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Greens will die on the vine without Liberal help

Malcolm Farr

by Malcolm Farr

27 Mar 11:51am

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Filed under: Barry O Farrell, Bob Brown, Labor Party, Liberal Party, Nsw Election, Politics, The Greens

99 comments

To adapt the slogan of the NRA: Labor voters don’t elect Greens; Liberals elect Greens.

There's a face of a winner. The Greens David Shoebridge with Bob Brown today. Picture: Justin Lloyd

The Green ambitions in the NSW election were massively frustrated last night because the Liberals did not direct their second-choice votes to them.

Without that vital second tier support from their unlikely ballot buddies the Liberals, the Greens did worse than they hoped in the vulnerable inner-city Labor seats of Marrickville and Balmain.

The hopes of holding the balance of power in the state Upper House also were dashed by the same preference deprivation.

And it was all a reminder that no matter how much Tony Abbott’s Liberals might grind their teeth over having Greens Adam Bandt (MP for Melbourne) in the federal Lower House supporting the Labor minority government, they put him there.

Preferential voting is optional in the NSW polls, unlike in a federal election.

The Liberal Party of Barry O’Farrell in NSW and Ted Baillieu in Victoria did not preference the Greens, and in both state elections the forces of Bob Brown had much less success than they did in the federal election, where the Abbott Liberals passed on preferences to candidates such as Mr Bandt.

A second factor in NSW probably was the seeping secret that not all Greens are like that nice Bob Brown. Some are tending towards the loonier edge of town.

Thus the Greens candidate for Marrickville, as local mayor, imposed a council boycott on dealings with Israel. This wasn’t just “we warn the Tsar’’ stupid, it wasn’t merely unfair, it was a misuse of authority by a council which should have been spending all that energy on garbage collection.

“It’s really down to MrAbbott to determine now the future of the Greens in the House of Representatives,’’ said Immigration Minister Chris Bowen on the TEN network.

“It is difficult to envisage a situation where the Greens would win a seat in the House of Representatives without Liberal Party preferences.’‘

There is an argument that in such convincing swing against a government, the overwhelming objective of NSW’s voters was to eliminate a party, not necessarily to elevate one or two others.

So they made damn sure Labor was their target, and that was the sum total of the strategy. Voting to position minor parties didn’t enter the equation, so determined were they to dump the ALP.

That might be one reason why the Greens did not feature strongly in NSW. But it seems that in the middle of a huge protest vote, a high profile protest vote party missed out.

Another might be that the Green experiment in influencing government federally has not impressed voters and they do not want it repeated in NSW.

The Greens have worked closely with major parties in other state governments, notably Tasmania, but it could be the exercise in federal politics has not been seen as a triumph by mainstream voters, or my so-called progressives.

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99 comments

Show oldest | newest first

    • James7 says:

      11:22am | 27/03/11

      It wasn’t a protest vote, the votes went to the Liberal/National Coalition not to the Greens or Independents.

      Reply

    • Tim says:

      09:19pm | 27/03/11

      Yeah, the Greens aren’t thriving so well in the spotlight. A bit like mould really. They should canvass the Democrats (remember them?) and determine how to make a graceful exit. It usually starts with a bit of back biting and infighting. The cue will be when big Bob finally takes his pension.

      At the federal level, backing Bandt has definitely been a strategic win for the Libs. Labor are having a tough time reconciling their new Green leanings with the political agenda of Labor’s own right faction. Every move the government makes is cause for SOMEONE to be up in arms, which just makes them look unstable. The Libs just have to keep casting the line, and they can be sure that someone on the Labor or cross-benches will take the bait.

      It looks like they’re having fun - and if Julia’s angry clash with Julie after question time last Friday is any gague of the situation, it looks like its taking its toll on the redheaded maiden.

      All of this rests on Labor needing Bandt’s support. If the Libs had backed Labor in Melbourne, then Labor could have stuck with their centrist policy platform, and just fed sugar cubes to the boofhead independents to keep them smiling. At present, Bandt is doing far more for the Libs than he is for Labor or the Greens.

      Of course having Green in the lower house is only relevant because there’s a minority government. If the Libs can get a majority in their own right at the next election, Mr Bandt will be completely sidelined in the lower house (presuming he doesn’t get booted).

      But to be honest, I think a lot of Labor voters in Melbourne who tried on the Green Guernsy last time around will be pretty keen to hand the seat back to Labor. Like I said at the top - the Greens’ don’t fare well when they’re under the spotlight. They’ll have to shape up, or get ready for a quick demise.

    • Glen says:

      11:23am | 27/03/11

      Even the most ardent Greens must be seeing the writing on the wall today. No doubt the faceless Federal Labor machine men are.

