More than 7,000 everyday people – the majority of which are first-time volunteers – are spearheading GetUp’s campaign to remove the hard right’s tenuous hold on power in Australia, and ensure politicians work to secure a safe climate for our kids.
It’s the grassroot organisation’s biggest-ever campaign effort.
Together, teachers, truck drivers, parents and neighbours will take time out from their everyday lives to attempt to have over one million conversations with voters in the electorates of MPs such as Peter Dutton, Christian Porter, Tony Abbott, Nicolle Flint, Greg Hunt and Kevin Andrews. These hard right wreckers are out of touch with local people.
Volunteers will talk with voters about how the likes of Tony Abbott and Peter Dutton are recklessly ignoring the environmental changes already impacting our lives, and using their platforms to whip up fear and division against our multicultural communities and people seeking asylum just for their own political gain.
At the same time, GetUp members will beat the drum for climate action in electorates like Kooyong, and on election day 3,000 volunteers will turn out in 30 electorates to show people how to vote for the climate and other key issues at 300 booths.
GetUp national director Paul Oosting said the grassroots effort to unseat hard right wreckers is in full swing and unprecedented in scale and scope.
“We’ve given people the chance to take action in their own homes, their own streets, their own local neighbourhood, all over the country – and the response has been epic,” he said.
“We’re working together to make 2019 the year that communities came together to put people back at the centre of Australian politics. People everywhere are saying they’re tired of the divisive politics peddled by the Tony Abbotts and Peter Duttons of this world.
“Removing the hard right from Parliament will enable MPs to collaborate better, for a safe climate for our kids or to ensure we treat people seeking asylum humanely. They might even work together to strengthen the institutions that hold the powerful to account, like our ABC.
“The numerous opportunities for progress on the issues that matter most are why everyday people are coming together in the thousands to sweep the hard right wreckers from Parliament.”