Dear Belly,

You seem like a very good bloke, but you really seem very worried about the Greens. If they are so inconsequential, a sinking ship and nobody wants them why get so upset?

The question is where are the votes coming from for the greens?

Are they a protest vote against both parties, or are they simply cannibalizing the labor party. I believe that while a few come from the coalition, the vast majority come from the labor party. On the other side, the coalition is taking huge chunks of the middle ground voters.

The problem for labor is that to pass legislation it requires help from the greens, and the compromises it has to make does not go down with the centrist voters who move to the coalition, and the greens are seen as having power and pushing the left wing agenda, and so attract voters from the left of Labor.

Labor to reverse the trend needs to reduce the influence of the greens over their legislation and to do this needs to stop preferencing them, especially in the senate. While this will cost them 2pp votes they will win some back from the coalition. Without senate seats the greens will wither.

SM, you may find this interesting the average age of Green voters is about 10 years younger than Liberal, Labor voters. Labor voters are now relatively the same old age as Liberal voters. This is a marked change from 10 or 20 years ago. Older woman are still the Liberals strongest supporters. While blue collar men still make up the dominant mass for Labor. Many Green voters are younger first timers and older former left Labor voters with a small number of disaffected Liberal. A decline in manufacturing has seen much of the traditional Labor base diminish. As have previously strong labor sections within the public sector, teachers, health workers in particular have sacked Labor in favor of the Greens. Academia still provides mass support to the Greens.
Much of the movement away from Labor has come from those that would been seen as conservative or aspirational voters they have been by far the largest section lost from Labor to the Coalition. With the loss of base support it is going to be difficult, certainly in the short term, for Labor to regenerate, and in the long term they will need to shift back to the middle ground if they are going to pick up support. There is no evidence to show any willingness on Labor's part to embrace structural change from within to present a viable alternative. Take NSW, after a resounding defeat 15 months age you would think Labor would have done some major soul searching, looking to find where they had gone wrong. Nothing of the kind has happened and the old guard still dominates, and Labor in NSW still languishes.

So true Shadow M.

I am probably an early mover, it was Keating, the left & the greens that moved me to Howard. I still considered myself a swing voter until Brown & the new green lady convinced me I was unlikely to vote anywhere near them again. In fact If the Libs had not got rid of Turnbull I would probably be a Katter voter.

I have for years found it rather counter productive that the majors were not preference each other. I would much rather the whole horse, than the camel, the horse designed by a committee. Labor controlled by the Greens is really the worst of all worlds.

It really is a pain voting below the line for the senate, but I have done it for some time to avoid giving preferences to the radical ratbag rabble that is the greens.

My opinion is that this is the one battle that Labor can't afford to loose. Not only that, we can't afford them to loose it either. We need their alternative voice, just we need it with intelligent folk leading it. With out Labor we'd probably have even more greens.

Dear Hasbeen,

Could you answer this question for me - Had Mr Abbott
been able to win the support of the Independents and
the Greens in the last election wouldn't the Libs be
in the same situation as the current government - which
has to compromise to be able to function as a government?

I can't understand all this attack on the Greens. As David F.,
pointed out in one of his earlier posts - Today, our
politics seems to be made up of Coalitions.
The current government
is a Coalition in government. The Opposition is a Coalition
Party. Unlike Labor that in the
past won elections on their own merit - the Liberals were never
capable of winning without a Coalition with the Nationals.
At least not in recent memory.

The Greens seem to be the party most favored by new voters
who are disenchanted with the politics of the past. Perhaps
there's a message there for both parties to try new approaches
in order to attract new members. Doing things the same old
way - doesn't seem to be working for many voters any more.
Especially younger voters. And endless round of accusations,
recriminations, are old tactics that are beginning to wear
thin.

Lexi,

With Katter, the Coalition had 74 seats and only needed 2 more. Oakeshott and Windsor would have been sufficient without the greens or Wilkie.