      Reply

    • Stuart says:

      11:36am | 27/03/11

      Another article continuing the lie that it was Fiona Byrne alone who introduced and supported the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign at Marrickville council. While true the The greens Councillor Cathy Peters introduced the motion, it was passed by 10 votes to 2 and supported by all the ALP councillors as well. Why are media outlets so biased that they continue to sprout this anti-Greens lie, first perpetrated by Anthony Albanese in the SMH and backed strongly by Zionist organisations, including yesterday at booths across Marrickville where anti-greens campaigners stood about in shirts with “boycott the greens” stickers on them, which they also put on Greens core flutes. So, while the rest of this article rings true, please get better informed on the pasing of the BDS motion at Marrickville.

      Reply

    • Glen says:

      12:01pm | 27/03/11

      Just proves how out of touch the Greens are. A far left of centre party throwing in a bit of antisemitism. Guess it balances things out to make them an extreme centre party.

    • CaptainCrunch says:

      12:05pm | 27/03/11

      So the Greens did introduce and pass the motion.

      Why is this a Zionist conspiracy again?

      I hope your head didn’t explode after all that cognitive dissonance..

    • Richard says:

      12:14pm | 27/03/11

      Nevertheless, that boycott was a serious outrage to every moderate and conservative in the country, and Fiona Byrne was its most vocal advocate. It is unforgivable to treat our major ally in the middle east with such discrimination and contempt. The putrid hypocrisy of boycotting Israel, and not say China, or Libya, or the United Arab Emirates (where one of our own citizens, a 29 year old woman from Qld, was imprisoned for adultery for months and months and months after she reported to the police that she had been drugged and raped), stinks to high heaven, and is indicative of the lunacy that typifies the far left Greens.

    • RightPaddock says:

      02:24pm | 27/03/11

      The BDS campaign against Israel by Fiona Byrne’s Marrickville council,  was the reason why I put the Greens last on my lower house Ballot paper.  And Christine Milne’s outrageous triumphalism when Gillard announced her government would implement a Carbon Tax, didn’t endear them to me.  Last year I thought of giving them my first preference.

      For the first time in almost 50 years I voted for the Liberals, I only put Labor ahead of the Greens for sentimental reasons, again because of their support for the BDS in Marrickville, and their atrocious performance over the last decade

    • Robert Smissen, rural SA, God's own country says:

      05:09pm | 27/03/11

      The Greens make Robert Mugabe appear sane

    • Randroid says:

      05:42pm | 27/03/11

      Stuart to be honest I don’t care. Councils are not there to have opinions on foreign policy. It is a waste if money, and suggests the champions of the motion are thinking like student activists, not serious, mature people.

    • Bris Jack says:

      06:00pm | 27/03/11

      Anthony Albanese, I wonder why? but ,
      I am elated,  green rubbish under heat turns to compost, hear’s hoping.

    • Beck of Kenso says:

      05:57am | 28/03/11

      Richard, why do we want Israel as our major ally in the middle east? Their treatment of the Palestinians is deplorable, and they keep voting in an extreme right-wing government. I don’t think this is a relationship we should cultivate, and for Marrickville Council to boycott Israeli products is a far cry from declaring war.

    • Mr Real says:

      06:27am | 28/03/11

      The motion was obviously a Labor plot. Fiendishly clever, eh wot, Stuart?

    • Bruno says:

      08:17am | 28/03/11

      The BDS played a significant part in the disappointing performance of the Greens in Marrickville. It showed poor judgment by the Greens and Fiona Byrne in particular. She allowed herself to become captive to a fringe element in the area, not a smart move in the context of a close contest, and when faced with a “please explain” by the media and local residents she could not articulate a convincing argument to justify by her decision. Basically she lost credibility.

      When you look at this issue more closely and ask yourself which country in that region practices apartheid policies by denying members of a particular group their civil rights, job opportunities, equal access to civil spaces and travel amongst an array of legal and social controls, do you think of Israel first? If you are informed and honest you don’t. You think first of Saudi Arabia where women are denied all these things plus more.

      Did Marrickville Council ever consider banning Saudi goods? Of course not, the human rights records of Muslim countries are beyond scrutiny and criticism in Marrickville.

    • Dave says:

      08:23am | 28/03/11

      Mr Real nailed it! Fiona Byrne was such an easy juicy target.

    • Iconoclast says:

      11:47am | 28/03/11

      Dear Beck of Kenso

      Have you ever been to Israel? Or Palestine? Or any other Middle Eastern State?

      I have lived in several Middle Eastern countries including Israel and I have to say that you really should dig deeper than the ABC or GetUp for your information.

      Not being affiliated to any religious or political group, I believe I am in a position to objectively rebuke your foolish statement, which is unsupported.

      If you had ever lived in either country you would know that Palestinians living in Israel enjoy greater rights, standard of living and the privileges of a working democracy, something which you must take for granted if you advocate for any other system of government that Israel provides a bulwark against.

      Please have the decency to get on a plane, do your own research and form an objective judgement before you come on this website and spout innuendo.

      And feel free to live in any other Middle Eastern State and then tell me how free you feel as an individual (and particularly as a woman).

