Saturday, November 25, 2006

Election eve.

I'll recite a little story the candidate for my electorate told me recently.

He's been doing this for a while now. Back in the day, Greens and their ilk weren't exactly welcomed. He recalls even getting "mugged" as he put it (it sounded like bashed, or attacked, to me) when doing election work.

Things got better, the violence stopped, but he still copped verbal abuse. "Fuck off greenie." Reminds me of the angry cowboy-hat laden chap that told me "Greens tell lies" last time I handed out HTV's.

But people, over time, have changed. Gone from making snide remarks to ignoring him, to faux interest, to genuine interest.

His most recent highlight was a group of rednecks, fresh from a ute. They all ignored him, and entered the pub/whatever building it was. But one stopped.

The man that stopped engaged him, questioned him - what did he stand for? Does he just want to destroy all logging, farming, and steal all the water for his illegal hemp plants?

He explained his position as a Greens member, that what he stood for was not for his own benefit, it was for the benefit of all, today and into the future.

The man walked inside. He returned with the others from the ute. They listened for a good portion of an hour, surprised by the honesty and concern, and left with words of support.

His nose probably is a bit misshapen from standing up for his beliefs, but the harsh battles really are over. We aren't the crackpot minority best left ignored, those that oppose us are - climate change being the best example thus far. Things have changed. People have changed.

I just hope the parliament changes.

8 Comments:

At 10:27 am, November 26, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

It would seem that people are more interested in what the Greens have to say however this is not transpiring into votes.

I am rather disappointed with the result at this stage. I would have thought that with all the environmental issues people would have given the Greens at least a vote in the Upper House. We seem at this stage to have slightly decreased on our 2002 performance.

 
At 5:04 pm, November 26, 2006, Blogger Larry Bonewend said...

I think the green vote was up, but it was definately soaked up by the majors with rather paltry environmental policies/rhetoric.

 
At 9:55 pm, November 26, 2006, Blogger Mikey_Capital said...

Yeah the Greens are building a base guys. It will take a few years but eventually they will be the true third force of Oz politics.

 
At 1:48 am, November 27, 2006, Blogger Larry Bonewend said...

I think it will take a more overt collaboration between Liberal and Labor, culminating in a coalition of the two in desperation.

The only thing that's going to shock those that follow their major party religiously is realising not just how similar they are, but that they support and sustain one another.

When Labor preferences Liberals second, and vice versa, that's when it will completely sink in, and even the zealots will vote elsewhere.

 
At 10:21 pm, November 27, 2006, Blogger Sarah said...

I saw something similar in the paper reporting on Bob Brown saying how he isn't threatened with violence on a regular basis anymore... this was because he is gay, presumably, rather than Green, seeing as the article was on his belief that the homophobic campaigning we're seeing from Family First and the Exclusive Bretheren is having a negative impact on the way people perceive those... sects.

Maybe Australia is waking up to itself, finally. Pity people like Bob Brown and your local candidate had to put up with that kind of shit in the meantime.

 
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