While this global pandemic has created some very real challenges for the party, we are excited to find that it has also increased opportunities for participation.
By Willisa Hogarth
Most people within the Greens are fairly familiar with the enthusiastic member “seek other candidate”. This prolific member puts their hand up for pretty much any role available across all the member bodies and the Australian Greens. Whilst they might not be successful very often, the mere inclusion of their name on a ballot can cause a deep sense of unease in candidates who would be otherwise uncontested.
Of course, being the inclusive party that we are it’s incredibly important to ensure that “seek other candidate” has a standing opportunity for the member to ensure that they are able to choose who they do want, and who they don’t want, to take up important leadership roles in our party. Leaders should be trustworthy, dependable, proactive and agile.
At the national level, this has never been truer than during the pandemic.
The Australian Greens National Council meets monthly, and BC (Before Covid) these meetings would take place in person and also online. That’s right – we did online meetings before they were cool. However, the old program that we used was a voice only platform, and provided little opportunity to file sharing and collaboration during the meeting spaces.
Working groups also used this platform, but due to the clunky nature of it were more likely to choose a group call over the computer system. The resourcefulness of our incredible AG team meant that when it became clear that face-to-face meetings around the nation would be impossible for some time we moved onto a mix of Zoom and Teams meetings.
These new processes were opened up to working group as well, which has allowed for them to meet more often and complete some incredibly important work, including participatory democracy, our constitutional review and governance reviews.
As a governing body, National Council often has to make exceptionally difficult decisions, which can have a variety of impacts on the member bodies. Different views need to be heard and considered, and we have always found that these negotiations are easier in person. Using video technology during our meetings has definitely helped ease the uncomfortable nature of online negotiating, and allows our National Council to develop the friendship and camaraderie that is such a vital part of consensus decision-making.
Allowing National Council and working groups to meet online has also opened up these roles to people who may not have considered themselves able to participate in the party governance before. By eliminating the need to travel away from employment, caring responsibilities and support networks, it’s opened up the opportunities for people with more diverse experiences and backgrounds. We know that this can only make the decisions of National Council stronger and outcomes for the party better.
Whilst this global pandemic has created some very real challenges for the party, we are excited to find that it has also increased opportunities for participation. We are grateful for our amazing staff who facilitate these opportunities and to all our members who put their hand up to be a part of governing our important political movement.
Even “seek other candidate”.
Willisa Hogarth is an Australian Greens co-convenor.
Hero image: Gillianne Tedder.
