Power sharing makes the Greens more electable

This week – Today, to be specific – marks the 18-month anniversary of power sharing by the Greens with Labor.

Two recent articles on Tas Times, the first by Peter Henning (McKim’s Stable Government) and, in response, by Chris Harries (Nick, you’ve still got the chance), analyzed what power sharing means for the Greens.

In my opinion, both missed some of the main event, and some of the advantages, power sharing gives the Greens.

Both overlooked the primary reason for the power sharing experiment – that of electability.

To be talking about electability at a time of budget cuts and austerity may seem erroneous but the Greens’ move from the comfort of zone loud, proud but powerless Opposition to a cross-bench role with a foot in Government is, in fact, fundamental to the Party’s electability.

For the sake of Tasmania’s most vulnerable people and our natural environment, electability and power in government is the only substantial way to give our policies life.

Mr Henning touched on this by criticising what he saw as the Greens’ preoccupation with ‘stability’, but I believe stability is vital.

Stable Government is significant for the Greens because, for years, the public were warned that Greens in Government equalled chaos. Now the Greens are delivering stable government. And by sharing power and with two Greens MPs in Cabinet, they are patently not acting irresponsibly. To me, this is the point.

For years, the old boys and girls from the virtually indistinguishable Lib/Lab alliance, who used to run the state like a backwater banana republic, put about scare stories that you could never trust those feral Greens wreckers in power.

They cut the number of seats in parliament to try and stop the Greens’ rise but they failed.

Stable Government in the eyes of the electorate is the antidote to all those who said you could never trust Greens to be responsible in power. Power sharing has meant this argument has now fallen by the wayside in my view.

Greens in Government – guaranteeing supply and in Cabinet – also provides a second advantage, which makes the Greens more electable in a second way, I believe.

A common excuse to not vote Green used to be: “Nice policy, shame you’ll never be in a position to get it up.”

But after the election, the Greens were able to get up three long-standing flagship policies – again directly as a result of power-sharing with Labor:

• A review into the state’s Tax System. This is currently live.

• A Cost of Living strategy – with a view to help provide for Tasmania’s most vulnerable. This is currently live.

• A review by an expert panel into the State’s Energy Sector. This is currently live.

These are big fat Greens policy wins. They would have been unthinkable a few years ago. But there they are. Up and running and benefiting Tasmanian society for one reason – because of power-sharing.

Power sharing proves Greens policies are viable, common sense and good for us. The argument that “Greens policies will never get up so I won’t bother voting Green” is another barrier against more people voting Green which has now fallen by the wayside, I believe.

It is not melodramatic to say that our natural environment is in crisis on pretty much any front you care to name. Only the Greens are ideologically and temperamentally ready, willing and able to tackle it, I believe.

But the Greens can only to act to protect the natural environment upon which everyone relies if we leave Opposition. It is not enough to be calling out the mistakes by others. For nature’s sake, we need Green hands on the levers of Government, I believe.

Spare Mother Nature the ideology and act. This was what the Greens did in April last year when Will Hodgman handed the Greens the opportunity to form Government with Labor on a platter.

What would you have done after seven years in Opposition and with a gorilla of a multifaceted environmental crisises bearing down on Tassie as much as everywhere else? The Greens were clear: Out of Opposition and take a role in Government to try and bring about as many people-focused environmental wins as possible.

This move has shattered the glass ceiling of three common misconceptions: that Greens policies were unworkable, that they were unlikely ever to get up and that you couldn’t trust the Greens in power. Power sharing has obliterated these obstacles and has moved us towards full Greens majority Government, I believe.

Moving out of Opposition is also part of a learning curve which will future-proof the party – its members, supporters, MPs and their support staff – as the Greens increase their critical mass.

For those who supp from the cup half empty, fault can be found with everything. But for those who supp from the cup half full, they will hopefully realise we are now more electable than we were.

The cuts! The cuts! I hear you say.

Reduced GST income, the ongoing GFC, the big-spending previous majority Government which, along with the previous majority Liberal Government, spent more than it could afford for years and years.

When the markets contract everywhere else, an island economy like ours is hit hard. And by hit hard, I mean a near $2bn hole in state revenues.

People are right to be angry. We’re now paying the price for serial and long-term flawed decision making. That is one of the wrongs the Greens have left Opposition to seek power to put right.

If this were a full Greens majority Government, the budget would be dramatically different, I believe, not least because the Greens would be prepared to take the state into strategic debt, while making the reforms necessary for the state to finally live within its means.

The Greens’ current role is true to past form and the Greens are quickly establishing themselves as Tasmania’s economic dung beetles.

Bob Brown helped put the state back on an even financial keel with Michael Field. So did Christine Milne with Tony Rundle. Play it again, Nick, because history is repeating.

And when Bob was part of the Field govt, guess what? – the Greens’ vote dipped. Then it recovered. Then Christine was part of the Rundle govt and the Greens vote dipped. Then it recovered.

Crucially, the trend was always upward and when it dipped, it remained higher than it had been previously.

So the Greens’ share of the vote is now about 18%. The Greens would have been popping the champagne corks if they’d had that share a few years ago.

