greens set to hold balance in senate

Greens set to hold balance in Senate
By Deborah Cornwall

Posted 1 hour 15 minutes ago


Bob Brown ... the Greens want to act as the buffer against either major party having a majority in the Senate.
Analysts predict the Greens could hold the balance of power in the Senate after the election (Lateline)

One of the most unexpected results of the last federal election was the Coalition wresting control of the Senate away from Labor and the minor parties.

This cleared the way for the Government to push through legislation like WorkChoices in the certain knowledge they had the numbers in the Upper House.

No matter who wins this election, analysts say it is unlikely either of the major parties will have a majority in the Senate in the next term. And there is a strong possibility the Greens may end up holding the balance of power.

It is 25 years since Greens leader Bob Brown made his dramatic entry into Australian politics, protesting against the damming of the Franklin River in Tasmania.

It has been a long, slow march to the nation's capital, but after seeing off the Democrats in the last federal election, the Greens now have four seats in the Senate, and are almost certain to hold the balance of power after the next election.

Election analyst Malcolm Mackerras has told Lateline the Greens will be in a very powerful position in the Senate after the election.

"I believe that the result of this election in the Senate will be that we'll finish up with 34 Coalition, 33 Labor senators, seven Greens, one Family First, and one senator, Nick Xenophon, independent from South Australia," he said.

ABC election analyst Antony Green says the Greens are polling roughly the same as they did at the last election, when they elected two senators.

"The difference this time is the balance of power between the Liberal and the Labor Party is very different, and this time the Greens aren't competing with Labor for seats, the Greens are competing with the Liberals for seats," he said.


Climate change

Former premier of Western Australia, Geoff Gallop, says while Labor's preference sharing deal with the Greens should help them in the Upper House, they may also pick up support because of the failure of both major parties on the critical issue of climate change.

"People now realise that the climate change issue isn't a normal environmental issue," he said.

"It's also going to the heart of our economy, it's going to the heart to our way of life.

"So this is a real plus for the Greens, particularly given the fact that both major parties are very cautious on this question."

This election, the Greens have also pitched themselves to voters as the buffer against either major party having the majority in the Senate.

"We've had three years of the Coalition dictating and getting through its nasty WorkChoices legislation, and selling off Telstra, etcetera, without any real review by the Senate and its committee system because they simply had the numbers," Senator Brown said.

Mr Mackerras says the idea of returning an umpire to the Senate will be very attractive to some voters.

"Since the Hawke era effectively, the minor parties have essentially assumed that they would have the balance of power and they have behaved very responsibly," he said.

"But Mr Howard is a control freak, let's face it, and once he got a majority in the Senate, he told the Australian people that they voted for WorkChoices, so he foisted WorkChoices on us. This was a blatant abuse of the Senate's power."

Western Australia is the only state where the Greens currently hold the balance of power in the Upper House. But Mr Gallop says it has been a far from easy relationship with the state Labor Government.

"Where the Greens were always very uncomfortable with a mainstream Labor Government was on economic type issues, and I think that will be the challenge should Kevin Rudd win and he has to deal with a Green balance of power in the Senate," he said.

"On the question of social reform, the Greens were quite supportive of us in Western Australia, but I'm not sure that's going to be an issue which is going to be given priority whoever wins the next federal election."

If past form is any indication, a Green power bloc in the Senate will be a challenge for whichever party wins government. But it certainly won't be dull.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/11/06/2082603.htm