closely at your options and choose carefully, the choices you make could cost us way more than you could possibly think, remember the old parties regard a win at the polls as a licence (mandate) to do what they want, even if they didn’t present it to your before the election.

Your vote is important and it’s yours, regardless of what the How to Vote piece of paper says you decide where your vote goes, NO ONE ELSE! Just make sure you number all the boxes on the little paper and 6 above the line OR 12 below the line on the large white paper.

 

If you are unsure and you know who your favourite party/candidate is and you are happy with their policies and choices, make sure they get your first choice, from there work your way through until you’ve filled all the boxes on the Green paper (the little one) and when you move to the BIG BIG paper, same thing applies, put the No 1 in the party of your choice and work across (above the line) until you’ve numbered to 6… of course I think the Greens are the obvious choice for the 1 VOTE [in the senate they are in position AL] . However if you happen to favour one of the old parties but they aren’t living up to your expectations, give your first vote to the Greens 1 and then your favourite old party your No 2. Why… if the Green candidate doesn’t get up ( & sadly this is the case in a lot of electorates) your Green vote will pass down to your second choice, meaning your old party still gets the vote however they also get to know you’re not happy with their political choices. This is particularly important if you are against the treatment  of refugees, want NO NEW coal mines, think medicare is important and don’t want your kids education becoming a debt for decades to come etc etc  Voting like this will  get their attention as it also affects their funding – guaranteed 🙂

Then on the BIG white paper if you want to vote for individual candidates you really need to number 12 candidates below the line.  This is important, you want your vote to count and how we are treated for the next 3 yrs will rely on your vote. This election is being considered really close, the 2 old parties (Labor and Liberal National)  ensure that they basically get turns at governing, well that is until the voters realise that their vote can really change things… every single vote matters so please don’t underestimate its value. Here in Werriwa we have two councillors, a Christian Democrat and Me the Greens candidate, so the small paper has only 4 choices… the senate paper in NSW is big.

SO here’s the thing, you will be given How to Vote forms from the parties (including the Greens) at  most polling places, but it’s soooo important to remember, they are suggestions, in the case of the Greens, suggestions based on investigating what the other parties stand for and we attempt to choose parties who have similar priorities to our own. Unfortunately, the two old parties have done deals in this election to block out the Greens and some of the smaller parties by preferencing each other. This indicates one or two things, one it really shows that their policies are much the same and neither are progressive in nature or two keeping their duopoly and their jobs means more than the outcome for the people.

https://greens.org.au/htv#

click on the above link to find out about your Greens suggestions for the house of Reps and the Senate)

In Werriwa, you may in the past have seen Mr Mannoun or Ms Stanley in the press, as they were/are councillors, however do you know what they stand for? Considering any achievements either of them may take credit for in council were likely not their own but that of the whole of council, from 11 to up to 700 people who either contributed, enacted, thought it up or made sure it happened. Neither of them as councillors actually did what was required to make it happen in isolation. The difference with Mr Mannoun is that in this last term on council for the most part he had the support of the majority, right up until there was #nolibloveinlivo so what he/they thought were good ideas were pushed through. Many of those ideas were conceived during the previous term of council only he and his associates still had the balance of power so they were more obstructionist in nature and not as much could be achieved. I have to be completely honest I do not know the fellow from the Christian democrats so I cannot comment and to my knowledge he’s not visited our polling place, the two councillors I do, as I’ve attended all but three of the council meetings during both their terms.

This has been a huge week, tonight is my first evening at home so there is a bit to catch up  on, however from the get go I want to say thank you to so many lovely people I’ve met and chatted with this week, you are amazing and you truly deserve better governance than you’ve been getting from the Liberals and Labor.

Tuesday evening I attended the Western forum and what a jammed packed program that was, we got a briefing re the BCAirport consultancy and the Council presentation regarding the budget… please take some time to look at what is happening or planned for the coming year and make comment.

Wednesday evening was the Quota dinner at Hunts, what a great evening and congrats to the new board. Quota has a long and amazing history in Liverpool and I’d also like to wish the outgoing board members all the best. Thank you for always making me feel so welcome.

