Before I go on. Whilst I am commenting on all matters relating to psephology, in this case the rise of the Greens, I must make one thing very clear. It’s my strong opinion that Australia no longer has a 2 party system. For far too long now those in the political ‘commentariat’ have explained away the Greens Political Party support as a protest, a flash in the pan, and a product of temporary voter disillusionment. And they are still doing it without any data to substantiate their claim.
In 2002 over 280,000 Victorians voted Green. In 2006 that number climbed a little too just over 290,000. In 2010 an extra 60,000 Victorians backed them and last year that number jumped by another 30,000. So we are not looking at huge leaps in support but we are certainly looking at a very significant concentration of that vote.
Above all, it’s consistent.
The reason I think we now have a 3 party system is simple. The 3rd party, the Greens basically represents a new class of voter, partly created by the knowledge economy or the IT revolution.
Yes their foundations are still rooted with environmentalist and some disaffected Labor voters from the early 2000s but their recent successes are due to a different person entirely. A person who basically is a product of the complete contraction of high income jobs to within a small area circling a number of suburbs near the centre of Melbourne.
• John Day, in Comments: #1 – I know of 17 young qualified Tasmanian’s many with families who have”taken retrenchment” from a single government department:with relatively low levels of settlement packages ( 5 to 10$K including statutory entitlements),who have all bar one moved to the mainland – and all have found jobs .All are fed up with the climate that they have to work in, the standard of our elected representatives and the likely future facing them and their families. The majority of our elected representatives, the management of government departments and what the media serve up – are in a different world and archaic in their thinking and output. Youngsters are connect like no other group and have completely different ways of looking at things, and completely different values of justifications and concerns. They also have a lot to say but do not connect with the media or government organisation as older Tasmanian’s might.The Greens Party and Independents are nearer to youngsters than any other party, and that where the change will come from. I have some issues with the Greens and no regard for the Liberals and Labor parties and their governments.But until they and the media recognize and speak objectively about each other and particularly the Greens and Independents – then Tasmania will not change and we will stay as we are.
