To be fair, the Greens are no more frivolous and unrealistic than any other minority party -- Bob Katter and Clive Palmer included. That's what minority parties are for. The thing that makes the Greens dangerous is that they are on the cusp of taking the balance of power, and doing enormous damage to the country (and themselves) in the process. After which they will no doubt implode like the Democrats, the DLP and One Nation. But Green social policies are generally enlightened and intelligent: if they can ever tell us how we are supposed to pay for them, they will have a viable platform.

What's the problem?

If major parties adopt a better policy mix, including environment, then people will have desire to vote Greens.

If not, then get used to the Greens being around for a long time yet.

should have been

If major parties adopt a better policy mix, including environment, then people will have less desire to vote Greens.

I get the feeling that the author doesn't like the greens. In his hate he falls into the trap that the greens all think alike, just like the libs and Labour oh and who is that other party the Nat's.

It's funny that the things the author thinks are reasonable environmental considerations, were things the greenies pushed for many years ago. it's funny how solid the shifting sand can feel.

Good article; it captures the monstrous egoism of the greens; however, it still doesn't go far enough; at heart the greens are misanthropic:

http://theclimatescepticsparty.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/our-abc-green-narrative.html

And the green connection to Nazism and ecofascism is well documented.

All and all they are blight and the handwringers living in the inner-cities won't know it until the lights go out.

Whilst I agree with some of the points made in this article, I believe it is naïve and simplistic, to say the least. The Greens party was founded on environmental issues and as a minor party, those issues were crucial as a platform. Today however, the Greens are emerging as an alternative to the red team, blue team of mainstream politics and as such have broadened their focus to acquire a mandate. We are in danger of encouraging the worst of under developed cultures into our society and, I believe all illegal immigrants should be treated as economic refugees until proven otherwise. I have worked with many Greens politicians over the years and see them as responsible human beings, with a firm grasp on reality, especially where energy is concerned. Most are concerned with and have alternative and realistic plans for both conserving and reappraising energy usage and sourcing. Often, Greens members are misrepresented by the major parties (especially the coalition) and to quote Tony Abbott are the producers of “Green Tape”. We saw, over the last 3 years, how well things worked as a hung parliament and the Greens were a major influence in what turned out to be good and responsible policies. I agree there are some inconsistencies with so-called asylum seekers, population growth and the environment but overall, they are on the money and essential when it comes to “the greatest moral challenge of our time”, climate change and also democracy.