    • Gregg says:

      11:39am | 27/03/11

      ” And it was all a reminder that no matter how much Tony Abbott’s Liberals might grind their teeth over having Greens Adam Bandt (MP for Melbourne) in the federal Lower House supporting the Labor minority government, they put him there. “
      I doubt there’ll really be all that much teeth grinding Mal for they are probably quite realistic on that time around it would either be Labor or Greens and it does not really matter when you’re in opposition.

      “It’s really down to MrAbbott to determine now the future of the Greens in the House of Representatives,’’ said Immigration Minister Chris Bowen on the TEN network.

      And that is just really a typical throw away line by Bowen for with the preferential system if it comes down to a Labor or Green seat, Labor will obviously want to have the seat rather than it go to the greens.
      It is the kind of statement that will place wedges in their alliance and he ought to keep it up.

      But that too is rather irrelevant for Gillard knows there is no future for Labor in calling another election and will only do so if numbers force her to.
      The sweet irony will be if the likes of Bowen and Ferguson needle them enough, the Greens in outgrowing their garden boots might just see a new election or a power switch coming on.

      The thought of how powerful I am can cause strange events to unfold and looney tunes may yet be the next ballot box music.

      Reply

    • Phillip says:

      12:03pm | 27/03/11

      The people of Marrickville need to wake up and take a look at who and what they vote for! What possible reason could Marrickville council have for banning products from Israel ? Are they Palestinian or something, funny I thought they were Australians in the middle of Sydney not in the middle east !!!

      @Stuart it really doesn’t matter WHO introduced the BDS campaign that fact is it should never have been introduced or supported at any level. Does Marrickville council think they are the UN or something ?? WTF

      Reply

    • PaulB says:

      09:15am | 28/03/11

      About the only things exported by Israel are poisonous skincare products, guns, cybercrime and media owners.  What’s not to boycott?

    • Anthony Sharwood

      Anthony Sharwood says:

      09:25am | 28/03/11

      Paul B, it appears you have never eaten Eskal pickles, the world’s greatest pickled cucumber, straight out of Israel, baby. I live right near Marrickville and buy them regularly at Marrickville Woolies. Oops Fiona Byrne, that slipped through the net, didn’t it.

    • GB says:

      12:20pm | 27/03/11

      Let’s see Brown spin his way around this. The NSW election was nearly as big a disaster for the Greens as it was for the ALP. Anybody thinking this result was solely based on state issues alone just got their answer. No Carbon Tax!

      Reply

    • Richard says:

      12:23pm | 27/03/11

      You are right Mal, and it didn’t have to be that way. The Australian Democrats provided a template for a minority party to strike a balance between the two poles of politics, to “keep the bastards honest” as was their slogan back in the day.

      The Greens did not need to antagonise and demonise the Liberals so severely. They could have maintained a constructive dialogue with both sides of parliament and left the door open to co-operation with either side. They could have focussed on their mandate to stand up for environmental protection and green issues

      But instead they went down the path of far-left trotsky-ist extremism. They’ve won themselves no friends, and now all they are achieving is splitting the ALP’s base in two and diverting valuable resources from the ALP’s campaign funds away from where they could be used, to fight the Liberals, into a fractitious dog-fight between left and far-left.

      Reply

    • Zac de Spudnut says:

      12:58pm | 27/03/11

      Stuart,

      R u the mouth piece of Hamas Flag Wavers, I mean Greens?

      Reply

    • Zaf says:

      01:23pm | 27/03/11

      Well, at least they didn’t do worse than they did last time.  In the upper house they did better, and they could still pick up Balmain.  Why all this gloom and doom about the Greens’ chances?

      Reply

    • Jane says:

      09:26pm | 27/03/11

      Because the greens should have won both Marrickville and Balmain convincingly, and they didn’t. In fact it is a real possibility that Balmain will go to the Libs.

    • Mr Real says:

      06:42am | 28/03/11

      Forget Balmain Zaf, late counted and postal votes tend towards and incumbants or the tories, for various reason. Jamie Parker will not be picking up too many Labor preferences (if they are relegated to third place), and only a tiny minority of the others will go his way. It’s time to look at why unelectable candidates (in Marrickville and Balmain) were pre-selected.

      For the Greens, this was the “unlosable election.”  And they lost.

    • Zaf says:

      08:57am | 28/03/11

      Meh - live and learn.

    • Super D says:

      01:46pm | 27/03/11

      So really the Greens are Tony Abbott’s bitches…

      Reply

    • Ryan says:

      01:54pm | 27/03/11

      The Greens have shown themselves to be the red arm of Labor, since the recent elections and the show of obvious partisanship to Labor, why should the coalition preference them?

      Reply

    • Joe says:

      08:40pm | 27/03/11

      Agree entirely.

    • Squeeze says:

      10:26am | 28/03/11

      To help nudge Federal Labor further to the left?  If you don’t win the seat and you’re out of government you might as well make life as difficult as possible for your opponents, right? Why not guide the electorate to hand a poisoned chalice to Federal Labor? After all, the quicker the government self destructs, the quicker the Coalition will be returned to power.

