Greens tie-up left ALP faithful out in cold

TASMANIA'S great power-sharing experiment succeeded in delivering stable government, but also in taking the ALP to the brink of electoral oblivion.

The arrangement kept Labor in power for another four years, following the election of a hung parliament in March 2010, and produced a remarkable level of co-operation between Labor and the Greens.

Spats have been managed and despite budget cuts, pulp mills and forestry, the Greens controlled their natural urges to prove they can be part of hard and unpopular decisions.

Less than a year ago, Labor Premier Lara Giddings said she would "absolutely" have Greens back in her cabinet.

Even yesterday, after Giddings called Nick McKim and Cassy O'Connor into her office to sack them, there was a remarkable absence of rancour.

"No hard feelings, guys," said O'Connor, in a public farewell to Giddings and her deputy, Bryan Green.

Giddings, too, said she was "proud" of some of the achievements of her Greens ministers, singling out O'Connor's role as Human Services Minister in reducing public housing waiting lists.

So what went so wrong? The problem for Giddings was that she failed to bring Labor's faithful along for the power-sharing ride.

The cross-party meetings may have been going on swimmingly in Hobart's Executive Building, but the vibe never permeated down to the traditional blue-collar Labor voters in unfashionable suburbs and struggling country towns.

All they could see was the disappearance of their livelihoods in manufacturing and forestry, something they rightly or wrongly blamed on the people sharing the plush ministerial seats with Giddings et al.

Stable government is a fine thing, but it means nothing if you can't earn a wage.

Giddings was reluctant to admit defeat on the alliance, but as the opinion polls worsened - Labor slumped to just 22 per cent - the party's rank and file, union leaders and eventually parliamentary caucus realised something had to give.

Whether the jilted Labor faithful can be wooed back to the fold is doubtful. But Labor believes the strategy combined with an anti-Abbott scare campaign is its only chance of avoiding an electoral bloodbath.

Matthew Denholm is The Australian's Tasmania correspondent