Had it not been for Mr Wilkie splitting the Greens vote at the last election, the Tasmanian Greens would have scored the highest ever share of the vote anywhere in the world.

Last year, when the Greens Party Room voted unanimously to guarantee supply to Labor in a power-sharing Government, the Greens MPs’ priority was to bring about policy wins which put people and the natural environment first – different sides of the same coin, as far as the Greens are concerned.

That is what has happened. I’ve already listed the three initial Greens policy wins above. And when the Tax Review, Cost of Living Strategy or Expert Panel Review of the Energy Sector, are referred to now by Lib/Lab MPs or the media, the Greens are never cited. (People seem to think that a Murdoch owned newspaper is definitive. But it isn’t).

The 80 or so subsequent Greens policy wins aren’t cited either. Take a look. Not bad for five MPs.

Not a single one of these would have got up had the Greens remained in Opposition. In fact, the Greens have achieved more Greens policy wins in the last 18 months than achieved in Opposition in the past seven years.

This fact, of itself, should be justification enough for the power sharing route.

And in the Greens Government Minister portfolios, a program of Greening Government is underway and includes:

• Sustainable Transport: Metro is seeing soaring numbers on buses and rising. Nick McKim is helping get Tasmanians out of cars and onto bikes and passenger transport.

• Corrections: A comprehensive plan is underway to restore order and human rights at Risdon Prison and to ensure the rights of prisoners are balanced with the rights and safety of prison staff. McKim is making the tough decisions that too many Labor Corrections ministers were afraid to make.

• Education: After a mistake with the rushed schools closures program – which began under Lin Thorp – McKim halted that process, apologised and has now Greened the process – so that any decisions will have been squarely made with full community consultation and with the input of an independent and balanced Schools Viability Reference Group.

• Consumer Protection: Tightening the rules on junk food advertising targeted at children

• Housing: Cassy O’Connor is currently making the tough decisions to remove all the inequities from the system to make it fairer, simpler and cheaper to run. This means Cost of Living achievements can be made for some of Tasmania’s most vulnerable.

These are just a few examples. There’s more on the Government media site or you can contact the Greens ministerial offices direct at minister.mckim@dpac.tas.gov.au and minister.o’connor@dpac.tas.gov.au

Being a power-sharing parliament, the Greens say they remain prepared to work with either party to bring about Green wins. And to oppose either party, too.

That’s why they continue to oppose them on the Brighton Bypass – Lib/Lab voted it through. They opposed the rise in MPs’ salaries – Lib/Lab voted it through. They opposed public money being used for AFL. They oppose mining in the Tarkine – Lib/Lab support it. They tabled the Pulp Mill Assessment Repeal Bill – which would have stopped the mill being built – Lib/Lab voted it down. The Greens remain the only party committed to restoring the number of seats in the House of Assembly to 35 – Lib/Lab have abandoned it. They have moved to ban battery hen farming. Lib/Lab oppose it. Lib/Lab came on board to support the Greens’ plastic bag ban though!

With an ever-present environment crisis which urgently needs to be addressed by public policy solutions, the Greens simply cannot afford to luxuriate in Opposition, strolling about the moral high ground.

Descending and rolling up our sleeves, getting dirty in Government, has also brought about outcomes that would have been unthinkable a couple of years ago.

The jewel in the crown of the Greens wins as a result of power sharing so far is the Forests IGA. As Bob Brown said, if this comes off, it will be one of the most historic wins in the state’s long battle for conservation in Tasmania.

This potentially seismic agreement is only on the table because the Greens are part of this Government. It would see nearly 600,000 hectares of old-growth forest unlocked for public use and preserved in perpetuity. And it would end industrial-scale native logging once and for all.

It may not be a perfect agreement, but these are two once-in-a-lifetime wins all Greens should support.

More recent wins include the historic House of Assembly vote supporting Marriage Equality, Labor coming on board to support a ban on political donations from Big Tobacco and Labor coming on board to support tighter penalties for perpetrators of animal cruelty.

None of this would have happened had it not been for the Greens being part of this power-sharing government.

And there could be two more years of Greens policy wins to come.

The state’s economic circumstances are unfortunate and there are some who would like to do exactly what successive Lib/Lab governments did in the past: put it in the too-hard basket and walk away.

The Libs pretend they can swap the economic scat sarnie for a yummy banana, jam and peanut butter version for free! All you have to do is vote for them!* Some people seem to actually be swallowing this policy-lite confection.

(*Conditions apply – such as, er, well, we’ll have a think about how to fix the economy later. And won’t do it properly. But don’t worry about the detail – check out our headlines!)

If the Libs had been serious, they would have taken Government when it was in their lap. The Greens are serious which is why they left Opposition and are currently earning their spurs.

The court of public opinion may find power sharing a bit of mind bender, but the Greens know exactly what they’re striving to achieve: wins for the environment, wins for our society and to start building a clean green future.

And it’s happening.

Links to details of Greens policies etc: HERE

Tom de Kadt is an environmental activist in and around Hobart and a dyed-in-the-wool Greens supporter and sometime amanuensis …