THE Democrats will paint the Greens as a party that has done nothing but oppose the Howard Government and is therefore not capable of holding the balance of power in the Senate.Democrats leader Lyn Allison told The Australian the Greens would be targeted in the election campaign as having done little in parliament and of trying to block everything the Government did.
Most pundits believe the Australian Democrats are facing political extinction.
"There's only one occasion where (the Greens have) supported the Government," Senator Allison said, "whereas we've engaged with the Government and engaged in the process of making the legislation on so many occasions.
"We are going to be running on how responsibly we've acted with balance of power and the record demonstrates that. We won't attack the Greens, but we do need to draw a comparison between them and us because to suggest that the Greens would work with the Government on balance of power is frankly nonsensical."
Senator Allison, who has been worried about her party's chances at the federal poll, expected in October or November, said she would urge the major parties to allocate preferences to the Democrats ahead of the Greens.
"(Senator Bob) Brown has only used his vote to assist the Government on one occasion; it was the plebiscite for the republican convention," she said.
"The Greens are saying we are finished and they are ready to step into the field, and we need to challenge that."
She said the Greens had not been active enough in Senate committee work.
Senator Brown rejected Senator Allison's claims.
"It is true that the Democrats have supported the Howard Government on issues like the GST that we've opposed and it's also true that they are repositioning themselves," he said. "There is a long list of bills where we haven't opposed the Government."
The Australian
Pathetic. Their job isn't to support the govt. or work with them. It's to advance their vision for Australia. If that means supporting the govt. sometimes, so be it. The idea that they should 'assist' the government is pretty shameful. She's going to prostitute her party to the major parties, obviously implying that they'll be much more pliant than the greens so why not preference them? Have things gotten that bad? No one trusts you with their vote because your party does things like this, so the solution is to keep doing things like this but bash the greens; instead of attacking the major parties, which you can't do because you want their preferences. If they'll sell their principles for preferences why the hell should I preference them? If they become dependent on major party prefs for survival how are they going to be anything other than a sock puppet? That doesn't sound like keeping the bastards honest to me. No preferences for the Democrats here I'm afraid.
5 comments:
You've probably read my previous comment, so I don't need to explicate in that respect.
I will say this however: Allison is not the only person in the party, there are many who do and many who do not agree with her, and Andrew Bartlett holds many different opinions about things than she does, including voting against the GST.
Sigh, he does good work in the senate, and for people all over Queensland, Bartlett, and I can't help but feel this is gonna hurt his already slim chances.
The other thing I would add, is that it doesn't pay to get all high and mighty with preferences. If you think the Greens - or anyone - is saintly when it comes to preferences, you're kidding yourself. Every party is the same. They want the most votes they can get, and they don't care who they have to preference to get them. They only time a party won't preference someone is when they think it will hurt their primary vote.
The Greens preferencing strategy is just as dependent on the majors (labor particularly) as the Dems, or any minor party. Their primaries have never been enough to get someone in on the mainland.
It's also not as clear cut as people think, you're dealing with a lot of tiers of probabilities when it comes to preferences. The whole family first debacle occurred because _no one_ thought they would get it, and FF became a parking spot to prevent preferences from flowing to other parties. Unfortunately, everyone did the same.
The system is in desperate need of reform. It's very bad.
Oh also, I would say that when she says:
"She said the Greens had not been active enough in Senate committee work."
She's absolutely right. The committees are where it all happens in the senate.
preference deals don't bother me, it's the offer of supplication in exchange for preferences that does. sure the greens would like some preferences, but they haven't come out and said they should get major party preferences because they're safer than the democrats. it's really lame patrick. don't think for a second i wouldn't be writing this post about bob brown if he was saying this.
preference deals don't bother me, it's the offer of supplication in exchange for preferences that does
Fair enough, and I totally agree. I think it's pathetic, in that respect too. It's something the parties themselves would be well aware of (or not, if they disagree, but they'd know either way), and I don't think it's gonna wash with the public.
I'm certain you'd do the same if Bob Brown said it. :)
Just thought I should mention that Lyn Allison has complained about this article. She says it didn't represent her well at all in that she wasn't in any way attacking the Greens, just highlighting the Democrats record.
The Democrats do see their job as working WITH the government because, as unfortunate as it is, they don't and wont for a very long time hold the MAJORITY in the Senate or anywhere else. Nor will the Greens. When you don't run the show, you can't call the shots. All you can do is try to get the best outcomes.
The Greens aren't involved in the Democrats committee looking into the 'same-sex, same-entitlements' bill, but Labor and Liberal Senators are. Aside from lazyness, it might be because it isn't in support of gay marriage. Well, we should get all we can for gay couples in Australia instead of holding out for the holy grail as a 'principled stand', as Kerry Nettle said. It's a good example of 'working with the govt of the day' as the Dems took the stand that if the majors don't support gay marriage, what would they support? Until we all vote either Green or Democrat, that's what we'll have to do.
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