Greens caught short at polls

Last week's federal election could well be the Greens' Waterloo.

The Australian Greens -- both the party and the collection of organisations that act hand-in-hand with it -- went into the election with great expectations.

The rival party of the left, the Democrats, was imploding.  Their various campaigns had received near saturation media coverage.  The media, with a few exceptions, was fawning.

The environmental organisations were cashed up.  And the public was becoming environmentally aware and concerned.

The expectation that the Greens were set to become the third force of Australian politics was shared by most commentators and some business associations.

Indeed, the National Farmers' Federation, in preparation for this inevitability, publicly praised Greens policies and the reasonableness of its leader Senator Bob Brown.

In the end, the Greens failed.  While their vote across the country rose to 7.1 per cent, this was much less than the double-digit figure expected.

They lost their only House seat, and may just win a second Senate seat in Tasmania.

In contrast, the Coalition, which was the "least green" of the major parties, picked up four additional Senate seats.

Importantly, Green preferences did not help Labor win in any mainland seat.

The Democrats' share of the vote dropped 5 percentage points to less than 2 per cent of the total national vote.

And it appears that more Democrats votes went to the Coalition than to the Greens.

What happened?

First, the Greens were exposed for what they are -- a radical left-wing party.  To become the third force, they had to release policies on issues other than the environment.  They did so and were exposed as extremists in economic and social areas.

Second, the main parties have captured much of the green agenda and in so doing have captured the real appeal of the Greens.

Third, the Greens' stand on Tasmanian forests was rightly seen as uncompromising and hard-hearted -- intent on locking up the forest irrespective of its impact on local communities and jobs.

The Greens' failure in 2004 will reverberate throughout the community.  It will strengthen the resolve of many rural communities to resist green fundamentalism.

This is already having an effect, with John Anderson, the leader of the National Party, declaring his intention to review native vegetation laws.

The media is likely to be more objective towards, and perhaps even critical of, green policies.  This in turn may cause the rich and comfortable suburbanites, who make up the bulk of the Greens' support base, to think before voting Greens or accepting green stories of doom and gloom.

Hopefully, it will also induce governments to listen more to people from the communities that are affected by environmental regulations and make decisions based more on science than spin.

Smart businesses will perhaps realise that green fundamentalism is not the political force of the future and that the community understands that economic growth is consistent with good environmental outcomes.

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