Now the election's been called (November 8! November 8!) I bet you're wondering where exactly you can vote from Australia. Well, here's the definitive guide*

How do I vote?

Firstly you need to be enrolled! Enrolment closes on October 8th, so go to http://elections.org.nz today and make sure you're enrolment is up to date.

Overseas voting opens on Wednesday 22 October.

Voting papers are not automatically sent to voters who are overseas. You cannot vote by email or return your voting papers electronically. If you are overseas at the time of this year's general election then there are four options open to you. You can:

1. Cast an advance vote

If you will be in New Zealand from Wednesday 22 October, you can cast an advance vote (http://www.elections.org.nz/voting/votingsub/how-to-advance.html) at any advance voting place.

2. Download voting papers

If you are overseas and are on the published electoral roll you will be able to download your voting papers from Wednesday 22 October. This is the quickest and easiest way to obtain your ballot paper.

3. Apply for a postal vote

You can apply to have voting papers posted to you. These are normally sent from New Zealand approximately three weeks before election day.

4. Vote in person

You will be able to vote in person at a number of overseas posts, including New Zealand diplomatic posts. The Australian voting posts are as follows:

Melbourne:
Victorian Electoral Commission
Level 8
505 Little Collins Street
Melbourne 3000

Sydney 1:
NSW Electoral Commission
Level 25, 201 Kent Street
Sydney 2000

Sydney 2:
Australian Electoral Commission
Roden Cutler House
Canberra 1 Level 3, 24 Campbell Street
Haymarket 2000

Sydney 3:
Australian Electoral Commission
Level 12, 67 Albert Avenue
Chatswood 2067

Sydney 4:
Australian Electoral Commission
Level 3, North Wing
Jessie Street Centre
2-12 Macquarie Street
Parramatta 2150


Adelaide
State Electoral Office South Australia
134 Fullarton Road
Rose Park 5067

Brisbane
Electoral Commission Queensland
Level 6
Forestry House
160 Mary Street
Brisbane 4000

Canberra 1
New Zealand High Commission
Commonwealth Avenue
Canberra 2600

Canberra 2
Australian Electoral Commission
1st Floor, 8-10 Hobart Place
Canberra City 2601

Darwin
Northern Territory Electoral Commission
2nd Floor, AANT Building
79 Smith Street
Darwin 0800

Hobart
Tasmanian Electoral Commission
Level 2 Telstra Centre
70 Collins Street
Hobart 7000

And last but not least!

Perth:
Western Australian Electoral Commission
Level 2, 111 St George’s Terrace
Perth 6000


I'm not sure what the polling times will be yet, but I'll update this with times as soon as they are available to me.

If you have any other questions about enrolling (make sure you're enrolled!) and voting from overseas check out http://www.elections.org.nz/voting/votingsub/how-vote-overseas.html

To make things super easy for you to remember, we made an event for voting from Australia, rsvp and keep in the loop http://www.new.facebook.com/event.php?eid=39938672768

* subject to change according to the electoral office, I'll update this if anything does change but I suspect it's highly unlikely..

One thing that often slips your mind when you leave the country is voting. There's nothing better than the excitement of travelling to distant lands and experiencing different landscapes and cultures. Naturally, many people forget about exercising their democratic right to chose the government and the other parties that make up parliament.

Another thing that happens when we leave the country is that we get a new found sense for the things we value at home. Be it the clean air and clean water. Or the beautiful beaches, spectacular mountains and vast forests. Or the love and hate relationship we have with a population so small you can never go anywhere (including the other side of the planet!) without running into some you know, or are even related to!

When we travel overseas we also get a sense of how lucky we are being a small nation tucked away in the corner of the world. Whether you're travelling through the dry expanses of a drought ravaged Australia or travelling through countries ravaged by war, there's a whole pile of issues that we kiwis don't normally have to deal with. But it might not always be like that.

It's unbelievable that the Waikato has just experienced a drought. For those of us that grew up in that area, we know that it takes some pretty major changes in the weather for there to be a drought in a peat bog that used to be a rainforest!

We all know that climate change is a reality that humanity not only has to face, but has to take some serious action on now if we are going to prevent any of the predicted catastrophic environmental changes.

This current Labour government has shown that it quickly backs down to the powerful polluting lobbies when it tries to show courage on these issues. This is partly because it's an election year. But it is also because it doesn't have a stronger Green presence in parliament to help them make the tough decisions.

This election is crunch time for climate policy in New Zealand. No matter which major party wins the majority of the votes, neither of them have the understanding of these issues, or the commitment to them to set up the proper infrastructure and incentives to ensure the transition to a low carbon economy. But with Green Party support the Government could implement strategies and systems that not only improve our ecological impacts but also give New Zealand a competitive advantaged against other less sustainable economies. The Green Movement has been campaigning on these issues for decades now and has an enormous wealth of knowledge and experience to draw on when it comes to environmental issues.

We have a choice now to have a system that gives free carbon credits to the major polluters and allows for rampant speculation and profiteering from carbon; so taxpayers pick up the tab. Or a green tax shift system which ensures that polluters pay the true costs of their environmental impacts and smart, energy efficient industries gain the competitive advantage.

It's an easy decision when you look at it from the outside but if you add in the pressures of lobbyists and big business the waters of decision making can get very murky.

So it's up to the voters this year to give the politicians a very clear message that the environment is indeed the top of our list of concerns as more and more polls are saying. And the best way to do that for those of us living overseas is to vote with the planet in mind.

Many of you would have started to receive the good ol orange and black envelope from the electoral commission confirming your enrolment details. If not, jump on to their website today and update your details.

You can vote if you are enrolled and:

* you are a New Zealand citizen and have visited New Zealand within the last three years, or
* you are a permanent resident of New Zealand and have visited New Zealand in the last 12 months.

You can enrol or update your enrolment details online.

Check out the website for more details http://www.elections.org.nz/voting/votingsub/how-vote-overseas.html

To find out more about the actions the Greens have been taking to deal with the climate crisis and how you can get involved, check out the campaign page on the website http://greens.org.nz/campaigns/climate/