Greens gamble their future on violent pro-Palestinian activists

Greens leader Adam Bandt. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The Greens are gambling their credibility in a cynical attempt to win more seats at the looming federal election.

It is the only explanation for the manner in which the minor party has thrown its weight behind the pro-Palestinian activists who engaged in criminal violence in Melbourne on Wednesday.

The Greens in Victoria are in lock-step with the pro-Palestinian activists, still happy to share platforms where anti-Israel rhetoric is becoming increasingly hysterical.

In Melbourne on Thursday, protest leaders were yelling “All Zionists are terrorists”, as well as abusing police and intimidating journalists.

This was just hours after the protest cause was embarrassed by the extent of the violence meted out to police and their horses.

How will the old guard Greens’ voters view cruelty to horses in the name of prosecuting a political argument?

The answer is the old Bob Brown Greens’ voters are dead or dying and Adam Bandt is on the hunt for a political future.

In Melbourne, the Greens are chasing the pro-Palestinian vote in seats like Wills and Calwell, with huge effort going into unseating Labor from former PM Bob Hawke’s old seat.

While these seats are well-­represented by Arabic speakers, the Greens must balance the downside of alienating its traditional environmentalist base.

This is where the credibility question lies. No one who watched protesters going after police horses with plastic bread crates and deliberately trying to scare the animals could have felt comfortable about the protesting witnessed in Melbourne. Even so, Greens Victorian leader Ellen Sandell and an underling MP have thrown their political weight behind the pro-Palestinian cause.

Old guard Greens know that without significant financial resources like the teals in Kooyong and Goldstein, it is very hard to pick up seats from the major parties. Key to any future ambitions is backing in the base while reeling in young voters. Young voters are difficult to gauge.

From the inner city, where the Greens can prosper, there is a market to attract young voters, especially on the issue of housing and tertiary education.

Middle East affairs seem largely off the radar of the average young Australian, however, most showing very little knowledge or interest in what happened on October 7 and afterwards. So it becomes even more difficult to assess who the Greens are actually trying to attract.

One senior Labor figure believes the Greens are in danger of running into a brick wall by opposing police and backing violent criminals. If the ambition is as narrow as picking up Wills, with a margin of 4.6 per cent against the Greens, it must consider what its more mainstream electors are thinking.

There may be some short-term gain from backing the protesters but it’s more likely the cynicism will damage the brand.

Especially when the protesting was so repulsive.