Australian Greens

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Australian Greens
Leader	Bob Brown
Founded	1992
Headquarters	GPO Box 1108 CANBERRA GPO ACT 2601
Political Ideology	Green politics
International Affiliation	Global Greens Asia-Pacific Green Network
Website	Australian Greens
See also	Politics of Australia Political parties Elections

The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, is the Green political party in Australia. The party has its origins in the Franklin River Dams campaign in Tasmania in the 1980s, but its political platform now extends beyond environmental concerns to issues of the peace movement, grassroots democracy and social justice.

The Australian Greens is a national confederation of eight state and territory Greens parties.^[1].

Contents 1 Political ideology 2 Structure 3 History 3.1 Origins 3.2 2001 Election 3.3 2004 Election 3.3.1 Dispute with the Herald Sun 3.4 Since 2004 3.5 Interactions with other political groups 3.5.1 Labor Party and unions 3.5.2 Conservative groups and parties 3.5.3 Green-Democrat rivalry 4 State and territory politics 5 Concerns for the future 6 Federal parliamentarians 7 Other notable members 8 See also 9 References 10 External links 10.1 Official 10.2 Other

[edit] Political ideology

The Australian Greens identify themselves as a "new politics" party. Former Tasmanian Greens member of the House of Assembly Lance Armstrong summed this position up as, "...neither left nor right but forward." Members of other Australian political parties frequently cast Greens policies as "extreme" left wing.

The Charter of the Australian Greens identifies the following as being the four key pillars underlining the party's policy:

• social justice,
• sustainability,
• grassroots democracy and
• peace and non-violence

In pursuit of these principles the Greens have adopted (often controversial) positions on issues such as:

• opposition to the 1991 Gulf War and 2003 Iraq War
• opposition to uranium mining and nuclear power
• promotion of renewable energy
• promotion of a sustainable approach to water resource management
• support for refugees (including opposition to the Coalition's handling of the MV Tampa, SIEV X, and 'Children overboard' incidents)
• support for independence movements around the world, including East Timor, Tibet, and West Papua
• support for human rights in countries such as China, and Burma
• qualified support for euthanasia,
• corporate taxation and
• regulated use of Cannabis for medical purposes ^[2]
• opposition to National Competitions Policy

Despite the party's left-wing reputation, some of their better performances (as measured by percentage of primary votes) have been in seats that are traditionally conservative such as Kooyong and Bennelong, as well as progressive ones such as Melbourne and Sydney. In contrast to this, many lower income safe Labor seats in deprived areas usually poll very small primary votes for the Greens. In conservative Western Australia, between 2001-2005 the majority of Greens WA seats were held in rural and remote seats (Mining, Pastoral, South-West). By contrast Michael Organ won the industrial heartland lower house seat of Cunningham in New South Wales in a by-election run off against Labor (although the seat reverted to Labor in the 2004 Federal election).

The Greens have differentiated themselves from the major parties in a number of high-profile policy positions. By taking a strong public stand on issues such international politics and the treatment of asylum seekers, for example, they claim to have shaken off their reputation as a single issue party concerned solely with ecology.

[edit] Structure

The Australian Greens, like all Australian political parties, are federally organised with separately registered state parties signing up to a national constitution, yet still retaining considerable policy-making and organisational autonomy from the centre.^[3] The national decision-making body of the Australian Greens is the National Council, consisting of delegates from each member body (a state or territory Greens party). The National Council arrives at decisions by consensus. There is no formal executive of the national party. However, there is an Australian Greens Coordinating Group (AGCOG) comprised of national office bearers including the National Convenor, Secretary, Treasurer, and delegates from each State and Territory. There is also a Public Officer, a Party Agent and a Registered Officer.