    • WWBD says:

      02:03pm | 27/03/11

      You don’t have to support hamas to be anti-Israel. I’m more anti-Mossad and anti-false flag operations (you know whet they are don’t you) and anti-secret nuclear weapons production facilities deep under the negev desert than anti-jew. I like a lot of jews - so i’m definitely not an anti-semite. I don’t beleive Zionism is real so I’m not an Anti-Zionist. I’m anti the foreign policy of a nation - how you gonna spin that one?

      Reply

    • marley says:

      06:39pm | 27/03/11

      How you gonna spin the fact that local councils should be spending their slim revenues on fixing roads, not having staff spend hours of taxpayer time working out boycotts on Israel.  Why not Fiji or China or a myriad of oppressive regimes?  And does it make the garbage collection go any better?  Or the road repairs?

    • Tom says:

      07:12pm | 27/03/11

      Why don’t you take an interest in Australia, sicko? It is the country that feeds and protects you and allows you to have children grow up in peace and get a decent education? What’s all this rubbish obsession with rubbish countries.

    • Randroid says:

      07:39pm | 27/03/11

      Spin?????

      It has nothing to do with spin, and everything with councillors doing what they are paid to do instead of carrying on like uni students at significant cost to ratepayers.

      If I went to work and started issuing unilateral bans that had nothing to do with my job on company time, I would get fired.

      Everything I could see on the Greens website was about peaceful coexistence of Palestine and Israel,  therefore these bans do not even represent party policy.

      She is entitled to believe what she wants and act as she chooses, and the voters are free to decide she is not credible and vote for other candidates. 


      http://inner-west-courier.whereilive.com.au/news/story/marrickville-council/

    • Macon Paine says:

      07:36am | 28/03/11

      @ WWBD

      Just a few questions,

      “I’m more anti-Mossad and anti-false flag operations (you know whet they are don’t you)”

      Ah ok I see where your coming from. Do you think 9/11 was one of these false flag operations?

      “and anti-secret nuclear weapons production facilities deep under the negev desert than anti-jew.”

      Fair enough. Do you have a problem with countries such as Iran obtaining nuclear weapons?

      One final question, do you accept that 6 million Jews were exterminated in the holocaust?

    • Paul says:

      02:08pm | 27/03/11

      The antisemetic policy introduced (outside her charter) to council by the Green’s candidate Fiona Byrne should be a wake-up call to the nation.
      They are not warm and fuzzy wildlife protectors, the Greens are all about social engineering and if you call up their policies and study them it is easy to see their goal in Australia is anarchy.  (Along with a return to outdoor dunnies and the horse and cart).
      Reminds me of the days of Hartley who led the Victorian Socialist Left when he said that first you had to have anarchy to wipe out the political system, to enable socialism to rise from the ashes.

      Reply

    • Conspiracyeverywhere says:

      04:22pm | 27/03/11

      Look, it is not a lie. She was the mayor, so therefore lead the vote. And seemed to be proud to own it, until it became public. No one, except you, has suggested she was the only vote on that ridiculous council taking farcical and utterly meaningless foreign policy votes.
      Now Stuart, you then show your true colours by making up porkies yourself. Those ubiquitous “Zionist organizations” at it again eh? geez how do they do it, after masterminding 9-11 and secretly ruling the world, as every rational person knows?
      Stuart, the simple reason her decision to join this stupid boycott vote was so badly viewed by the public, is that she chooses to side with the most extreme religious bigotry, that rejoices in the most foul, brutal and barbaric prejudices to be found. In a bloody local council! Have a good frothing at the mouth fit over that thought mate, sadly you probably will….

      Reply

    • Cynical Goat WA says:

      06:49pm | 27/03/11

      A s a conservative I hope that the Libs preference the Greens last at every opportunity, both at a state and at a Federal level. The nutjob uber-left will NEVER link with the coalition under any circumstances, and a generation of ignoring them will render them as irrelevant as One Nation or the Australian Democrats.

      Reply

    • Squeeze says:

      11:47am | 28/03/11

      I’m guessing the Liberal strategists would be quite happy with the pink and red marks spreading on the Green flag. The coalition can get their green voters back and leave the left vote split. Then by preferencing the Greens, they will shove Labor to the left and take the middle ground without having to shift their policies to the middle.

      The question you have to ask yourself Cynical Goat WA is: how far to the right are you?

      Every step that Labor takes to the left means the Coalition can take a step to the righ.  The middle will still have to decide between the two. It’s probably only when the two have stepped far enough apart for long enough that there will be a rush for the independents. Or another party will rise in the middle. Isn’t that how it works?

    • Marilyn Shepherd says:

      07:26pm | 27/03/11

      What is wrong with all the Newsltd. snivellers and the greens?

      There is not and never has been a single radical or extremist policy ever suggested by the Greens, ever, anywhere.

      The don’t believe in illegal wars, or jailng refugee kids and their parents, they don’t believe in destroying the environment for short term big bucks.

      What the fuck is wrong with you dimwitted journos?

