Action of Nothing

Hello again. If you're still in the rut in the world of Australian politics and unsure about whether things will improve, I don't blame you. I even admit living in a sharehouse I'm currently in isn't as grand as having my unit where I rented but these days, renting by yourself is getting too hard to the point it's not worth pursuing. But anyway, I've been able to refresh myself. Still, that won't be much to fix a whole load of mess we're currently in.

Earlier, I've been growing an ever-irritated attitude towards politics between Liberal and Labor parties and people are becoming sick of them. I've even made the post on how I felt even comparing it to Home and Away which I'll attach the link for anyone who's visited my blog for the first time.

Politics or Home and Away? (tristanthroup.blogspot.com)

However, I've decided to take one course of action. Back in March when I'm in the Fountain Gate Shopping Centre, I went to the Australian Greens website on my phone and signed myself up to become a volunteer. In my younger years, the Greens was a new political party for me and it seemed strange thinking they're just eco-conscious politicians but as time went by, the candidates cement this political party in the way to really step in and start hounding the typical Liberal and Labor politicians in the time they're battling one another and not being behind us citizens as such. 

There are other social and economic issues being brought up and realised with major supermarkets price gouging, the Reserve Bank hiking up interest rates to battle 'inflation' but then draining mortgage holders of savings and then plummeting rentals throughout Australia, the ever-going inequality we're facing and Australia's addiction to fossil fuels and multi-billionaire companies. With all that and not much being done to sort all this out, I thought enough is enough. I even decided to not vote Labor and look to vote for the Greens in order to make a dent in Australian politics. And with all the troubles of breaking into any community in the past years, I'm not letting this happen for my own good and for other people in my age group.

On the next month, I was given a call from the Greens community organiser after I visited the Noble Park Tennis Club. He told me there's the community door knock in Belgrave. There was the event on the 13th of April but I couldn't attend as I had an appointment with my chiropractor and then going to the cars and coffee meet after. But in May which is this month, there's another community door knock. I've filled myself in on Sunday the 5th.

On the day, I drove from where I am in Berwick northwards to Borthwick Park in Belgrave which is a 20 km (12.5 miles) drive. I've gathered with other volunteers and had briefings on how we'll knock doors along residential streets to engage with the residents on any issues they're facing political wise. And for any house where no one is home, we hand out pamphlets such as this.

So anyway, the whole idea with all this campaigning is there's a potential for a federal election and the Greens intend to seize the opportunity for a piece of power. And don't get me wrong, they steadily have been building up momentum. One greatly interesting bit is both Liberal and Labor haven't even looked at that idea and this demonstrates that the Greens are dead serious at putting people power in so we wouldn't be treated as just numbers. But anyway, the area Belgrave is under is the Casey electorate.

Next, me and other volunteers worked out whether anyone will go solo or team up in pairs. I opted to team up with Steve who's a Belgrave local. Once that's finalised, we were all assigned and go out door knocking on a stretch of street we're all provided. Steve and myself went along Martin Street.

Although the day hadn't been entirely great with a decent chunk of houses unanswered when we've knocked on doors, we've engaged with a few residents who like ourselves are concerned with problems we're facing. I can remember one resident who isn't pleased with the netball court in front of her house stating it as a complete eye sore and I can even see where the sun is in the afternoon. So this is one piece of looking after residents' entitlements that gets ignored which is unfortunate when councils don't seem to be keen on sorting out.

And when all of our volunteers met up in Borthwick Park to debrief and close up, I've heard how other volunteers received meaningful conversations. So then when the next federal election is confirmed, people may consider voting for the Greens once they'll familiarise with the party and our current political problems not worth ignoring. I myself follow Ellen Sandell who's the Victorian Greens leader on Facebook and as I've been seeing her post and then realising she isn't faffing around. With this point, it takes time for anything to establish including the Greens party.

Also, Steve and I have been coming up with conversations and so far so good, we're getting along well and I've even mentioned to him about my art projects and some art exhibitions I'll be involved in. As he got keen, we decided to exchange numbers and it's been a good day afterwards.

Belgrave is an outer suburb in the Yarra ranges and it's such a beautiful area for when you're wanting an escape from a busy environment within Melbourne and a nice place to rejuvenate. It's great when you're wanting to buy a nice souvenir or a coffee there and even get to ride of the majestic Puffing Billy steam train.

But that's the station. On the other side, there's the piece of modern society which is the Belgrave metro station. And with it, the Belgrave line going to Melbourne.

Along with the drive to Belgrave and back, that got me thinking of doing a mountain drive coming up via the My Unique Rides car club. Bearing in mind my Ford Puma ST Line and Ford's historic rallying pedigree, this would open up something I can do with my car. I would also like to perhaps shift gears using the paddle shifts behind the steering wheel as my car has a dual clutch automatic.

But let's end the rest of this Belgrave talk. What matters more is action is key to make a difference and enforce change to make our world a better place but it's also a life skill as we have to face serious challenges in life. I've had a load of people in the past not understand me, a load of job rejections I had to endure, troubles making friends and ensuring I have a roof over my head. In a way, I'm having to fight my way to get accepted, heard and let people realise I'm a legitimate human being as well as getting to know autism.

From starting out in Pakenham, I've been enduring a hard journey but I've been eventually having people who are willing to take me seriously and be valued. There have been a load of things I hadn't done before but have achieved a lot afterwards but there's still work for me to do.

Around 10 years ago, I've done some volunteering with Environment Victoria with the same thing of campaign volunteering back when there were the federal and Victorian election at the times.

That was in Mordialloc. I was sitting in the bottom second left.

And that's me along with Claire in Blackburn which is an eastern suburb.

Another thing to add is when local residents in a suburb becoming fed up with youth crimes and then banded together to help stop this crime from getting worse. This is a story from A Current Affair.

But attacking politicians wouldn't be too wise.

See you next time!