The following portfolio responsibilities are divided between the four Greens Senators:

Senator Bob Brown, Senator for Tasmania - Parliamentary Party Leader of the Greens

• Defence and Treasury
• Prime Minister and Cabinet
• Foreign Affairs and Communications

Senator Rachel Siewert, Senator for Western Australia - Party Whip

• Industrial Relations
• Welfare and Indigenous Affairs

Senator Kerry Nettle, Senator for New South Wales

• Immigration
• Health and Education

Senator Christine Milne, Senator for Tasmania

• Climate change and Energy
• Transport and Regional Services

This structure has replaced the previous system, under which specific spokespersons were appointed by the National Council.

A variety of working groups have been established by the National Council and these are directly accessible to all Greens members. Working groups perform an advisory function by developing policy, reviewing or developing the party structure, or by performing other tasks assigned by the National Council.

All policies originating from this structure are subject to ratification by the members of the Australian Greens.^[4]

On Saturday 12 November 2005 at the national conference in Hobart the Australian Greens abandoned their long-standing tradition of having no official leader and approved a process whereby a parliamentary leader could be elected by the Greens Parliamentary Party Room. On Monday 28 November 2005, Bob Brown - who had long been regarded as de facto leader by many inside the party, and most people outside the party - was elected unopposed as the Parliamentary Party Leader.^[5]

[edit] History

[edit] Origins

The Green movement in Australia emerged out of environmental campaigns in the state of Tasmania. The precursor to the Tasmanian Greens (the earliest existent member of the federation of parties that is the Australian Greens), the United Tasmania Group, was founded in 1972 to oppose the construction of new dams to flood Lake Pedder. The campaign failed to prevent the flooding of Lake Pedder and the party failed to gain political representation. One of the party’s candidates was Bob Brown, then a doctor in Launceston^[6].

In the late 1970s and 1980s, a public campaign to prevent the construction of the Franklin Dam in Tasmania saw environmentalist and activist Norm Sanders elected to the Tasmanian Parliament as an Australian Democrat. Brown, then director of the Wilderness Society, contested the election as an independent, but failed to win a seat^[7].

In 1982 Norm Sanders resigned from Parliament, and Brown was elected to replace him on a countback^[8]

During her 1984 visit to Australia, West German Greens parliamentarian Petra Kelly urged that the various Greens groups in Australia develop a national identity. Partly as a result of this, fifty Greens activists gathered in Tasmania in December to organise a national conference^[9]. The Greens gained their first federal parliamentary representative when Senator Josephine Vallentine of Western Australia, who had been elected in 1984 for the Nuclear Disarmament Party and later sat as an independent, joined the party.

In 1992, representatives from around the nation gathered in North Sydney and agreed to form the Australian Greens, although the state Greens parties, particularly in Western Australia, retained their separate identities for some time. Brown resigned from the Tasmanian Parliament in 1993, and in 1996 he was elected as a Senator for Tasmania, the first elected as an Australian Greens candidate ^[10].

The most successful Greens group during this period were the Western Australian party, at that time still a separate organisation from the Australian Greens. Vallentine was succeeded by Christabel Chamarette in 1992, and she was joined by Dee Margetts in 1993. But Chamarette was defeated in 1996 and Margetts also lost her seat in the 1998 federal election, leaving Brown as the sole Greens Senator.

[edit] 2001 Election

The 2001 federal election (the "Tampa election") saw the re-election of Brown as a Senator for Tasmania, and the election of a second Greens Senator, Kerry Nettle of New South Wales. Brown took a strong stand against the government's policy on asylum seekers, leading to a rise in support for the Greens from disaffected Labor voters. This played an important role in defining the Greens as more than just a single-issue environmental party. In 2002 the Greens won a House of Representatives seat for the first time when Michael Organ won the Cunningham by-election.

[edit] 2004 Election

In the 2004 federal election, the Greens' primary vote rose by 2.3%, to 7.2%. This won them two additional Senate seats (taking the total to four), but the success of the Howard Government in winning a majority in the Senate meant that the Greens' influence on legislation decreased. Michael Organ was defeated by Labor in Cunningham.