      Reply

    • C1 says:

      09:30pm | 27/03/11

      I should be asking the same thing of you based on your rants.

    • Robert Smissen, rural SA, God's own country says:

      10:49pm | 27/03/11

      Marilyn do you know the difference between a Greenie & a developer? ? The developer wants to build houses in the rain forests & the Greenies have already build one there & don’t like neighbours

    • james milton says:

      12:21am | 28/03/11

      But they believe in anti-Semitism. That’s why Australians who have a brain think the Greens are f**ked in the head.

      Why not boycott a repressive regime, say.. Palestine? Or any of the countries that discriminate against women. Oh… they’d be too afraid of repercussions… knowing Israel would never issue a fatwa on them, so they aim at the easy, peaceful target which they know isn’t crazy enough to ‘honour kill’ them. How very brave and progressive the Greens are.

      Why not aim at China, which jails people for having the audacity to want to talk about democracy?

      The Australian Greens have shown themselves to be anti-Semites, and the Australian public will not forget this at the elections. The Greens will be punished at the polls for their utter stupidity and worthlessness, mark my words.

    • Beck of Kenso says:

      05:49am | 28/03/11

      I’m so glad someone else was thinking this too - thanks Marilyn!

    • LeftRightOut says:

      06:08am | 28/03/11

      Clearly you’ve not read any greens’ policies then… Lol

    • Just wondering says:

      08:44am | 28/03/11

      are you Tory’s mum??

    • Marilyn Shepherd says:

      07:32pm | 27/03/11

      As to the depraved Bowen, he was allowing the arsehole keystone kops to shoot at innocent people illegally jailed because he is a lazy, racist coward too gutless to simply set people free instead of continuing to break the law.

      The high court ruled over 4 months ago that his system broke Australian law and he did not one thing to change it except to try and get around it with more racist lawbreaking.

      900 people granted asylum over a year ago are still imprisoned, he does nothing.  UNHCR accredited refugees are illegally jailed - he does nothing.

      People are killing themselves he does nothing.

      And the fucking media whine about burnt frigging tents.  Why?  Because across the board in this country the media are largely racist, ignorant and biggotted.

      Reply

    • Sirro says:

      09:46pm | 27/03/11

      Back to smoking that bong please Marilyn.

      And also when we open up the borders to all and sundry as your bunch of hippy dole-bludgers suggest, how about you also give up your government funded University spot to one of your mates from Afganistan/Sri Lanka/Pakistan/wherever.

      Because I asure you that after 25 years of busting my ring and paying absolutely rediculous amounts of Tax to subsidise boofheads like yourself, there is ZERO chance that myself and people like me are going to extend this subsidy to those from everywhere else.

      If you want to sell all of your goods and chatels to back your beliefs please go ahead. Don’t assume though that I will be prepared to do the same or will ever believe the same bollocks that you have been brainwashed with.

      I work to build a better life for my kids .... not the kids of every other nation that illegally choose to land here.

    • Gregg says:

      10:10pm | 27/03/11

      Watch that blood pressure Maz, if you are capable!

    • dingaling says:

      11:14pm | 27/03/11

      polititians lie. people die. who really cares?
      whats your problem potty mouth Marilyn?

    • james milton says:

      12:27am | 28/03/11

      Yeah, we get it.

      Anyone that doesn’t kowtow to illegal economic invaders that THROW THEIR IDENTIFICATION PAPERS OVERBOARD after passing through multiple safe havens is… wait for it… racist!

      We are bigots for wanting to protect our borders, to stop this country from turning into a middle east-esque cesspool stuck in the year 1300, where women are worth half as much as men. Yep.. anyone against that, who wants to stand up for Australia’s hard fought for freedoms and equality is a racist. Or sexist. Any one of those overused words the loony left throw out every time someone doesn’t agree with them.

      The most tolerant people on earth..as long as you parrot their ill-conceived mantras without question.

      Greens = nutcases. The Australian people gave them a chance at the federal election and are now seeing what utter imbeciles they really are. I see the greens going the way of the democrats.. obscurity due to failure.

    • Phil says:

      04:56am | 28/03/11

      Thats ok Margaret. Plenty of room at your place I see. Enough room for 5000 in tents. Gee you must have a big BBQ to feed them.

    • Brad Coward says:

      04:38pm | 28/03/11

      Time for a cup of tea, a Bex and a good lie down…..methinks !  Settle down, for goodness sakes, Maz.  Such carry on will only lead to an early grave.

    • Cynical says:

      07:41pm | 27/03/11

      Whoever wins, we all lose.

      Reply

    • michael j says:

      08:04pm | 27/03/11

      The Greens make Robert Mugabe appear sane
      is it really possible for a person to live with
      themselves after making such a statement,

      Reply

    • MarK says:

      08:15pm | 27/03/11

      ““It’s really down to MrAbbott to determine now the future of the Greens in the House of Representatives,’’ said Immigration Minister Chris Bowen on the TEN network.”

      Yah. Right

      If the other party of the left wasn’t a basket case then they would be irrelevant except to the 5% of mouth breathers that believe their religious crap.

