07 August 2010

Campaign Diary: On the hustings at Annerley Junction, Part 2

Another weekend. Another stall at Annerley Junction. Yep, it was cold. I really hate winter elections. 

We (that is, Sasha and I) set up nice and early again just outside the Westpac Bank.  We love beating the Tories to the punch. Surprisingly for us, the Liberals actually failed to show. Not that we mind. But really, where is their commitment to this election?

The first lot of passers-by simply glanced at us and our nicely arranged Kevin Rudd and Graham Perrett signs. Eventually, a really cheerful lady came up and took some of our material. The Kevin Rudd shopping lists proved popular again. Annerley just loves Kevin.

Not long after, a man came up and asked us about Labor's dental health policy. "Our teeth should be covered by Medicare", he exclaimed. We agreed and pointed out that the Liberals, beholden to dentist lobby, opposed any extension of Medicare into the realm of dentistry. Of course, it is still Labors policy to introduce a Commonwealth dental health scheme and hopefully a different Senate will yield a different result. We offered to pass on his feedback. He wished us all the best for polling day.

Soon, another man - a small business owner - enquired about what Labor would do to help his business. Before we got to explain that it was Federal Labor that was cutting tax for small business, he was quick to express his dislike for Tony Abbott. We enthusiastically took his details to send him more information, and he kindly thanked us for our time. Through chattering teeth we returned the favour. (Did I mention that I hate winter elections?)

Over the two and a half hours we sat in the cold shadow of the Westpac Bank, we met some really nice people. People we knew from before, like Gabriel who wore a bright yellow Kevin Rudd T-shirt that we previously gave him, and Greg and Cathy, who took the time to stop and chat to us. Of course, there were plenty of other well wishers too, and the feedback overall was very encouraging. Despite the weather, its the supporters that make stalls worth doing.

As we packed up, I stated the obvious to Sasha that it was only one more freezing weekend to go and then it would be 'game on'. We quickly loaded the car and rushed off to join our comrades from our other stalls at the GReat Cafe. Another successful stall was over for another weekend.

Rod Beisel is secretary of the Annerley Branch of the Australian Labor Party.

1 comment:

  1. Annerley Labor, a fixture in Annerely and committed to local issues.

    ReplyDelete