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The Forum > Article Comments > Greens - the most public secret for forty years > Comments

Greens - the most public secret for forty years : Comments

By Scott Ludlam, published 2/9/2011

'Overnight success' takes a lot of time and hard work.

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Ah, Jon J... Read the article. The Greens have held the balance of power before at both State and Federal level. The basic premise of your attempted troll does not exist.
Posted by Jack Tower, Friday, 2 September 2011 3:30:43 PM
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Ah, also, in terms of their electroral chances being "destroyed"... the Greens are polling better now than at the 2010 election. Once again, your comment is a fact-free zone.
Posted by Jack Tower, Friday, 2 September 2011 3:34:11 PM
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[Deleted as spam.]
Posted by Green Times, Friday, 2 September 2011 4:05:47 PM
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That makes far more sense, Jack Tower.

>>The point he is making is that the Greens are NOT a centrist party<<

The problem that poses is where the average voter is going to perceive their policies might fit into the "normal" political spectrum. My suspicion is that come an election, the Greens will find themselves targetted by both Labor and Liberal, as being unpleasantly radical extensions of each of their opponent Party's extremist wing. This exaggerates the fact that they are not a Centrist party, and therefore not a safe haven for compromise voting.

The prerequisite to Green success is the wholesale ditching of the two major Parties in favour of a mish-mash of social engineering crusades. While one or two individual policies may resonate with individuals, the cult of "Party loyalty" is too ingrained to be easily swept away.

We are currently very badly served by the two-Party bias here in Australia, of that there is little doubt. This is the reason why the polls show equal derision for Gillard and Abbott. Whether that will translate into a massive protest vote - because that is all it is going to be - at a general election, is not clear. But I suspect that the more the public gets to hear about the Green policies, the less inclined they will be to protest so loudly about their present immediate choices.
Posted by Pericles, Friday, 2 September 2011 4:19:43 PM
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"At a national level while sharing balance of power, we have secured important improvements to a number of laws and projects, ... secured greater accountability for NBN Co by making it subject to Freedom of Information laws and won a 10 billion renewable energy fund that supports energy efficiency and starts planning for a 100% renewable energy future."

If the Greens had been as responsible and forward-looking as the author claims, then they would have opposed the NBN project, which represents an over-20-year reversal in Labor thinking. The NBN project no doubt appeals to the Greens because it means a return to Govt monopolisation and control of wholesale telecommunications.

The NBN has been promoted as the greatest thing since sliced bread. Yet the legislation, instead of building in a downward price trend for scale economy and productivity purposes, encourages the complete opposite behaviour -- it allows the NBN company to raise its prices on a regular basis. If only there had been a cost-benefit analysis conducted. There is little doubt that Australia will finish up with the highest-priced wideband internet services in the developed world.

By justifying the carbon tax on the basis of ideology -- they cannot point to any published scientific papers that report compelling scientific evidence that carbon dioxide is the driver of dangerous global warming -- the Greens are keen on Australia being disadvantaged substantially on the international stage. The Greens have done their utmost to make the proposed carbon tax the highest in the world.

(To be cont.)
Posted by Raycom, Friday, 2 September 2011 4:30:21 PM
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(Post cont.)
The 10 billion dollar renewable energy fund would be a gross waste of money -- there would be thousands of projects where such money would be far better spent . It is nonsensical to promote and enforce the replacement of low-cost efficient coal-fired power with unreliable, inefficient wind power at three times the cost and unreliable, inefficient solar power at ten times the cost. It should be remembered that these cost ratios apply after hundreds of billions of research dollars having being spent overseas on the renewables. The only way the renewables can compete is by penalising coal-fired power production.

Planning for a 100% renewable future is fanciful. No one in their wildest dreams, except the Greens, would contemplate such a vision.

What the Greens stand for is indeed still very much a public secret. The media are remiss in not analysing the implications of their published policies. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that the Greens are technology and economics illiterates.
Posted by Raycom, Friday, 2 September 2011 4:33:41 PM
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