      Reply

    • The Colour Coder says:

      06:28am | 28/03/11

      It’s autumn, of course the greens are falling off the trees.  But as Brown is Green, and the PM a Red head, if the Abbott and the Bishop turn up in purple, the colour of politics remains a very dirty shade of muck.

      Reply

    • Jeremy says:

      06:30am | 28/03/11

      The problem for the Greens is an undemocratic electoral system that enables a party to get 10% or more of the vote and ZERO seats.

      It’s an anti-competitive nigh-on insurmountable barrier to entry: it prevents new, better challengers arising and giving voters a real choice. The only way anyone but the big two old parties can win a seat is if there’s some particular local issue. Voters for any other party - say, a party with broad non-localised support - are simply disenfranchised.

      PS Since when is criticising the government of Israel “anti-semitism”? Is criticising the government of Australia “anti-Australian”?

      Reply

    • Richard says:

      07:21am | 28/03/11

      It is when a local Government is there to collect rates,rubbish and community issues. not comment on Foreign Affairs issues, that’as what Comrade Rudd is for.
      Also, Marilyn Shepard, you are a total fool. Thje aledged refugees’s you speak of are econmic feee loaders. Why don’t you worry about the millions of refugee’s in camps and not these crimonals

    • Pex says:

      08:13am | 28/03/11

      Jeremy, I would have thought zero seats when only 1 in 10 wants a party elected would indicate it is democratic. 
      The voters had a choice, and thankfully 9 out of 10 chose someone else.

    • PaulB says:

      09:17am | 28/03/11

      Its commonly said that an anti-Semite is anyone the Jews don’t like.

    • MDMConnell says:

      09:46am | 28/03/11

      Jeremy ponders

      “PS Since when is criticising the government of Israel “anti-semitism”? “

      Leaving aside the obvious straw man of “criticising the government” when Byrne is going further than that….

      If Byrne’s position was purely about Principle, then why single out Israel for this sort of treatment while taking no action or comment about the 100+ countries that are demonstrably far worse?

      If you’re not going to condemn countries that are worse and only focus on one country which is about 120th worst, then people are going to question whether your stance is really about Principle at all, and more to do with your personal prejudice or political convenience.

      That must be obvious, surely?

    • AdamC says:

      12:13pm | 28/03/11

      We have a preferential voting system, not a proportional one. That is why a party that gets 10% of the vote does not necessarily get 10% of the seats. Our system is no less ‘democratic’ than a proportional system. Both systems have their flaws but, on balance, a preferntial system is better for promoting stability and moderation in government. And it is wrong to say that our system locks out independents and third parties. In fact, they often benefit from preference flows from the main parties. Windsor, Wilkie, Oakeshott and Greens MP Adam Bandt are notable examples of this. No undemocratic barriers to entry there.

      This comment is a lot like the Greens party. Big on stock slogans but with a very limited understanding or consideration of (or, indeed, interest in) deeper issues. The nonsense cookie-cutter defence of the municipal Greens’ Israel boycott is a case in point - what utter rubbish.

    • Very Southern Cross says:

      06:32am | 28/03/11

      It’s the UNHCR’s resolutions which should be burned.  These archaic Clauses were made for a different time, a different place in history and shoulod be revoked so signatories are not blackmailed into accepting people who are vicious, aggressive and destructive as well as having cultural and religious beliefs which do not fit into western society.

      Reply

    • Mr Real says:

      06:35am | 28/03/11

      Malcolm Farr should take a look at Balmain as well as Marrickville.

      The Greens were much more hopeful of picking that up, and spent squillions on giant billboards, illuminated posters, advertising and letter boxing. All for less than a one percent increase…

      As in Marrickville, the Greens picked the wrong candidate. If Bob Brown was able to, he really should look at “an intervention” in his NSW branch, and get rid of the forces which produce unelectable candidates like Fiona Byrne and Jamie Parker

      Reply

    • Stuart says:

      08:59am | 28/03/11

      I tend to agree here with the unelectable candidates line and I also think that Byrne helped bring about her own failure through the bad handling of the council’s boycott decision which I will state again was also supported by the ALP but of course the JBD and associated Jewish groups only targeted the Greens for this decision, not the ALP.  Byrne contradicted herself re bringing the boycott to state parliament and The Greens failed to counter the lies from the ALP regarding Greens policy towards Israel.

      Parker is also a dill and an easy target for the Greens hating media plus the late entry of the ALP stooge in the form of Maire Sheehan did not help his cause. Still, 5.4% swing to The Greens in Marrickville is a good result. Next time, with a better candidate The Greens should take the seat.

    • Tristan says:

      06:48am | 28/03/11

      Sarah Hanson-Young should challange again. She is young and knows everything that needs to be done to get the Greens to at least 15% of the vote. I think Brown and Milne are past it, as they are old,you need a young head to make key decisions on environment, free sex-changes, increase taxes on cars, Dept of Bikes, communes, marriage for all, marine parks,safe drug taking,fun police… With these key issiues addressed australia would be a wonderful place and a pillar for all Nations to follow.

