Thank you to the people of Griffith for your belief in Greens policies and in the wonderful people who make it such a great political party.
I spent the whole day visiting most of the booths in Griffith with Robert and Elsie in the Greenmobile, handing out little Food Connect bags of fruit and juice. The buzz at the polling booths was palpable, and it was so much fun handing out How-To-Vote cards to people saying, "Vote for me, I'm the one in the picture there!"
With the main message of our campaign being "Vote 1, Larissa in the Senate", Queenslander's now have a voice in the Senate with Larissa Waters gaining 20% of the vote. I've learned so much from Larissa about campaigning and policy communication - she is the ultimate professional and will really serve us well in Canberra.
Here in Griffith, we nearly doubled 2007 numbers with nearly 10,000 votes, or 15.24% of the vote, and a whopping 7.4% swing towards us! The ALP suffered a 9.11% vote against them, so it seems Rudd didn't get that sympathy vote after all.
With the Australian Greens having the balance of power in the Senate from July 2011, we'll be in a powerful position to make legislation better, introduce new ideas to the Parliament and push all our politicians to adopt more constructive and progressive outcomes for Australia.
It's been exhausting, but very exciting, and it's so reassuring to know that you've shared the Greens' positive vision for Australia with your neighbours, your colleagues and your families, and that's what's led to these stunning results. I'd love to know the difference in campaign budgets between the parties, and I can tell you now, the Greens would definitely have got the most bang for their buck - all due to our amazing grass roots support!
I want to thank my wonderful partner, Robert who played house-hubby, campaign adviser, and chief child rearer for five weeks, my ex-hubby for taking care of the boys, thanks also to Gary Kane, Jo Bragg and Gary McMahon (Griffith campaign organisers), Wilf (Griffith campaign manager), Ellen Brogan and her wonderful filming skills for the great YouTube profile, Stewart Shuker and the Green Graffiti gang, the wonderful people who hosted and attended the Eat Your Greens dinner series, all those 180 booth attendants and scrutineers, the wonderful members of South Brisbane Greens branch who held stalls on the weekends, and of course all the brains at state HQ - Sam La Rocca, Dom Jarvis, Karrina Nolan - you all rock, and to my gorgeous circle of mums who I get to hang out with at West End State School - I love you gals, and to my mates on Twitterland and my now 600-odd Facebook buddies - it's been a fun time with the banter and shared links and laughs.
On the second week of this campaign, my mother began her second journey of fighting breast cancer. She's been a strong role model for me over the years, and despite having conservative leanings, she has been nothing but supportive of my wish to go for it with the Greens (and I suspect, has enjoyed learning a bit about the greens too) - so thanks Mum - I'll be with you soon.
Go well,
Emma-Kate
