HOBART The Greens won four seats in the July 20 Tasmanian election, the result of a record Greens vote. ALEX BAINBRIDGE and DARREN JIGGINS spoke to Greens' leader PEG PUTT.
Putt described the Greens' result as a "community victory, not simply a victory for the Greens". "Even for the Greens, we knew things were building nicely towards the election, but we never dared to dream we would have a result this good", she told Green Left Weekly.
The Greens spent "the last four years carefully illustrating the extent to which Labor and Liberal are the same". Putt pointed out that both parties are beholden to "corporate visions and shut out community aspirations".
The Greens deliberately campaigned on the issues on which the Labor government and Liberal opposition have the same policies, instead of on those which Labor and the Greens might have "a concurrency of views". "These concurrences have been rarer and rarer in Tasmania as Labor has moved to the right", Putt added.
Forestry is one issue where the two major parties "have a deal between them" not to differ. In parliament, they refer openly to this deal. It is a pledge to stand united behind the agenda of the woodchip industry "regardless of the strength of community opinion", Putt explained.
"The Labor and Liberal parties believe that they mustn't respond to community pressure because if one of them does, then a gap will open up and then the wall of resistance will be breached. We see the same sort of deal, whether tacit or explicit, at the national level between Labor opposition and the Coalition government."
Putt attributes part of the Greens' success to the fact that the community has "risen up" on the issue of logging old-growth forests, while the Labor and Liberal parties have not shifted ground.
"That's why there's been the extraordinary thing of Liberal voters coming over to the Greens. We've heard stories of people who have only ever voted one way either Labor or Liberal voting Green. People told us about their grandparents in their 80s and 90s making the change to the Greens."
The introduction of poker machines in pubs and clubs, and the massive increase in the number of them, is another issue that increased the Greens' support, Putt said. "People are concerned about the impact on our social fabric of the spread of pokies... Again, the deal to do that was done by a previous Liberal government and then executed by a Labor government, so they're both in it together."
"Whenever I've raised [the issue of pokies] in parliament, both parties say, 'But there is a deal with the Federal Hotels group. We couldn't possibly do anything other than what the Federal Hotels group wants'", Putt explained.
Other issues that were significant, according to Putt, were genetic engineering of food and government accountability. Secret government loans to business have been revealed in the last year, including during the election campaign. "Whether those loans were ever appropriate was not the major aspect. The major aspect was that deals had been done and money had been paid which belonged to the community, yet the government felt no need to reveal it or give reasons."
In relation to all these issues, Putt noted, the government and opposition act in the interests of the corporations without regard to the community's wishes.
By responding to these issues, Putt explained, the Greens were able to break the perception that they are a single-issue party. "I don't believe that the Greens have been single-issue for a very long time. The Greens' analysis [addresses] social equity issues, ecological awareness, issues of democracy and peace and non-violence. We have real concerns about the way political decisions affect people, not just the environment, and we can't understand why people put these up as opposing notions."
Putt identified Tasmania's semi-proportional representation electoral system as an advantage for the Greens. "Clearly, without proportional representation, it is much more difficult to get seats in a lower house to the extent that as is happening now we are referred to as an opposition party. We also had the circumstance that the Liberal party was in utter disarray ... which meant that anyone else in opposition to the government would attract support."
Putt told GLW that the Greens' success shows "you cannot stop the power of an idea or a set of ideals. Those ideas are great for Australia, just as they are for Tasmania, so there is the potential for breakthroughs in other parts of the country. But we have to overcome the fact that the electoral system is different [federally and in other states] and works against us."
Putt believes that the Tasmanian result vindicates the Greens' decision to campaign on issues. The Greens took stands that were said to be "unpopular" and the result was increased support.
What are the Greens' next moves? Putt focused on the announcement of portfolio responsibilities for the new Green parliamentarians. "We're having to make an accommodation between doing things the traditional way, so that people can understand what we're doing and the media know who to ring up, and doing things differently. We don't think the same way [as the traditional parties]. [We] come from a consensus-based structure [which is different] to the hierarchical organisation that parliament is."
Putt explained that Greens parliamentarians make decisions on the basis of consensus where practicable, and that parliamentarians would have input based on their geographical as well as portfolio areas of responsibility.
"We've quadrupled our representation but we won't only be representing [our supporters] in parliament", Putt told GLW. "Obviously the forest issue won't go away. A lot of people feel that they made a very strong statement about forests in this election. The arrogance of the government in dismissing that is going to fuel anger and resentment, which is going to build the pressure further on the government."
Putt identified the Greens' Forest Transition Strategy (which outlines the Greens' plan for ending clearfelling in old-growth forests and creating more forest industry jobs than are lost) as a major part of the Greens' grassroots campaign.
"There's a real role for community activism and community pressure. It's going to continue with renewed vigour because the government has failed to heed the message and forestry companies like Gunns [are giving the finger] to all the people [who voted for an end to old-growth logging].
"There's going to be a lot of tension and pressure. I predict that the community is going to get what it wants, but it's going to involve breaking through the stranglehold that the industry has on the major parties. The pressure just builds and suddenly you get the changes. It's like a wave building up and then suddenly breaking; you don't know quite when it's going to break but it's coming.
"The parliamentary representation is one aspect [of the fight for change]. I would never suggest that everyone else simply go home and put their feet up. Change only ever happens as a result of concerted and coordinated pressure from the community.
"I see our role as being a conduit for what's coming from the people on the streets."
From Green Left Weekly, August 14, 2002.
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