Editorial: Major parties would not entertain an alliance with Greens

EDITORIAL: In the Greens’ parallel universe, a coalition with a major party actually seems logical.

THE Greens are always hard to follow because they live in a completely different world to the rest of the population.

They have inserted themselves into the early days of this marathon election campaign by trumpeting that they would be happy to enter into another deal to govern with Labor if it looked as though there would be a hung parliament. This may make sense on Planet Di Natale, but everyone else thinks this is madness.

Labor, still suffering from the failed experiment of signing a deal with Bob Brown in 2010, does not want to go near the Greens.

The Australian public continues to shudder at the memory of that dysfunctional and chaotic time.

Less than half a week into this record-long campaign, Greens leader Senator Richard Di Natale is arrogant enough to presume he knows the likely outcome of the July 2 poll.

He said the Greens could not countenance doing a deal with the Coalition because of its policies.

That is despite last month forming an alliance with the Liberals and Nationals to fast-track changes to the Senate voting system through the Parliament.

This is also despite the fact senior Liberal figures are doing more than flirting with the Greens about swapping preferences in key Lower House seats held by Labor but with a high Greens vote.

The senator cannot possibly know how voters in seats such as Batman, in Melbourne; Grayndler and Sydney, in NSW; and Fremantle, in Western Australia, will react.

He certainly cannot presume to predict what will occur in the Senate where the rules governing the unusual double dissolution nature of the poll mean it is less predictable than usual.

All this does not stop the Greens from fantasising about what could occur. Presumably, it means they do not have to spend their time doing real work, such as developing a plan for the economy.

Greens leader Richard di Natale’s talk of a coalition is a pipe dream.

What Senator Di Natale does not realise is that the last thing the Australian people want is to go back to a minority government where the balance of power is held by unpredictable independents and inner-city Greens, such as Adam Bandt, in Melbourne.

This uncertainty caused the country to live from week to week, unsure whether the parliament would last and if then-prime minister Julia Gillard retained the confidence of the House.

The Greens spent most of this time holding Labor to virtual ransom.

The Greens insisted Australia have a carbon tax (something admitted by Labor’s deputy Tanya Plibersek yesterday) and derailed efforts to secure the country’s borders.

Lately the Greens have spent most of the past three years refusing to honour the mandate Australians gave to the Coalition in 2013 by frustrating Budget savings, changes to education and welfare and sensible workplace laws.

This is the way the Greens “govern”, by sitting on their hands and just saying no. If the Labor Party wants to get back into an alliance with the Greens, and we can only take their denials of this week at face value, they will do so at their peril.

When voters finally get around to making their choice on July 2, they should keep the madness of minority government from 2010 to 2013 at the front of their minds.

There is going to be a simple way to stay away from repeating this horror story and that is by picking one of the mainstream parties.

This is not a time to waste a vote with the Greens or some other minor party.

At the end of the day it is going to be either the Coalition or Labor that will most likely, almost certainly, have a majority in the House of Representatives.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Labor leader Bill Shorten are offering alternative, clear options for Australia in the years ahead.

There is no sensible third option and a protest vote is just that, a wasted ballot that will have no value and be lost as soon as it goes in the ballot box.

Staff safety must come first

EDUCATION Minister Kate Jones has made the right decision in acting quickly to suspend teaching for a week at a remote Queensland community, and move staff to Cairns while safety concerns are assessed.

As the government discovered when a young nurse was raped in her quarters in a Torres Strait community in 2008, trying to ignore a problem can have disastrous consequences. As it is, the teaching profession sometimes struggles to attract candidates of the calibre and specialist expertise that Queensland needs, and this holds especially true when it comes to filling positions in remote and indigenous communities.

In Aurukun, where teachers are worried about personal safety and are now being moved, there has been unrest for some time – a situation which is far from exclusive to this town.

Any review of Aurukun should perhaps be also extended to similar communities. Safety must be paramount wherever our public servants are on the frontline, both for their own wellbeing and the long-term health of the local community.

Originally published as Editorial: Major parties would not entertain an alliance with Greens