Last night I attended my local Greens group meeting. It was a good meeting with the usual suspects present. One of the topics of discussion was the pre-selection process I'm going through. I was asked to give my impression of the process - which I did. I also spoke about how I think many of the Greens members I have met still seem to have blinkers on with regard to environmental issues - this reinforces what I have been saying about the Greens being perceived as a one-dimensional party (or single-issue-party, which ever tag takes your fancy).
I was explaining how important I think it is to ensure that non-Green voters are aware of our other fantastic, progressive policies. I was somewhat bemused by a statement that if we talk about economics or anything else then we will be just like "them" (them being the major parties).
My total argument is that we need to talk about our non-environment policies because it is these policies that differentiate us the most from the major parties, and it is these policies that show people that they have a definitive choice between business as usual or advancing the country toward a more equitable and sustainable society. But for some reason this message seemed to fall on deaf ears. It makes me think that maybe, just maybe I have been wasting my breath!
Last night in the same discussion I also mentioned how our current Federal Senators could all be described as either an environmentalist, activist or conservationist and that we need diversity and we need to choose a Senate candidate that can relate to a wider audience, not choose another activist or conservationist who may struggle to attract non-Green votes. This was also met with some disdain. All this is very surprising to me.
Maybe I have got it all wrong. Maybe we need to fill Canberra with activists so that everyone thinks the same and stifles creativity in decision making and problem solving. Wait a minute that is already happening but instead of activists we have lawyers!
It was a little discouraging but as I do...I soldier on.
