Whichever way you look at it, that was quite the election.
For the GetUp community, this was our biggest effort ever. Here's just some of what you achieved:
- Enrolment efforts that allowed over 162,000 people to vote who wouldn't have otherwise been able to, and saw voter enrolment shoot up by over 30 per cent.
- TV ads that reached approximately 4,582,533 Australians; online ads that reached another 2,366,700. Think about that for a moment; we reached 30% of Australians with GetUp advertising - despite the commercial networks refusing to show our ad.
- Reaching 3 million voters with our independent scorecards on election day. GetUp member volunteers handed out more than 2.4 million physical scorecards directly to voters at polls on the day and we reached a further 554,000 Australians through our online OzVotes app, advertising in battleground electorates around the country and through social media. And that's just the beginning.
You'll want to check out this feel-good video and hear from GetUp members (from the ages of 15 - 92) about how they made a difference this election:
http://www.getup.org.au/we-did-this-together
Now we stand together, facing a new political landscape on which to campaign for the issues we care about. In some ways it matches long standing predictions, but there's been plenty of surprises too (... the Sports Party?) and, naturally, lots of questions about what happens next.
Even in the days since the Election result was announced, GetUp members have been taking matters into their own hands. Without any prompting, but knowing the writing on the wall, more than 10,000 people have signed and shared a petition in support of saving the Great Barrier Reef in the last 48 hours alone. When the Environment Minister takes office next week, one of the first things they will see will be a hand delivered petition signed by 165,000 GetUp members.
That's proof of the importance of our movement during this new era of politics. Now more than ever we need to rally together to stand up for what we believe in. And when we do, we won't be alone. This Election, voters were torn between a squabbling government and a relentlessly negative opposition. But on many issues we care about, Australians broadly agree.
On Election Day, GetUp commissioned a unique "issue exit poll" to see what voters had in mind when they put this new government in power. The results? Yes, people voted for a change -- but the polling clearly shows the majority of Australians are still in favour of stronger action on climate change, still opposed to coal facilities in the Great Barrier Reef and would not support funding cuts to the ABC and SBS.
We live in a largely progressive country with a newly elected conservative government, and it's time to step up. But we will only be powerful when we act together. That starts right now.
Making progress in this new era will require all we have to give. We'll need to look for common ground in some of the usual places and through alliances we might find surprising. We'll try some tactics that look familiar. We'll also try some completely new and innovative approaches to working together.
Whatever comes next won't be easy. But right now, the GetUp community is larger, more vibrant, diverse and more energised than it's ever been. No matter what comes next, I'm proud and confident we can rise to the challenge by facing it together.
Thanks for all that you do,
Sam McLean,
National Director for the GetUp team