Will the Greens be the next federal opposition?
What would change for the better if they were ?

"Regardless of ideological alignment and populism, minor parties will remain a scourge upon our democracy and the “whores” of our parliamentary system."
Erm, why is that exactly Spindoc?
Does that go for independents too?
What would the 'non-scourge, non-whore' parties be?

"Will the Greens be the next federal opposition?
What would change for the better if they were ?"
Individual, that would of course depend on who you ask and what they define as 'better'
For me, unless they go sour like the Australian Democrats did, we might have at the very least better access to personal Solar Panels, better protection of Julian Assange/wikileaks, and stronger anti-privatization stances.
The downside is their policies on our other energy consumption, and also refugees (though the Liberals were willing to sell out on that one themselves in order to get Wilkie on their side).

Labor and Liberal must focus on the youth vote.
sonofgloin,
In my opinion there shouldn't be a youth vote. Young adult vote yes. I believe that the voting age should be put back to 21 as should be the age of going to war. Today's youths are far more educated than the baby boomers but also far less wise.

I'm against the greens because here in Victoria their forest management prescriptions - forced upon all Governments since the John Cain Government of 1981 - have involved reducing the forest management budget so that good management cannot take place.
In 1982 there was one outdoor worker for 3,500 ha of public land. By 2005 there was one outdoor worker for 8,000 ha of public land.
Admin staff, 114 in 1982 had risen to 624 in 2005.
(Source, National Parks Act Annual reports for 1982 and 2005)
Wilderness was introduced. A draft report by the Land Conservation Council, April 1991 promotes the concept that Melbournes people didn't need to visit such areas, it was sufficient to know that they were there, locked up.
And now the water melons tell us that the planet is warming? Their super efficient PR machine tells us so, so it must be right.
Barnaby Joyce for Prime Minister. He might mix his words but he tells the truth.

King Hazza,

<<"Regardless of ideological alignment and populism, minor parties will remain a scourge upon our democracy and the “whores” of our parliamentary system."
Erm, why is that exactly Spindoc?
Does that go for independents too?
What would the 'non-scourge, non-whore' parties be?>>

Why? Because their entire existence within our democracy is based on “compromise”. They cannot govern in their own right, so they become “spoilers”, they "distort core values".

Independents too? Well of course, they are minor parties are they not?

Non-scourge, non-whore parties? Any party that has sufficient ideological electoral support to avoid having to compromise those ideological values.

"Non-scourge, non-whore parties? Any party that has sufficient ideological electoral support to avoid having to compromise those ideological values."
Well that rules out Liberal and Labor automatically if they do preference deals with the likes of the Nationals and Family First, (and they partly need to as both average about 35% of the vote), and accept donations by lobbyists.

Meanwhile the independents in power have been comparatively staunch with their demands before forming a coalition.

The only way to avoid compromise is to abolish parliament and have a directly-elected government (which is in my opinion, actually a very good idea).

And I love these calls "we need the majors to market to kiddies before the Greens get them!"
They do.
"Young Liberals"
and "Young Labor"

Maybe the moral to this story is nobody should market to the youth because the results aren't pretty?