National
Milne defends ‘mainstream’ Greens after Labor attack
The Labor faithful gets the word … Sam Dastyari in full flight
Greens leader Christine Milne has defended her party’s policies as mainstream after a Labor powerbroker called on his party to dump the Greens to the bottom of preferencing at the ballot box.
New South Wales Labor secretary Sam Dastyari says Labor must send a clear message to the electorate and distance themselves from the Greens, who he has described as “extremists not unlike One Nation”.
The NSW Labor secretary told The Weekend Australian that the Labor Party must stop treating the Greens like family and place them last in preferencing in seats where it is in Labor’s best interests to do so.
Mr Dastyari, who leads the faction which counted former senator and Labor powerbroker Mark Arbib among its numbers, will move the motion at next weekend’s New South Wales conference.
His comments come after Victorian Labor yesterday decided to preference Family First ahead of the Greens in a state by-election for the seat of Melbourne.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard owes her minority government in part to an alliance with the Greens, who helped give her the numbers to take power after the 2010 election.
However, Labor’s relationship with the Greens has proven to be somewhat of a poisoned chalice for the Prime Minister, whose negotiations with the Greens included having to back-flip on her promise not to introduce the hugely controversial carbon tax.
Senator Milne was central to those negotiations and says the “outburst” from Mr Dastyari could hurt Ms Gillard at the ballot box.
She says the Greens represent mainstream views and Mr Dastyari’s comments are an “attack on the Labor base”.
Senator Milne also pointed the finger at Labor’s powerbrokers, saying “the faceless men are a part of the Labor disease … not the cure.”
“Labor Party people across the country will be horrified to think that if they vote for Labor they don’t know if they will be electing a Coalition person or a Family First person,” she said.
“What it shows is the faceless men in the Labor party do not have any principle any more, or any idea of what Labor stands for other than winning office.
“I think this attack from Sam Dastyari is actually an attack on the Labor base.”