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By Jan Bowman<\/a><\/p>\n 28 July 2013<\/p>\n My first attempt at citizen journalism was my June profile of the Griffith electorate<\/a>.<\/p>\n Since then I have spoken with staff in both Kevin Rudd\u2019s and Bill Glasson\u2019s local electorate offices and sent emails with my details seeking interviews or response to questions. \u00a0Electorate staff have been polite and helpful and have promised to pass my details on to their candidates. I have learned that follow-up calls are important and I will keep trying.<\/p>\n As the PM, Mr Rudd<\/a> has constant national and local coverage, and is supported by his own media team. \u00a0Dr Glasson<\/a> likewise is getting considerable coverage in the Courier Mail and other local media and has staff and volunteers supporting his campaign. Both have Facebook sites and Kevin Rudd is also active on Twitter.<\/p>\n Minor party candidates are much less visible to the local electorate and have nothing like the resources of the major parties to get their messages out. \u00a0Whether on the left or the right of the political spectrum, however, the minor party candidates all claim to be attracting voters who have lost confidence and trust in the major parties.<\/p>\n Geoff Ebbs (Australian Greens) and Luke Murray (Katter Australia Party) have been happy to talk with me, and I provide my reports below.<\/p>\n I have been in touch with Palmer United Party (PUP) candidate for Griffith, Karin Hunter<\/a> and I\u2019m keen to talk with her in more detail soon. \u00a0Karin was brought up in PNG and says in her PUP profile that she was attracted to the party because of its \u201c\u2026 sensible and practical approach to border protection and their refugee policy\u201d.\u00a0 She, like Luke Murray, has no support staff but has promised to give me some time when she can. Her profile appears on the PUP website, and while not a user of Twitter, she does have a Facebook<\/a> site.<\/p>\n This process of seeking interviews is teaching me persistence and well as patience, and I hope to have more profiles over coming weeks.<\/p>\n I will definitely be attending the planned \u201cmeet the candidates\u201d event in South Brisbane on 6 August at 7.00am \u2013 candidates will be interviewed live on ABC 612 by Steve Austin.<\/p>\n Geoff Ebbs Australian Greens<\/span> Candidat<\/span>e<\/span> for Griffith<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n Like other minor party candidates, Geoff Ebbs<\/a> admits it can be very hard for the Greens to get any mainstream media focus, particularly at the local level. This is compounded when standing against a high-profile candidate like Kevin Rudd.<\/p>\n Ebbs says he has met Rudd on the hustings and considers him to be a consummate media performer. \u00a0Rudd, he says, has his own media team, regularly uploading new Kevin videos on YouTube, \u201c\u2026 and, as a small party, it\u2019s hard to compete against that.\u201d<\/p>\n Geoff Ebbs<\/p><\/div>\n Nevertheless, he is picking up a mood for change and disillusionment with the two major parties. Griffith, he says, \u201cis an electorate of thinking people who are looking for leadership on some long-term issues affecting the state\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe people of Griffith are concerned about rising energy prices, the erosion of community services and public sector employment. They have a major coal route running through their suburbs that is a threat to their health and a reminder that the economy is being skewed by huge investments in resource extraction at the expense of manufacturing, public infrastructure and investment in innovation.\u201d<\/p>\n Without access to the apparatus of mainstream media, Ebbs sees himself building a grassroots campaign linked to other activists groups. He says that it is important that the Greens convince other activist groups of the party\u2019s credibility, so it can be supported by a coalition of interest groups in the same way that in the past the ALP built its support base through a coalition of union and labour organisations.<\/p>\n Ebbs says political parties are drawn to appeal to the mainstream and this is the antithesis of activism. \u201cThere is a natural tension,\u201d he says, between the need for the Greens to appeal to a broader audience while at the same time building alliances with like-minded activist groups.<\/p>\n He claims the Greens membership in South Brisbane has grown considerably in the last three years, with many new members coming from union and other traditionally Labor backgrounds. \u201cIf current growth rates continue, we may consider splitting the branch into two, developing a new branch centred on Wynnum or Manly.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to work booth by booth, to convince voters that the Greens do have a real plan for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n The Greens, he says, have specific policies that have been developed from the grass roots of the party \u201c\u2026 to build a robust economy on innovation, renewable energy and investment in public infrastructure and education\u201d.<\/p>\n He also points to longstanding Greens support for marriage equality (an issue embraced much more recently by Kevin Rudd) and for \u201cadditional funding for single parents forced onto Newstart, and federal funding of community organisations deserted by the state government\u201d.<\/p>\n Ebbs sees the major parties as having capitulated to the resources sector and this, he says, has had a negative impact on the community.<\/p>\n Campbell Newman, he says is like \u201cAbbott on steroids\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe concerns raised by Newman’s attack on the public service, the arts sector and environmental regulation have made people aware of the \u2018scorched earth\u2019 approach the conservatives have developed and how far they have strayed from Menzies’ Liberal vision for Australia.\u201d Ebbs says voters \u201cdesperately seek leadership that is not extreme and has some concern for the long term future of the country\u201d.<\/p>\n Issues such as coal seam gas (CSG) mining have attracted some strange bedfellows in recent times, and I asked Geoff if this had in any way eroded the Greens\u2019 base.\u00a0 He says Katter\u2019s rhetoric on CSG has not been matched by action, and the Greens were picking up some disappointment with Katter among farmers in particular.<\/p>\n On preference, Ebbs says it is unlikely Greens preferences will flow to the more conservative parties. \u00a0Nevertheless, he considers that the Katter Australia and Palmer United parties have been effective in capturing disaffected LNP voters.<\/p>\n Minor parties, he says \u201chave the freedom to do some straight talking \u2013 that no-nonsense approach is their appeal, but it is also the appeal of the Greens\u201d.<\/p>\n Ebbs says he is in the contest to win it, but he will be pleased to increase the Greens vote on the last election figures. The Greens, he says, \u201care in it for the long haul\u201d.<\/p>\n![\"1004648_1406557086223319_1082926632_n\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nofibs.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/1004648_1406557086223319_1082926632_n.jpg?resize=470%2C477\")
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