They are killing themselves because our police force and council rangers are waking them up in the middle of the night and moving them on. They are under siege from the officials of our governments.
I have bad news from the community services that heal our addicted, our lost youth, our unemployable. They are under siege from the major political parties that want centralised solutions that deal with crises after they have occurred.
I have bad news from the midwives, the alternative healers, the workers in domestic violence. They are marginalised by governments that do not recognise the role of the dispossessed in their drive for economic growth.
And I have bad news from the farmers and the fishermen who are afraid that the sea and the land will not produce in the future at the rates it has done in the past. They are afraid and angry because governments have no solutions only bandaids to deal with the crises caused by past behaviour.
Some of these groups are grateful to the Greens because our policies offer simple, realistic solutions to these problems.
I talked to the TAFE teachers about our plans to redirect funds from the wealthiest private schools into public education.
I talked to the Buttery about The Greens support for community based services that holistically heal people to prevent crises before they cost the taxpayer millions.
I have talked to midwives and health workers about the need to empower those seeking wellness instead of forcing them into corporate, industrial responses to illness.
Others are angry at the Greens because our policies represent a change from the extractive practices of the past, to the nurturing practices required to ensure a robust vibrant future.
The fishermen are so angry that they threatened to feed me to the fish.
Whether they are grateful or angry, every one of those groups acknowledges that The Greens are engaged. We have always been engaged. In the forests, at the coal mines, on the water, it is The Greens who have met the workers, in their own environments and said, enough, it is time to rethink what we are doing.
We may argue at first, but in the long run, the result is what it must be. We sit down to work out a solution, together.
While I have been engaged, at the grass roots, our so called political leaders have been indulging in a surreal farce. The national media has rendered this a campaign of trivial bickering. Arguments about who has the better accountant, the faster broadband – Does my budget look big in this?
What about the big issues?
What about climate change, war, the two speed economy.
What about the future of our food and water supplies over the next decade and the next century?
Who is addressing the real issues that confront us?
Luckily The Greens have solutions for the local challenges and the big issues.
We can use this election to deliver the balance of power in the Australian government to The Greens.
The Greens can use that balance of power to begin making our policies into law.
We can implement a carbon tax immediately and start building the renewable energy infrastructure that we need.
We can redirect the tax breaks and subsidies from major international polluters to small regional businesses making sustainable products that will ensure a robust and vibrant future.
We can get the Buttery the five million dollars they need to kick start the campaign to double their services.
There is just one thing we need to do here in Richmond to ensure this happens. We need to double our vote.
The Gruen Nation, Good News Week, the 7pm project have done their bit, now it’s your turn.
I need all of you to flip through your address book and find one friend who does not vote Green and convince them that this is the election when they should switch.
Make sure we have a future, send me to Canberra. Vote 1 Green.