Additionally, the 2004 election saw an intense media campaign from the socially conservative Family First Party, including a television advertisement labelling the Greens the "Extreme Greens". Competitive preferencing strategies prompted by the nature of Senate balloting (see Australian electoral system) saw the Australian Labor Party and the Democrats rank Family First higher than the Greens on their Senate tickets, resulting in the Greens losing preferences they would normally have received from the two parties. Consequently, although outpolling Family First by a ratio of more than four to one first-preference votes, Victorian Family First candidate Steve Fielding was elected on preferences over the Australian Greens' David Risstrom, an unintended consequence of these strategies^[11]. In Tasmania, Christine Milne only narrowly gained her Senate seat before a Family First candidate, despite nearly obtaining the full required quota of primary votes. It was only the high incidence of "below the line" voting in Tasmania that negated the effect of the preference swap deal between Labor and Family First^[12].

The Australian Greens fielded candidates in every House of Representatives seat in Australia, and for all State and Territory Senate positions.

[edit] Dispute with the Herald Sun

On August 31 2004, the Melbourne Newspaper the Herald Sun published a page three story by journalist Gerard McManus entitled "Greens back illegal drugs".

In response to the article Brown made a complaint to the Australian Press Council. The Press Council upheld Brown's complaint: "The Council views this article as irresponsible journalism... Given the sweeping and unqualified nature of the claims, the newspaper ought to have checked the veracity and currency of the policy claims. Prior to the publication of the article, the reporter rang Sen. Brown's office asking for the Greens' policies. He was informed 'that all current policies were available on the website'. There is evidence that, as well as any use made of the Party's website in writing the article, the reporter preferred other statements of Greens' policies, some erroneous and hostile to the Greens." An appeal by the Herald Sun was dismissed and it was ordered to publish the Press Council’s adjudication.^[13]

Brown said: "This was no accident or mistake. The aim was to attack the Greens, not through the editorial column, but through the news pages. The outcome of the false concoction of the Greens policies was to lose our party tens of thousands of votes and, in my calculation, seats in parliament".^[14]

In 2006, McManus was an invited speaker at a Family First Party dinner.[1]

[edit] Since 2004

The Australian Greens primary vote has generally continued to grow with their primary vote increasing by 4.1% in the 2006 election in South Australia, 1.2% in the 2006 election in Queensland, 0.1% in the 2006 election in Victoria and 0.5% in the 2007 election in New South Wales. Contrary to this trend was a swing of 1.5% away from the Greens in the 2006 election in Tasmania^[15].

[edit] Interactions with other political groups

The Greens do not have formal links to environmental organisations commonly labelled by the media as "green groups" such as the Australian Conservation Foundation, The Wilderness Society and Greenpeace, all of whom claim to be non-political. However, a significant number of Greens members are also members of one or more of these organisations. During elections, there is sometimes competition between The Greens and one or more of these groups on who is negotiating "greens preferences" with either Labor or the Liberals. In practice, The Greens tend to concentrate on preference negotiations with Labor in an attempt to get Greens Senators elected, and to get policy outcomes on issues like Tasmanian forests^[16]. The outcome is that more Greens preferences go to Labor than the Liberals ^[17], but it is generally believed that this has not affected federal election outcomes in 2001 and 2004.

[edit] Labor Party and unions

Many supporters of the Labor Party and trade unions see the Greens' policies as destructive of employment in industries like mining and forestry. The forestry industry has been targetted by radical environmentalists who have chained themselves to machinery and who have been active supporters of the Greens. Left-wing trade unionists and some members of Labor's Socialist Left faction often identify more readily with the Greens, feeling sold out by Labor and sympathizing with the Greens' social policies. Some unionists, such as NTEU members and AMWU member such as Bill weller of South Australia [Reynell in 2006 Kingston in 2007] have even run for parliament both federally and State under the Greens ticket. One Labor MP, Kris Hanna, the member for Mitchell in South Australia, defected to the Australian Greens in 2003. Hanna left the Greens in February 2006 and ran again for Mitchell as an independent in the South Australian state election held on 18 March 2006[2].

