The Greens boast about being the most democratic party in Australia but seem incapable of having an internal fight to pick a leader.
Since the retirement of Bob Brown, Christine Milne, Richard Di Natale, Adam Bandt and now Larissa Waters have been elected leader in uncontested ballots.
Just like a communist politburo, the leader of Australia’s most radical left-wing party is preordained.
After losing three out of four lower house MPs, including their leader, and falling well short in high-profile target seats, one would think the Greens would welcome robust internal debate.
The saving grace about the Greens’ secretive stitch-up is that Mehreen Faruqi was kept one step away from the leadership. If the Greens’ membership had a vote, the extremist Faruqi would have been a shoo-in. Dorinda Cox had a crack to unseat Faruqi as deputy but was easily defeated. After two previous losses in deputy leadership ballots, Sarah Hanson-Young stayed out of the contest.
The Greens forays into blocking legislation on issues they typically stand for, pushing policies that would wreck the economy overnight and engaging in divisive anti-Semitic rhetoric was rejected by voters.
Outside of its hardcore inner-city base, the Greens have lost relevance.
Waters will need to be pragmatic in dealing with Anthony Albanese to prove to left-wing voters they are what they hope to be … a party that could one day govern in coalition with Labor.
If they can’t shed their tag as the party of protest, the Greens will remain on the fringes for the foreseeable future.
The federal Greens party was founded by Brown in 1992 on the back of the Franklin Dam protests and protecting old-growth forests.
Conservative activist group Advance, responsible for the No campaign that scuttled Albanese’s voice referendum, spent millions of dollars carpet-bombing the Greens in key seats.
While other external factors played significant roles in the demise of the Greens, Advance’s “Greens Truth” campaign delivered a sledgehammer blow.
Central to Advance’s campaign, which helped oust Bandt in his electorate of Melbourne and assisted Labor MPs Peter Khalil and Josh Burns in retaining their seats of Wills and Macnamara, was an argument the party founded by Brown was “not who they used to be”.
Waters, a Queenslander, appears to be a safe pair of hands as the Greens strive to prove they can work productively with a Labor government.
It also makes sense that the Greens leader is in the Senate, where the bulk of the partyroom sits.
The 48-year-old will need to strike a balance in negotiations with the government on legislation in the Senate. But don’t be surprised if a bruised Coalition seeks to broker its own deals and shed the Peter Dutton “blocker” tag.
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