Elissa’s political resume 2004 – 2007

A SNAPSHOT

Internal positions:

December 2006 – Current: Social Justice Spokesperson for Queensland Greens.
September 2006 – Current: National Delegate for Queensland Greens.
October 2006 – Current: Member of Australian Greens Communication Working Group.
November 2005 – Current: Convenor of Human Rights Working Group for Queensland Greens.
October 2006 -December 2006: Qld Greens Spokesperson for Education, Industrial Relations & Health.
Aug 2006 – Oct 2006: Deputy Convenor for Queensland Greens.
March 2006 – June 2006: Acting Convenor for Queensland Greens.
May 2004 – Sep 2006: Secretary for Bayside Greens.

External positions:

May 2004 – October 2004: Greens Federal candidate for Bonner.
May 2005 – August 2005: Greens State candidate for Chatsworth by-election.
August 2006 – September 2006: Greens State candidate for Chatsworth.

Memberships:

Queensland Greens; Australian Marine Conservation Society; The Brisbane Institute; Southside Peace Group; Refugee Action Collective; and Moreton Bay Discovery Centre Management Committee.

Background:

For the past three years I have actively represented The Greens on many a Greens or community organising committee to ensure there’s two-way communication happening between The Greens and the concerned community.

Groups and organising committees I’ve been involved in or networked closely with in the area of the environment include: Minnippi Bushland Defenders, Save Daisy Hill Action Group, Moreton Bay Environmental Alliance and Australian Marine Conservation Society.

I am a proud member of the Moreton Bay Discovery Centre Management Committee which is a brainchild of AMCS founder Mary Patchett. The committee has been created to lobby and plan for the development of an intepretative centre on the foreshore at Manly to raise community awareness of the environmental significance of the Bay.

Groups and organising committees I’ve been involved in or networked closely with in the area of social justice include: World Refugee Day, International Women’s Day, Stop The War Collective; Southside Peace Group and Free David Hicks Collective. To be honest, there are too many to mention and remember! I have either spoken at, attended or encouraged a larger Greens presence at numerous social justice rallies, marches and public forums.

I’m a passionate advocate of The Greens’ other major pillar “Peace and Non-Violenceâ€? and promote this style of democratic action and engagement while planning and participating in rallies and other protest actions.

Below is a brief selection of just some of the campaign work I have done for The Greens over the last 3 years plus general activism and involvement as a concerned global citizen.

2007:

– Attended Global Young Greens Conference in Nairobi, Kenya for two weeks in January as an official, partly-funded delegate of the Australian Greens. Featured in two articles in my local City South News newspaper with colour pics. Was interviewed for Triple J daytime news with different soundbites on the hour. Received interest from two popular women’s magazines – Cosmopolitan and Vive.
– I have been performing a leadership and support role to benefit young Greens in Queensland, encouraging young Greens and non-Greens members in Queensland to attend the Global Young Greens conference in Kenya and be involved in the newly created Young Australian Greens.

2006:

– Spoke at a rally demanding the return of West Papuan asylum seekers from Christmas Island back to Australia.
– Organised a fundraiser to launch the Human Rights Working Group. Unfortunately, it was not well attended. However, those who did attend provided positive feedback in regards to the evening’s education and entertainment content.
– Joined the Stop The War organising committee meeting for protest against the war in Iraq and demand the Australian Government brings the troops home.
– Spoke at rally after Israel bombed Lebanon calling for Israel to withdraw and calling for Australians to avoid racist sentiments against Muslims.
– Attended World Refugee Day celebrations and actions.
– Staffed a Greens stall on Hiroshima Day (I believe this issue crosses into the social justice area of wartime practices).
– Staffed a stall at Brisbane Social Forum.
– As an individual citizen, via this web log at www.elissa.info, I called for the community to boycott the purchase of and the sponsors of a calendar that was released that depicted women looking sexy to position IT as a sexy career option. I believe it affirmed the place of women in the IT profession as “simply eyecandy, no IT savvyâ€? and in the workplace as sex objects.
– Attended the No Dams protest at Kanganda against the State Government’s proposal to build a dam on the Mary River, resuming about 500 residents and threatening the survival of the Mary River Turtle, Mary River Cod, the lungfish and a frog.
– Ran as a candidate for Chatsworth at the state election. Greens preferences ultimately helped topple high profile Michael Caltabiano. It was a strategic decision to run a strong campaign in the high-profile seat being contested by Labor’s Chris Bombolas and I am proud to have represented The Greens in this tough seat. After plenty of hounding by local community groups (including Liberal Party women) to oust the misogynistic Caltabiano, it was a personal and political success of mine to be part of this intrumental yet underpublicised milestone – that is, ensuring that Caltabiano did not become the next leader of the Queensland Liberals (something that was rumoured to occur).
– Attended ‘Rock The Vote’, a music festival put on my the union movement to encourage young people to enrol to vote. Handed out Greens flyers and postcards within the festival grounds (until being told to move on).