However, these Green sympathies are not universal within Labor's left; the similarities between the two groups often see them competing for the same voters, making the Greens' growing popularity a threat to Labor [3]. In 2002, prominent Socialist Left member Lindsay Tanner wrote "The emergence of the Greens... is already hurting the ALP's ability to attract new members amongst young people."[4]. During the 2004 campaign Tanner's own seat of Melbourne in Victoria was thought to be under serious threat by the Greens[5]; during that campaign, Tanner described Greens policies as "mad"^[18]. In the end, Tanner held the seat comfortably on primary votes (51.78%, +4.35 swing), and was not even forced to preferences[6].

The 2006 Victorian state election saw increased bitterness between Labor and the Greens. Labor direct-mailled a letter from Peter Garrett to voters in its threatened inner-Melbourne seats claiming that the Greens were preferencing the Liberal Party, in spite of Greens preferences being either for Labor or being open. The effectiveness of this tactic was confirmed when on 22 March 2007, The Age's Paul Austin wrote "Labor's campaign manager, state secretary Stephen Newnham, reckons he knows why the Greens' support fell away in the last days of the campaign. He has told cabinet and caucus members it was because of Labor's loud assertions that the Greens had done a secret preferences deal with the Liberals."

In April 2007, The Age reported ^[19] that the Victorian Greens had published a poem titled The Battle of Jeff's Shed describing ALP officials and volunteers who scrutinised vote counting after the November state election as "the Labor Panzers and their hardened SS troops". The poem described the final vote count at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre, which finished about 4am on December 14 and resulted in the election of three Greens MLCs. Labor had placed the DLP higher on their upper house preference ticket than the Greens.

The article states Federal Labor MP Michael Danby has written to the Greens co-convenor Sean Hardy on behalf of the state ALP demanding a written apology. Mr Danby told the paper that the newsletter "was trying to convince Greens that Labor was evil".

[edit] Conservative groups and parties

Relations between the Greens and conservative parties are almost uniformly poor. During the 2004 federal election the Australian Greens were branded as environmental extremists and even fascists by members of the Liberal-National Coalition Government.^[20] Christian Democratic leader Fred Nile^[21] and John Anderson^[22] (former leader of the National Party of Australia) described the Greens as 'watermelons', being "green on the outside and red on the inside". John Howard, Australian Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Party, stated that "The Greens are not just about the environment. They have a whole lot of other very, very kooky policies in relation to things like drugs and all of that sort of stuff". ^[23]

Federal Conservation Minister Eric Abetz has criticised Australian Greens Senators Bob Brown and Kerry Nettle for spending most of their time on non-environmental issues^[24] .

In a similar vein to the Family First television advertisments in 2004, Country Alliance also ran television advertisements ^[25]in the lead up to the 2006 Victorian state election claiming that the Greens policies were "extreme".

[edit] Green-Democrat rivalry

The Australian Greens have much political common ground with the Australian Democrats, particularly on environmental and social issues, a fact that has led to regular suggestions of a merger between the two parties. However the Democrats and Greens often differ on economic issues (such as the goods and services tax which was enacted by the Liberal Government with Democrat support), and on the Democrats' willingness to co-operate with the government of the day.

The Democrats have long seen and positioned themselves as charting a course between the two major parties in Australian politics and thus 'keeping the bastards honest', whereas the Greens are less willing to compromise on issues of policy. Rather than being a balance between the two larger parties, the long term objective is to elect members into the lower house and indeed, one day, to form government. This difference, and the fact that the Greens and Democrats appear to compete for votes from people looking for an alternative to the Liberal and Labor parties, has led to rivalry between the two parties.