Thursday was the Liverpool Migrant Resource Centres Meet the Candidates event, hosted and recorded by SBS Arabic. The room full of interested residents were able to listen to a 3 minute introduction of candidates from Hughes, Fowler and Werriwa. Kudos to my colleague Bill Cashman who is the candidate for Fowler and he as always spoke so eloquently, passionately and informatively. Anne Stanley and I were speaking for Werriwa as the Liberal Candidate arrived 2 &3/4 hours late. Wining and dining with  Mr Turnbull was more important I guess, hence his tardiness. No one I spoke to was surprised, his reputation for being late or not showing at all is well known.  I will attach my 3minute intro here for those who are interested.

Last night (Friday)we had a campaign team meeting and the one thing that became incredibly obvious was our need for volunteers to help out both at the Pre Poll places and on Election day. If you have a couple of hours free and you’d like to help us make sure the community is aware there is more than the two old parties in this election, please contact me directly. If you are interested  in helping out we have a really ‘schmick’ t-shirt, badge and a load full of appreciation.

Unlike some of our opposition we are unable to pay our volunteers and I’ve been working all  week with a small team on the Green Valley Pre poll (with many thanks to Andre and Alisha) Our full time Liberal Mayor has managed to spend several hours a day campaigning there also along, with some council employees who have advised me they  had taken leave to hand out for him and Anne Stanley has been a regular although she resigned from council so she could campaign for Labor.

Lastly…. here’s a little a teaser, the Greens Werriwa and Fowler campaigns have a truly unique green idea ready to share, so watch this space, especially if you are one of those tech savvy people who want to save a tree to two. 

I’ll keep in touch, don’t forget this week the Urban forum has been moved to the Library so come along and listen to the proposed budget presentation. I was asked to keep the 22/23rd June free for the Liverpool Leaders MTC but I’ve not heard any more so will advise when and if I get more information.

(this is quite long but it’s been a huge week… I’ll try to post more regularly so it’s not a small book lol) As always if you have an opinion to add… just email me here and I’ll present yours as well.

 

2 days to go….

With the election in just a couple of days I thought you might like a run down on the top ten reasons to vote Greens… might I suggest you can add reasons for voting Green yourself …..

 TOP TEN REASONS TO VOTE GREEN IN 2010

1. The Greens stand up for what’s right, not just what’s easy. Whether it’s protecting the environment, introducing universal dental care, opposing the war in Iraq or advocating for refugees to be treated humanely, the Greens are driven by values, not polls.

2. It’s the Party everyone’s heading to. The Greens are the third largest political party in Australia, with five national Senators, 21 State MPs and more than 100 local Greens councillors already playing a positive and constructive role across Australia. More than a million Australians voted Green in 2007, and we’re the fastest-growing party in the country.

3. Break the deadlock in the Senate between the Government and the Opposition. Last time the Government of the day also got control of the Senate, we got WorkChoices. Or, Tony Abbott’s Coalition could easily win control of the Senate, which would deliver Australians nothing but three years of deadlock. We deserve a Senate that will work for us and deliver strong, sensible action – not just spin.

4. Provide future generations with clean air, clean water and a stable climate. The Greens will tackle climate change by putting a price on carbon for big polluters in the next term of government. It’s time we created new clean energy jobs and started investing in the economy of the future.

5. Make legislation better. When the Coalition tried to block the stimulus package that kept Australia out of recession, the Greens passed it with added environmental and small business benefits. The Greens will do the same thing to improve the mining super profits tax.

6. The Greens have vision. When Bob Brown first spoke to the Senate about climate change 14 years ago, his Labor and Liberal colleagues actually laughed at him. Now the Greens are the only party working to end all forms of legal discrimination against Australians based on sexuality. The Greens focus on what’s right for the next generation, not just the next election cycle.

7. An environmental party. The Greens have always worked to protect Australia’s magnificent natural environment for future generations – whether that’s protecting our native forests and their wildlife, or our pristine beaches and marine ecosystems.

8. An environmental party and much, much more. The Greens stand for much more than just cutting carbon pollution, securing our water supplies and protecting our environment. Think better public schools, more funding for hospitals and fixing our broken mental health system. The Greens also drive great new ideas, like building high-speed rail between Australia’s major cities, which is now gaining momentum but would never have gotten up otherwise.

9. For a more powerful vote. Another Labor or Liberal candidate will just vote the way they’re told. With the Greens, every vote is a conscience vote. If you’re disappointed with Labor but don’t want Tony Abbott, you can send a powerful message to Julia Gillard. And if your Greens candidate doesn’t win, your vote will simply go to the next candidate of your choice at full value.

10. Bob Brown. A genuinely decent politician and the most experienced party leader in Parliament.