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February 20, 2013
So the Greens have started to distance themselves from the ALP to protect their vote and in preparation for a conservative Abbott Government. They have done so by arguing that climate change is real, it is a serious threat, and that Labor cannot have it both ways. The ALP cannot argue that they take the climate science seriously and at the same time subsidise massive mining and export of fossil fuels to the tune of $10 billion.
Christine Milne then affirmed that the Greens are an independent entity with a clear policy agenda, whilst continuing to support the Gillard government’s supply bills and to vote against any no confidence motions in parliament.
Leunig
It's what you would expect in an election year, despite attempts by the Canberra media to paint this as a divorce that sends shock waves through the polity. Some are even saying its time Labor.
Thus shift by the Greens gives the ALP an opportunity to establish its own electoral identity ---it's product in market speak--- after having suffered electoral damage by pretty much sticking to its agreement with The Greens. Labor's product, it seems, is to be the party of “jobs and growth”.
It's all much ado about nothing because disgruntled Labor votes who shift to the Greens will come back as preferences in most seats, and Labor relies on those preferences to be electorally competitive. It has done so a couple of decades.
Update
Tad Tietze at The Drum says The Greens are in a difficult position----the party's now-dead alliance with the Gillard Government weighs like a nightmare on their current political options. He calls this the Greens' dilemma, which he outlines thus:
They [The Greens] refuse to admit the alliance with Labor was a mistake, despite it having cost them support with little to show in return, and so they've made a pragmatic shift to a superficially more independent position. Their desire to be "responsible" has not delivered votes or recognition, because as a party of the Left such an image is less important than taking principled stands. And association with the failed "new paradigm" of minority government has tainted them.
So pricing carbon and making the shift to renewable energy is nothing? This indicates that the core of the Greens is about the corporate domination and exploitation of nature to the point that it causes substantial environmental damage.
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Grattan's analytical and writing skills haven't suffered from her move to "The Conversation."/snark