Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Firstly, I note the impending leaving of the Senate of Senator Chris Ellison. I just want to say that he has always been the most pleasant, decent and reasonable character to relate to and to deal with in this place. I, for one, will be sad to see him go. I congratulate him for the work he has contributed to the country through the Senate and hope he goes on to many, many enjoyable years of life ahead.

I want to simply report the progress of the Greens in Australian politics as the now established third political party. I was looking back through the polls earlier today. In 1996, when I was very fortunate to be elected from Tasmania into this parliament, the Western Australian Greens had been represented by Senator Jo Vallentine and Senator Christabel Chamarette. At the time Senator Dee Margetts was here, the Greens were rating at one to two per cent in the Newspoll. By 1993 this had risen two to three per cent. By 2002 it was four to seven per cent and in 2008 we invariably get between eight and 12 per cent—and I think in this last week it was 11 per cent.

The other polls—Morgan poll and the Nielsen poll—show exactly the same trend. These days, more than eight or nine per cent of people are voting Green; in fact, it is closer to 10 and it is consolidating into double figures. On the results of the last election, had we had proportional representation that reflected one person, one vote, one value in this country, there would now be between seven and 10 Greens in the House of Representatives. The reason is that the Greens are now recognised as a real alternative to the coalition and the Labor Party. As a result of our economic policies, our policies for society and not least our policies for the environment in an age of extraordinary challenges, including the burning of fossil fuel, climate change and their potentially cataclysmic effect on society, the economy and the lifestyle of all future Australians—indeed, everybody on the planet—people see the Greens as the party that is addressing these serious problems in a way that will make Australians feel much more secure about their future.

At the last federal election, in November last year, Adam Bandt, who stood for the Greens in the seat of Melbourne, got 45.3 per cent of the vote on a two-party preferred basis. The incumbent, Lindsay Tanner, got 54.7 per cent. I use that figure because in the last couple of weeks Lynton Vonow achieved 46.9 per cent of the two-party preferred vote for the Greens in Mayo, with the Labor Party being absent, but with Jamie Briggs winning the seat for the Liberals with 53.1 per cent of the vote. What we are seeing here is that the Greens, even under a single electorate system where you need 50 per cent on two-party preferred, are moving towards nearly winning seats. I predict that in coming elections we will see Greens just winning seats as, despite the high hurdle required, we start to take seats in the House of Representatives—just as a decade ago we were starting to take seats here in the Senate but had not yet consolidated.

In the Northern Territory, in the election some weeks ago—and you will remember that was a precipitate election, with perhaps the shortest period between announcement and election of any recent election anywhere in Australia—in the six seats that were contested by the Greens, their vote went from 9.5 per cent at the last election to 15.9 per cent this time. Jane Clark, a councillor in Alice Springs, got 14.8 per cent of the vote in the seat of Braitling, with the ALP getting 11 per cent and the conservatives easily winning that seat. The major issue of contention there, which I think led to that surprising Green vote topping the Labor Party, was the prospect of a uranium mine within 30 kilometres of the centre of Alice Springs—something the Greens would certainly not have entertained.

In the Western Australian elections, Robin Chapple has been elected to the agricultural region—a surprise to most electoral watchers, I am sure. That was in the upper house and that election was decided yesterday. In East Metropolitan, South Metropolitan and North Metropolitan, Alison Xamon, Lynn MacLaran and Giz Watson—Giz being the sitting member—are expected to pick up those seats as the count unfolds. Whether or not they do, the surprising thing to many people—but not to we Greens, because we are getting such a positive feedback from the Australian public these days—is the vote of 12 per cent for the Greens across the board in Western Australia in the lower house, something that just a few years ago would have been thought to be impossible.

On the weekend, in the New South Wales local government elections, the likely result is that the previous count of 58 Greens in local government in New South Wales will go to 73 and could be closer to 80. The Mayor of Byron, Jan Barham, came under quite extraordinary attack in the last week or two of that election. As I understand it, she was getting preferences from almost nowhere. But she did not need them because she got a primary vote of 50 per cent, which is a reflection of the work she has done as mayor in Byron under very difficult circumstances. As we all know, it is a fast-growing region that is experiencing developmental pressures all over the place, but she has certainly appealed to the electorate that is concerned about keeping Byron as it is and maintaining its lifestyle. In the vote for council, 46 per cent went to the Greens and likely five of the nine seats.

