The Greens could have more power in the Australian parliament than ever before, after the federal election on August 21. Achieving the balance of power in the Senate is within reach for the Greens, meaning that the government would have to negotiate an agreement with either the opposition party or the Greens to pass legislation.
The Greens currently share balance of power with Family First Senator Steve Fielding and independent Nick Xenophon.
鈥淲e have shown a responsibility that the Coalition has shunned鈥, said Bob Brown, leader of the Australian Greens.
鈥淲e put through the stimulus package that saved the country from double digit unemployment and recession when the opposition said 鈥榥o鈥. We鈥檝e been able to negotiate better outcomes time and again, and will do so in the next parliament.鈥
Support for the Greens has risen from 5% in the 2001 election, to 12.8% in the most recent quarterly Newspoll results.
鈥淭here has been a move to the right in politics by both Labor and the Conservatives and the Greens have become the progressive party in Australia鈥, said Brown.
鈥淚鈥檓 very happy to have such a stable and accomplished third party in the Australian parliament.鈥
Despite the surge in support for the Greens鈥 centre-left brand of politics, Brown has been left out of much of the election campaign coverage, including the televised leaders debate.
鈥淭here was no way they were going to have a Green on there, raising issues like the war in Afghanistan, the plight of Indigenous Australians, or even getting rid of discrimination in our marriage laws鈥, Brown said.
Indigenous Australians have rated little mention from the two major parties during the campaign, but Brown has spoken out against the government鈥檚 Northern Territory Emergency Response, or the NT intervention as it has come to be known.
鈥淎t the outset, the suspension of the Racial Discrimination Act, to send in the army and to treat First Australians as second-rate citizens by suspending their rights to equal access to an income under our national laws, was not on鈥, he said.
鈥淏ut both the big parties supported that. We鈥檝e tried to amend that in the parliament, but unsuccessfully.
鈥淭here is no doubt that we have to put a lot more resources into Indigenous Australia, working with Indigenous Australia and under the direction of 鈥 instead of dictating from 鈥 Canberra.鈥
On the issue of asylum seekers, Brown said that Australian鈥檚 are compassionate, but that leadership was the key to an ethical debate.
Speaking about mandatory detention, Brown said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 indefensible, in a compassionate, warm-hearted country like Australia that people are being held as if they are criminals, divorced from the populous and judged guilty until proven innocent. It鈥檚 the reverse of natural justice as we know it.鈥
Climate change policy is another divisive campaign issue. The two major parties have outlined their climate change policies, but Brown was disappointed in Labor鈥檚 decision to form a citizen鈥檚 assembly and said that Labor and the Coalition have prioritised big business over the environment.
鈥淭he world is in grave crisis. Scientists are telling us that we are going to lose the Great Barrier Reef by mid-century and potentially 90% of the productivity of our farmlands in the Murray-Darling basin by the end of the century if we don鈥檛 tackle climate change鈥, he said.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 need to consult the telephone book to get on with a carbon price. The majority of Australian鈥檚 in the polls want [ALP Prime Minister Julia Gillard] to negotiate with the Greens for action on climate change.
鈥淏oth big parties are captive to the coal industry and have either put off action, or in [Coalition leader] Tony Abbott鈥檚 case, says he just won鈥檛 have a carbon price.
鈥淭he Australian public wants action on climate change and they know that involves not burning and exporting more fossil fuels.鈥
He explained that renewables such as wind and solar power were 鈥済reat options鈥 for Australia.
Abbott鈥檚 Coalition has committed to a 5% reduction in emissions by 2020; while Gillard said her government would act 鈥渨hen the Australian economy is ready and when the Australian people are ready鈥.
Brown said that the Greens 鈥渁re the antidote to the consumerist and the ultimately self-destructive way the world is working at the moment and I鈥檓 very optimistic about that鈥.
Brown also pledged his support for the work of activists within local communities.
He said: 鈥淚 love them, I think they are like the suffragettes, 100 years on, they are warning us that we have big decisions to make to make society fair, this time it鈥檚 not to assure women of a vote, but to assure our children of security and it鈥檚 nothing less than that.鈥
[Kate Ausburn is a journalist for the Australian Times (London).]