2005:

– Spoke on International Women’s Day in support of a woman’s right to choose by calling for the Queensland Government to immediately remove abortion from Queensland’s criminal code.
– Attended “Baxter 05: A Convergence for Human Rightsâ€? for 4 days in the South Australian desert to protest against mandatory detention of asylum seekers.
– Presented the video “Baxter 05: A Greens Perspectiveâ€? at Queensland Greens Immersion Day and spoke about my experience at the protest.
– Joined protesters at Minnippi West to lobby against a golf course, conference centre and housing estate which was proposed for development on 125 ha of Brisbane City Council-owned bushland located alongside Minnippi Parklands at Cannon Hill. Why? Because of the threat it will bring to the squirrel glider colony, other vulnerable fauna and the valuable wetlands.
– Ran as a state candidate in the Chatsworth by-election. On by-election day I confronted the media and then Peter Beattie with the dodgy ‘how to vote’ cards that Labor Party representatives were distributing to voters. This story was covered on radio and in the evening on Channel 7, 10 and ABC.
– Staged an action outside Brisbane Convention Centre during the by-election with a signed request for Peter Beattie to implement Proportional Representation in Queensland.
– Spoke at a rally against the continued persecution of Falun Gung practitioners by the Chinese Communist Government.
– Spoke at a public “Meet the Candidatesâ€? forum organised by the Australian Christian Lobby. Sitting alongside the Labor, Liberal and One Nation candidates and an audience of Christian fundamentalists, I challenged Christian fundamentalism head-on and questioned its obsession with sex, homosexuality and fetuses instead of more urgent and crisis issues such as poverty, freedom and climate change. Positive feedback and congratulations from non ACL aligned community members on my ‘guts’ and a ‘job well done’ made me realise what it meant to be Green – that we earn respect because we have the courage to speak out against injustice.
– Staffed a stall at Brisbane Social Forum.
– Staffed a stall at Walk Against Warming.
– Joined peace activists outside Australian Federal Police headquarters to protest against Australia’s shock deportation of US peace activist, Scott Parkin.
– Joined Juanita Wheeler and Bronwen Lloyd to create the Qld Greens Human Rights Working Group.
– Guest speaker at North Brisbane branch. Discussed refugee issues and presented the video “Baxter 05: A Greens Perspectiveâ€?.

2004:

– Ran as a federal candidate for the new seat of Bonner. Campaigned for 5 months.
– Handed out ‘Enrol To Vote’ forms to young people at the Valley Fiesta.
– Organised a successful bands fundraiser called “Show Us Your Greens Bitsâ€? to attract the young Greens vote.
– Questioned keynote speaker, Lady Mayoress Lisa Newman, at a Women’s Business Lunch, securing her public commitment to ensuring asylum seeker children in Brisbane would be granted similar concern and justice in the Mayoress’s quest to alleviate child poverty in our City.
– Shamelessly shed a tear when Julian Burnside spoke about detention centres at “Australia at the Crossroadsâ€? public forum at City Hall.
– Publicly lobbied Brisbane Airport Corporation until they invited myself and Senate candidate Drew Hutton for a personalised tour of Brisbane Airport to discuss complaints of excess aircraft noise by residents in the then low-socio economic suburb Murrarrie.
– Met with community members after it was discovered that Caltex (Texaco and Chevron) was to forge ahead with an upgrade of its Brisbane refinery despite concerns over the toxic effects of the sulphur dioxide it will generate.
– On the organising committee of a joint Bayside Greens/South Brisbane Greens Trivia Night to raise money for the federal election campaign.