The voters, not just all of us here, but the ordinary mums and dads in all the suburbs of all the cities in Australia are completely sick of cynical politicians.
All of us are sick of political spin.
All of us are sick of policies invented by opinion poll.
All of us are sick of the manipulation of the agenda to suit vested interests.
We want action on climate change.
We want leadership by government on universal education and health care
We want a vibrant, robust economy built on renewable energy, regional industry and a secure food supply
The way to get these things is to put the Greens into the Federal Parliament.
The Greens have published policies that are developed over years from the grass roots up.
The Greens have dedicated, moral politicians who work for the environment, for future generations and for those without a vote.
And that is our unique opportunity here in the Byron Shire.
As part of the Richmond electorate, we vote around 40% Green.
If Byron was a Federal electorate, your votes would send me to Canberra.
The other end of the electorate, the Tweed end, votes around 7 percent Green.
Our challenge is to mobilise that vote in Tweed.
I’m offering to go to any community group that invites me and field questions about the Greens. I’m calling it the Grill a Green campaign. If you are a member of any group, get them to invite me along. Talk to me after this, or contact me through the website.
There are other ways that you can help
Get involved in the campaign. Add your name to this list.
Write letters to the papers reminding all unhappy voters that there is an alternative.
Display posters and bumper stickers, hand out leaflets for us.
Donate money to the campaign – we don’t accept corporate donations and need all the help we can get.
The most important, and the cheapest thing you can do though, is to get one non-Green voter to vote One for the Greens in the Federal election. If each one of you, convert one voter to vote Green for the first time, we could be the first electorate to vote Green federally.