      Reply

    • james milton says:

      07:22am | 28/03/11

      Free sex-changes = key issue. 8)

      And the Greens wonder why they are constantly ridiculed by the vast majority of the population.. LOL!

    • Gordo says:

      10:12am | 28/03/11

      Sarah Hansen-Young would take The Greens down the same path as Natasha the destroyer did with the Democratics. To nowhere where they should be.
      Bring her on.

    • David C says:

      10:33am | 28/03/11

      yes please please please elevate Sarah Hanson Young , then we can finally be rid of this waste of space party. She will definitely be the nail in the coffin

    • Tristan says:

      12:23pm | 28/03/11

      The things is Sarah Hansen-Young is the future of the Greens and Australia. The open door border policy is a terrific policy, the problem is the right and there xenophobic fears. SHY, hopefully, will sort the greens out sooner rather than later. Bob Brown’s performance on Saturday was ordinary, smug and full of spin. SHY tells it like it is and she is a mother who is married to a man, which is unusual for the Greens.

    • Cynical Goat WA says:

      01:18pm | 28/03/11

      Please bring on that imbecile Hanson-Young. After one term of that socialist at the helm of the whackjobs, they will be consigned to the compost pile of history.

    • thatmosis says:

      07:29am | 28/03/11

      People have twigged that the Raving Looney Party, aka The Greens are more of a threat to our nation than any perceived terrorist threat and are acting accordingly. People have seen for the first time what having the Greens in charge is going to do to their way of life and the competitiveness of Australian businesses and dont want a bar of it. people also realise that the impending doom and gloom of the CO2 threat is a lot of hot air and the tax that the RLP wants put on everything will do nothing for the planet but will bankrupt this country and its people.

      Reply

    • The Badger says:

      09:25am | 28/03/11

      Raving looney party? Greens?
      You mean the lunatic fringe party Abbott is the poster boy for?
      You know, the one I mean. They just had a confirmation rally for him in Canberra. The party the liberals are morphing into, you know, that ragtag collection of ex the Young Liberals, DLP, Climate Skeptics, the National Civic Council and the Conservative Action Network and One Nation?

      This the party Abbott leads.

      Doug Cameron summed it up quite nicely when he said he was concerned about ‘‘the disintegration of the Liberal Party’‘. ‘‘The barbarians are at the gate of the Liberal Party,’’ he said. ‘‘Who are these barbarians? They are extremists. They are Tea Party imitators. They are the remnants of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation. They are the radio and newspaper bullies whose ignorance is in direct proportion to their pay packet. If you get close enough, you can smell the fear of the Liberal Party moderates as Mr Abbott leads them down the dry well of fear and ignorance.’‘

      People have twigged that the Raving Lunatic Fringe Party, aka The Abbott tea party are more of a threat to our nation than the Greens ever were.

    • gordo says:

      10:17am | 28/03/11

      Nice little rant there Badger. However the fact remains that the Greens are extremists and your Labor Party is on the nose.

    • The Badger says:

      01:32pm | 28/03/11

      Gecko
      I suggest that your “facts are like cows. If you look them in the face hard enough they generally run away.”
      Dorothy L. Sayers
      or perhaps you have looked at the facts and followed the advice of Mark Twain. First get your facts; and then you can distort them at your leisure.

    • Jim says:

      08:07am | 28/03/11

      It was interesting to compare interviews with Bob Brown after the federal and state elections.

      After the federal election, when it was obvious it was going to be a minority government whoever won, and equally obvious that the Greens would be a force, his comments were full of veiled threats and warnings. He was very cocky and arrogant.

      After the state election he was almost fawning in his praise for the coalition as he’ll need their support.

      As twisted as they are, I thought Bob Brown would stick to his convictions…turns out he is as big a chimera as Gillard is.

      Reply

    • Seamus says:

      08:09am | 28/03/11

      “Some are seeping toward the loonier edge of town”.

      Very tactful, but you are being far too kind, Malcolm.

      Reply

    • watchful says:

      08:29am | 28/03/11

      Dear Malcolm
      Did not a particular Union put $300,000 into the Bandt’s campaign?  Because the zombied Bowen said it, does not mean the Libs actually got the person over the line. As I recall, his main platform planks were solar panels on the MCG lights & same gender marriage recognition. One greenish and one bit of social engineering

      Reply

    • LeftRightOut says:

      11:48am | 28/03/11

      Yes, watchful, the ETU (Electrical Trades Union) did put in $300K. Still trying to figure that one out myself…

    • Chris says:

      09:09am | 28/03/11

      The results are an excellent indication of why compulsory preferential voting is undemocratic and should not have any place in our politics.

      Reply

    • Squeeze says:

      10:45am | 28/03/11

      The system is undemocratic?  Or is it that many voters are the ones being undemocratic by being stupid or lazy enough not to choose their own preferences?