In this context, the decline of the Democrat's vote is regarded by some as a contributing factor to the increased vote (both primary and preferred) for the Greens. However, the decline in Democrat's vote has been greater than increases in Greens votes, which indicates that much of the Democrats' former vote has gone to the major parties. The party's original support base was disaffected middle-class traditional Liberal voters from the centre-right Liberal Party's socially liberal wing.

[edit] State and territory politics

The various Australian states and territories have different electoral systems, some of which allow the Greens to gain representation. In New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia, the Greens hold seats in the Legislative Councils (upper houses), which are elected by proportional representation. The Greens also have a seat in the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly. In Queensland and the Northern Territory, the single-member electoral system has not allowed the Greens to gain representation.

The Greens' most important area of state political activity has been in Tasmania, which is the only state where the lower house of the state parliament is elected by proportional representation. In Tasmania the Greens have been represented in the House of Assembly since 1986. At the 1989 state election, the Liberal Party won 17 seats to Labor's 13 and the Greens' 5. The Greens agreed to support a minority Labor government in exchange for various policy commitments. In 1992 the agreement broke down over the issue of employment in the forestry industry, and the premier, Michael Field, called an early state election which the Liberals won. Later, Labor and the Liberals combined to reduce the size of the Assembly from 35 to 25, thus raising the quota for election. At the 1998 election the Greens won only one seat, despite their vote only falling slightly, mainly due to the new electoral system. They recovered in the 2002 election when they won four seats. All four seats were retained in the 2006 election.

[edit] Concerns for the future

A change in public paradigm, encapsulated by the phrase "all parties are now green" [7], is increasingly seen as a challenge for the future of Green parties worldwide.

Parties such as the Australian Liberal Party have reversed viewpoints on topics such as global warming,[8] and other parties such as Family First have also sought to capitalise on increased public awareness of the environment.[9]

By bringing environmental concerns into the mainstream of political thinking - other parties have sought to bring about a "decreased relevance" for the Australian Greens since their 'high point' in 1989.[10]

[edit] Federal parliamentarians

• Senator Jo Vallentine (1990-1992), Greens WA
• Senator Christabel Chamarette (1992-1996), Greens WA
• Senator Dee Margetts (1993-1999), Greens WA
• Senator Bob Brown (1996-Present)
• Senator Kerry Nettle (2002-Present)
• Michael Organ MHR (2002-2004)
• Senator Christine Milne (2005-Present)
• Senator Rachel Siewert (2005-Present)

Senators Vallentine, Chamarette and Margetts were all elected as Greens (WA) senators and served their terms before the Greens WA affiliated to the Australian Greens, meaning that they were not considered to be Australian Greens senators at the time.

[edit] Other notable members

• Peter Singer
• Andrew Wilkie
• Kerrie Tucker
• Drew Hutton

[edit] See also

• List of Australian Greens parliamentarians by length of term

State Greens parties

• ACT Greens
• Greens New South Wales
• Northern Territory Greens
• Queensland Greens
• Greens South Australia
• Tasmanian Greens
• Australian Greens Victoria
• Greens Western Australia

[edit] References

[edit] External links

[edit] Official

• Australian Greens official website
  • ACT Greens
  • NSW Greens
  • South Australian Greens
  • Tasmanian Greens
  • NT Greens
  • Victorian Greens
  • West Australian Greens
  • Queensland Greens
• Senator Bob Brown's site
• Senator Kerry Nettle's site
• Senator Christine Milne's site
• Senator Rachel Siewert's site

[edit] Other

• Liberal Party comment on Green's policies: 2004 Election campaign interview with John Howard (see pp5 &6)
• Democrats' views of the Greens: National Press Club speech by Senator Bartlett 28 September 2004
• Press Council adjudication of Bob Brown's complaint against the Herald Sun
• Greens media release about the complaint
• Greens article about the failed appeal by the Herald Sun
• Margo Kingston's Webdiary entry "Who’s afraid of The Greens?"
• Green Bloggers

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