There is not enough in the budget to tackle environmental problems at all. For example water will take more funding and clean energy generation is, itself, a better investment than another trust fund for University potential "future funds". This assumes the investments are not wiped out by stock markets crashing, possibly due to climate change.

@Amie, you clearly don't like the Greens and no matter what they do, you have generally made a statement that you wont vote for them anyway. A policy is not the gravy it is the beef.

@Red fairy, the Greens are not responding to Costello at all. Rudd is the "me too, I am a proud conservative economist" tape recording. Get that one right.

@Runner, I was waiting for you to mention sex with animals as you have in past.

@DavoP, there is nothing radical about the Greens immigration policy, it is similar to the one used successfully in NZ. That is a Labor Government. It is a very economical alternative and children are not locked in cages.

@Myths on the Greens, Bob Brown and Kerry Nettle are not the leaders of the Party, they are spokespeople. Believe it or not, they are not Gods in their own party. On the drug policy, the harm minimisation section IS anti-drugs, and goes into details of managing the disaster, not just lock people in cages. The Government's "war against drugs" and their "war against terror" is not working for us. It is not meant to. It is meant to keep them in power.

If the Greens have a vision, they are accused of being utopian. If they attempt to be "more mainstream" as Bob Brown has attempted to do himself as an individual, then you accuse them of responding to the Government. If they don't, you accuse them of not listening to the people.

Some of you have been mislead in understanding their Party.

Do you really want the major parties to keep a mandate in the Senate?

Thank you, Tim A

Your evidence is arguable, but not conclusive. Maybe you watched the "Bastard Boys" special yesterday and Sunday. The relationship between spokespeople, leaders, number-crunchers, head-kickers, negotiators and the rank and file is always hard to pot in a couple of quick quotes, though Some would have us believe otherwise.

I wonder about your own philosophical and spiritual place on the political landscape. I would assume you are closer to the policy position of the Greens than that of Labor, but I can only guess. Your opinion piece suggests disillusionment.

My own disappointment is in the Greens' lack of recognition of an overriding method of analysis which can unify policy. It does seem to me that the work of HT Odum provides a description of natural and human commerce and material interaction which can provide a basis for arguing the ralationships and values of particular flows of energy, materials, information and money.

David Holmgren has applied some of Odum's thought and discusses the relationship of Odum's work to his work in a 2004 interview. See
www.energybulletin.net/524.htm

After 20+ years of being active in the environmental movement, plus 8 years as an MP in the WA parliament, I've lost my respect for the Greens party and its members. Under Bob Brown, he and the party are more interested in winning votes than in actually achieving wins for the environmental.

If you'd like me to explain why I now hold these views, I'd be happy to add a few more posts with stories explaining why I'm now so cynical and distrustful of the Greens.

Dear Bushie, can't see what your quals have to do with anything I wrote. Perhaps you didn't do English. Can you explain the relevance of your comments and the need to quote quals that make no difference here as it's OPINION, not facts. I'd actually like to see some debate but it's rather sparse.

Saintfletcher, have you actually read what they write to each other. Stuff like "Brother, a call to arms...blah blah blah". Famous Five rubbish, code words and all. They have a minus population policy. Do you know what that means? No kids or executions. How else do we get a minus population growth, if that makes any sense at all. They say no kids. What do you say?

Do read some population studies and stop listening to the "sky is falling in" mob. We are a big country that hasn't been developed beyond the coastal fringe. What desert countries do you know of that thrive? Not OZ, we ignore it. There are perhaps one or two that use the sun to build the towns and cities don't they? Once Leave ot to Beaver leaves perhaps....

@Davo, private memos such as "Brother, a call to arms...blah blah blah" as you put it sounds absurd.

I've never seen the Greens use that kind of language. Do you have a copy of the memo? Publish the details, date, and we can ask someone in the Greens Party to please explain. If it is real, I certainly would not tollerate such nonsense.

I didn't realise that you were on their email list. Does that mean that you are a member?

I have never heard of any negative population growth policy. Could you tell me where the policy is? I can't find it, is this another case of hearsay?

"ooo Beryl did you hear the one that they all eat kittens, and they plan to ship all Liberal members to Siberia".

"...ooo...yeees yeees I know. I know."

"Communists as Harold would say. Tree hugging Lesbian Communists from Mars. Even the men. And they are Volvo drivers"

"...ooo...yees yeees I know. I know."

"Then there's that aweful man Bob Brown who eats babies and kisses terrorists on the bum and calls it peace"

"....I know...I know...yeeees...yeeees"

"I think I'll vote Menzies I is"

"....I know...I know...yeees...yeees"

So the cleaver country choses wheter or not it wants to care for it's own land, water, sea and air or whether they'll just go with Costello and his promise of fiscal paradise. Now, who is whacky?

There will be no fiscal paradise without arable land or enough water for us to survive and cyclones are annually moving south. It will be more than bananas next time.

After Hurrican Katrina, even the American corporations are not laughing at global warming any more. The storms, the droughts and the biblical weather is making business vulnerable.

In the backwoods of Australia the major parties are not offering sufficient attempts to sit at Kyoto and make a real difference.

They don't want to frighten Beryl and Gladys at the local bowls.

Apart from my sattire, who is whacky?

Saintfletcher, you made an asumption about me which I wish to dispute when you said.....

"@Amie, you clearly don't like the Greens and no matter what they do, you have generally made a statement that you wont vote for them anyway. A policy is not the gravy it is the beef."

Firstly, I'm green through and through, but not a Green Party supporter at the present time. I haven't made up my mind yet just who I'll vote for in the coming election. I actually love most of the Green's policies, but there are a couple I have trouble excepting. My total disdain is directed towards John Howard. Not the Coalition Government per se, I have voted for them in the past, just that one man. I regard him as a lying, squirming snake who hides behind and uses talk-back radio to spin his arrogant and despicable dogma. Nobody should be fooled into thinking he has any feeling towards the working class. He hates them. Also, he hates the unemployed, young mothers who he's forcing back to work with poor educational standards and is even targeting those on disability support pensions. Thank God I work for a living!

Saintfletcher, I'll take another look at the Green's policies since I haven't visited their site for some time, I will continue to visit all three major player's policies between now and the election and I'll then be in a position to make a more informed choice when the time comes. At present, I'm very frustrated that we don't have a stronger party to divide the political duopoly we are forced to endure rather than support.