      Doesn’t a stupid, lazy and or corruptible government reflect a stupid/lazy/corruptible people? If so then wouldn’t such a system be very democratic?

      Having said that, it should be illegal for candidates and parties to make preference deals unless the terms and aims of all deals are communicated to voters with every single communication of the actual preferences. E.g. printed on the How to Vote cards. Information asymmetry is an enemy of democracy.

    • marley says:

      12:41pm | 28/03/11

      Compulsory preferential voting?  Funny, it wasn’t compulsory in my electorate.

    • Squeeze says:

      02:07pm | 28/03/11

      True.  I should have made it clear I was talking Federal.

    • JenfromNanaglen says:

      09:20am | 28/03/11

      Hopefully the Greens will go the way of their loony policies - out like the NSW Labor party!

      Reply

    • Anna C says:

      09:21am | 28/03/11

      The people of NSW have had a look at how the Greens have been running this country and have given them a big thumbs down.  I predicted this would happen. The people have woken up to the fact that they are a bunch of EXTREMISTS who are out to destroy our economy.

      Their stupid Carbon TAX will drive businesses and jobs overseas to countries like China who don’t have a Carbon tax. We only contribute to around 1% of greenhouse gases, so why are they demanding that we wreck our way of life when big polluters like China do nothing. The Greens don’t seem to understand that if all our manufacturing jobs go to China our greenhouse gases might fall but China’s will increase as we are forced to import more good from them. What is the point of us destroying our economy if the level of greenhouse gases will remain the same as a consequence. Their insistence on a Carbon TAX at all costs is verging on economic suicide for Australia. They must be stopped.

      Reply

    • gra gra says:

      11:29am | 28/03/11

      The Jewish world cried foul, (and quite rightly), at the systematic slaughter of their people by the Nazis. And to show the world how horrendous that was they set about inflicting savagery on the Palestinians for daring to claim back their rightful territory. And we are supposed to support the indiscriminate bombing of women and children? What did you say? The Palestinians returned fire? With what?
      Remember what the wise old fella said. “The terrorists are the ones without an Air Force or a Navy!”

      Reply

    • Ben says:

      12:52pm | 28/03/11

      Greens die..  wow there’s cause for a party.

      the dayz of the feral queer minority leaching there way into parlaiment on the back of silly dikes labor are over..

      as for Liberals.. do they really need the help of brown. NO.

      Greens polices are all fundamentally immoral and i for one will be happy to see them crawl back under the rock they came from never to return..

      Reply

    • Joe says:

      01:11pm | 28/03/11

      All the Palestinians are good at is walking into pizza parlours and blowing to pieces the mothers and children eating there. The territories which they control, Gaza and the West Bank, are without any enterprise or any resemblance of an atempt to make their own way in the modern world. Depraved and superstitious whingers, living on the self-loathing of alienated Westerners.

      Reply

    • poa says:

      02:49pm | 28/03/11

      Who cares what the Greens think?
      After NSW, and Vic they’ll be preferenced last everywhere and have become as relevant as Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.
      Pity, as there are genuine enviromental issues out there. The Greens use of AGW to promote their uber-left policies, means that these issues will not be addressed. And thats a shame for the planet.

      Reply

    • Pex says:

      05:45pm | 28/03/11

      well said poa.  it is a shame.  There are genuine issues that simply get clouded by The Green haze.

    • Ryan says:

      03:26pm | 28/03/11

      So basically Bob is further in the Brown than ever?

      Reply

    • Brad Coward says:

      04:50pm | 28/03/11

      Yes.  It’s a bitch, isn’t it ?

    • Stuart says:

      05:11pm | 28/03/11

      The Greens will however continue to take upper house seats in all states and federally, just like the Dems did but the Dems never got a lower house seat. Federally, more people vote Green than vote for the Nationals and surely you right wingers wouldn’t suggest they are fringe or extremists, would you? The media like to build up the Greens chances in the lower house so they can tear them down after elections; those of us on the ground were not so confident.

      Reply

    • mags says:

      05:46pm | 28/03/11

      In the past if the Liberals gave their preferences to the Greens, the Greens gave theirs to Labor. If the Liberals don’t give the Greens any preferences, where will that leave Labor? Many Labor pollies got in last Federal election on Green preferences , such as Wayne Swan. Will be interesting to see how the Greens fare in Queensland next year.

      Reply

    • Daniel Bob Browns Bitch says:

      07:23pm | 28/03/11

      Where is Daniel of sydney? No comical comment as yet Daniel,or are you licking your wounds before they turn a nasty Green.

      Reply

    • Govt@FauxCitizen says:

      10:36pm | 28/03/11

      The greens are political vultures living off the scraps left to them by sated predators bloated on the spoils of sucessfull hunts, but once in a while the predators want to eat the whole kill and swat a few of the scavengers. Jungle law basicly.

      Reply

    • Enrico says:

      11:22pm | 28/03/11

      When are these dangerous commies going to grow a set and name the party so that it reflects its true ideology, namely the Communist Party.

      Reply
 
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