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December 27, 2003
I see that The Australian is running a big story on the very decentralized The Australian Greens courtesy of Jamie Walker. (no link) Even with a regulation half-Senate election in the second half of next year, I presume that the prospect of 2-3 extra Green Senators in the Senate at the expense of the Australian Democrats does not appeal to the decidely conservative+neo-liberal Australian.
Unlike me, the Murdoch-owned Australian does not like the prospect of the Greens as a third force in Australian politics. Not one little bit. Hence the Green bashing that is starting to appear in the newspaper.
Walker's story builds on this one. The piece is largely descriptive in the style of informative objective journalism: a bit of history, the Greens are decentralized with little in the way of national organization; are anti-globalization;they saw off the attempt by the Trotskyites and Socialist Workers Party to take them over. I sort of 'get to know the Australian Greens.'
However, the piece contains a political message about the role likely to be played by the Greens in the Senate. How would they act? What would they do with their power. Would they negotiate? Would they just say no?
Walker suggests the model of Tasmania from 1989 to 1992 indicates what would happen. That was when the Field Labor Government was in power. What does that indicate? You cannot negotiate with the Greens says a bitter Field, the ex-Labor Premier, even with an Accord in place. I say bitter, because the Field-led ALP then worked with the Liberals to reduce the overall number of seats of the Tasmanian Parliament, in order to reduce the representation of the Greens.
My reading is different. The Tasmanian State ALP is largely beholden to the logging companies. The line is the old one of 'what is good for Gunns is good for Tasmania.' Hence all the talk about resource security for the logging companies and more jobs from woodchipping ever more native forests. You hear nothing about knowledge nation from the blinkered Bacon ALP government and little about fostering change to a value-adding timber industry.
My judgement is that cannot trust the current ALP to deliver on the environment, even if you have an Accord. In the past the federal ALP developed on the Franklin. My fear is when the crunch comes today's ALP will favour economic development at the expense of environmental protection and rehabilitation.
Under a Latham ALP desperate for power, the green touch will be light indeed. It is fair to say that sustainability is not a word in their policy tool kit.
That tool kit consists of a commitment to border protection, national security and "sensible" economic management policies. Sensible does not mean sustainable or even 'green modernization.' And I have yet to hear Latham speaking in favour of the environment, as opposed to the policy talk about climbing the rungs of the ladder of success.
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On the contrary -- Latham's first trip as leader was to Tasmania to discuss forest policy, and even Bob Brown thinks Latham's alright on the environment: "Senator Brown said Mr Latham was part of a new generation which recognised the importance of the environment."