When you look at Sydney, in Leichhardt the Greens are on 46 per cent, with Labor on 26 per cent and the Liberals on 22 per cent; in Marrickville the Greens are on 40 per cent, with Labor on 29 per cent; and in Waverley the Greens are on 29 per cent, with Labor on 21 per cent and the Liberals on 43 per cent. Moving out of the metropolitan area, in the Blue Mountains the Greens are on 23 per cent, with the same for the Liberals and Labor on 21 per cent. These are a reflection of the coming of age of the Greens and the recognition by the electorate that they have a real alternative at last, an alternative which is not under the influence of the big end of town—in particular, the coal industry and the logging industry. This is a party that can make decisions that are in the wider interests of the electorate.

One of the other factors that are very important here is that if you look at Newspoll you will see that, whereas some years ago the Greens scored highest amongst inner metropolitan voters, the Greens now have the same support base in rural and regional Australia as in metropolitan Australia. One can take directly from that that it is the people on the land who understand most directly the impact of climate change and who feel that they are not being listened to by governments centred in the bigger metropolitan areas and here in Canberra. The Greens are out there on the ground and they are concerned for the land, concerned for food productivity, concerned for educational opportunities for children and concerned that public health is not only the alternative but the only option available, unlike the big cities where private health and educational facilities are much more available and subsidised by government. The bush misses out right across the board there, and when you go to public transport even more pronounced is how much regional Australia is seen as second-rate to the metropolitan services. The Greens contend, nevertheless, that public transport is a Cinderella and that we need to be bringing it to the forefront. If we are going to stop seeing one person per car in an age of climate change and the burning of fossil fuels, we have to provide a fast, efficient, cheap alternative—that is, public transport—and it needs to be in public hands and to be available to the people who seek that alternative.

Then you have the metropolitan sprawl, the extension by quickly developing fringe suburbs of the bigger cities. We see projections of cities like Sydney and Melbourne potentially moving from three million or four million people to eight million people by midcentury, yet where is the planning under coalition or Labor governments for public transport to be essentially built into these developments? These developments are largely by private enterprise, which is interested in the fast dividend coming from the developments and not so much in the long-term community servicing which is essential if we are going to have happy, connected and mobile communities as we move further into this century.

The other matter that has been put to rest here is contention about the Greens economic direction. We are a party that believes in innovation. We take wholly the asseveration of Sir Nicholas Stern, former adviser to the British government and chief economist with the World Bank, that those countries that are the greatest innovators in environmental technology in this century are going to be the countries with the most robust economies, and yet we see so little evidence of that being taken up in this country. We are the biggest coal exporter by a country mile, and there are now plans afoot for more coal exporting facilities in Queensland and elsewhere. I was in Western Australia during the recent election campaign, and two new coalmines are mooted there. There is a big new brown coalmine in Victoria, more coalmines in New South Wales and a plethora of them under the Bligh government in Queensland. You look around all the cities and towns and say, ‘Where are the domestic power producing facilities that the Germans promote in cloudy Germany? Why is it that every roof isn’t fitted with the ability to have solar power? Why hasn’t Senator Milne’s proposal for feed-in tariffs been taken up so that people who are producing power through their solar panels get paid for it when it goes into the grid at three or four times the price at which they purchase power, therefore making everybody want to do it? Where are the solar hot water systems on every house or building in this sunny country of ours? Where is the budget that should be behind the technologies bringing in new energy options for this country?’ It is all being put into the coal industry. And how we move on this is going to test how grateful future generations are going to be for the work we do in this place in 2008, 2010 and 2015. The Greens are going to be a very innovative force in this parliament and other parliaments in the years to come. We think we have got the most exciting platform. We will be putting that comprehensively—and we are very, very pleased that this is showing up in the increased support we have amongst the Australian public. (Time expired)