If our votes are primarily party-based the candidates we get to vote for have been pre-selected by a very small number of people.
The way it works members of a political party in the local branches vote for the candidate to be selected to stand as the party’s representative in that Ward.
Each branch in the Ward votes and the candidate would have to win a majority of branches in the Ward to be selected to stand for that party for that Ward.
It is not as simple as it looks even then.
Branches get stacked.
The rules of the party may allow people to be members in a branch that is not in the suburb they live in.
The political parties that we call the main parties may have only a handful of members in any particular branch. Even total membership numbers may be surprisingly low when you think of the influence they have on our whole democratic process.
So joining a local branch of a political party that has policies that you favour is important to help you take part in pre-selecting who becomes the candidate for that party.
Local branches might talk policy but it is very unlikely they will have much final say in determining the policy position the party takes to the election. This is more likely to come down from ‘above’. We need to be very clear what the actual policies are that these people are standing on.
Parties now are most unlikely to pre-select hard-working loyal locals – they are much more likely to be grooming a party ‘apparatchik’ for the key positions. This can be depressing and daunting for locals genuinely concerned about local politics.
Then some parties do not have local branches. The branch that applies to this area might be in Samford or The Gap. Not much help for us here in The Grove.
People can stand as independents and they can be very good. But it doesn’t mean they will get elected if we all just vote on party lines every time or if we don’t even vote.
Going to vote on polling day is one of the most valuable things you can do to ensure we get good local representation.
Find out whether the candidates live locally. Find out whether they are well known for the work they have done for this local area over some time.
If a candidate is the sitting member find out what they have done for The Grove end of Enoggera Ward while they were in office.
Transition The Grove is not political – we are keen to see any and every party and individual candidate working very hard to give excellent local service in The Grove. We are keen to have accurate factual information available to all locals to enable us all to vote and choose wisely based on real knowledge about the candidates.
We are also keen to have as many locals as possible contribute their views on this website about what the key issues and problems of this area are that need addressing. This can help candidates work for us all.
For example one local candidate is using Transition The Grove’s Events calendar to help keep abreast of local activities to go along to and work hard contributing to. We’re not talking turning up for a photo-shot and moving on. We’re talking rolling up sleeves and making a difference. Any candidate who does that we love to know about it regardless of what party they belong to. We believe that the people who really do work for us should be applauded and their efforts should be recognised.
Also the people we have elected who then abuse their office by doing nothing or very little for The Grove need to be ‘outed’. Political office is so important none of us can afford to have it abused. We need top hard-working people in these critically valuable positions.