The Greens are an admirable party in many respects and their recent stance on peak oil has been outstanding, thanks largely to Senators Milne and Ludlam. But they would do well to give a bit more credit to the Australian Democrats who were the ones that broke the two-party tradition. The Democrats also had an excellent environmental policy and have a legislative record to prove it, so the Greens were by no means the first 'green' party in the Australian Parliament. My major concern, however, with the Greens is that they tend to put social policy ahead of environmental policy. I happen to be in favour of same-sex 'marriage' (or giving civil unions of lesbians and gays full legal rights), but I don't want to see it at the top of the list of policy priorities. If they are Greens their priorities should be climate change (and thus opposition to coal-fired power stations and support of alternative energy), protection of forests and biodiversity, the ecological carrying capacity of the continent (as against the rights of asylum seekers, though it is a worthy issue),air and water quality, protection of fish resources, and - this would be nice - working with the NFF and the Nationals to preserve agricultural ecosystems. The rights of Palestinians and Tibetans are important but should only take up a fraction of Greens' time.

Having said all that, good luck to them and may Australia continue to have a healthy multi-party democracy!

Just a small change Scott - 'Since 1 July 1 1990, the Greens have representative their constituents continuously in the Australian Senate ...'

The Greens are an environmental party. Always have been, always will. No social justice runs on the board there. Good on them for sticking up for the refugees but really, they don't want them here either. Their sustainable population policy calls for a cut to immigration from all areas.

Some interesting elements to this piece of introspection and self-analysis.

The first that struck me was the inference that the Greens somehow identify themselves as a "centrist" organization, when they clearly operate on the absolute political fringes.

"Centrist parties face a perpetual dilemma – endeavouring to appeal to a broad spectrum of often contradictory belief systems..."

None of their policies that I can see can remotely be labelled "centrist". They are the softest- of soft-left in their presentation of social policy, and simultaneously ultra-right-wing when it comes to their belief that they should control every aspect of our lives. Free enterprise is completely absent from their vocabulary, as is freedom of choice. Our way or the highway, pal.

This jostling-for-the-limelight leads to some wayward logic, too.

The high dissatisfaction rating of the Prime Minister and her party has, in my view, its roots in the random deals and compromises they have had to make in order to form a government at all. Much of this can be sheeted home to the influence of the minorities, who have bastardised practically every piece of attempted legislation, to the point where it is difficult to discern which bits are Labour policy, which are Green policy, and which are simply sops to the Independents.

Ms Gillard has failed spectacularly to provide coherent government for this country. But when you look at the material she has had to work with, having to appease a bunch of radicals pushing their own radical agendas, it's a wonder she has made it this far.

The Greens are hardly an interesting or viable alternative to the major parties. Bob Brown is far less popular in the community than even Gillard at her lowest ebb. The Greens have a mish-mash of policies, many contradictory and near sighted. Their attempt to capture some form of environmentally based populism ultimately results in a naive conglomeration of feelgood policies which range from simplistic at one end to retrogressive and dangerous at the other extreme.

Their time on the sun has been abused by Brown who has sought to push unpopular policies on to the population. Gillard,in need of support has acquiesced.

It may have been 40 yrs in the making but the community has had a taste of Greens and they don't like it.

For Pericles -

“The Australian Democrats operated as a centrist liberal party... Centrist parties face a perpetual dilemma – endeavouring to appeal to a broad spectrum of often contradictory belief systems while balancing ethical with pragmatic considerations. This can create contradictions that more often than not hamper the effectiveness and appeal of the party. The Australian Greens have consistently and openly positioned itself as a party with progressive, socially liberal, social democratic policies.”

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

Forty years to get the balance of power; twelve months to stuff things up completely and destroy their electoral chances for the next decade. Truly a magnificent achievement!